No official gatekeepers, but there are certainly some things that can help/hurt you exponentially. If Google drops you from search-results, game over! If Y

No official gatekeepers, but there are certainly some things that can help/hurt you exponentially. If Google drops you from search-results, game over! If YC accepts you, game on! Neither one of those are official gatekeepers, but they're something to be concerned about. I signed up with coinbase.com because I tend to trust companies that are YC-backed. The fact that they're in SF and I can walk right into their office on my lunch-break if my money disappears also helps.