I think you're really making a lot of pretty backwards assumptions about the kind of people who would still move to the bay area if they weren't accepted into Y

I think you're really making a lot of pretty backwards assumptions about the kind of people who would still move to the bay area if they weren't accepted into YC. My startup has 6 people who all quit their jobs more than a year ago and have been working for free full-time since then. We have bet everything on our idea and we're running out of time and money but unfortunately where we're located the kind of investors who are progressive enough to appreciate what we are doing just simply don't exist. Long before we even knew YC existed we had already planned to move to SV to search for funding and launch in early-mid 2008. We have a fairly extensive network of people who can help us there. Really, it would be insane for us to try to raise capital anywhere else. If YC had been in Boston this cycle we wouldn't have even applied.