The following is a half-formed thought, so feel free to pick it apart. I think there is a class of companies that really do not require outside funding. They c

The following is a half-formed thought, so feel free to pick it apart. I think there is a class of companies that really do not require outside funding. They could very feasibly bootstrap (grow from cash flow). Often this would be a superior financial result for the founders, and possibly lifestyle. However that assumes the founders know what they're doing -- have a good business model, and know how to execute it. Sometimes they don't. They need help -- advisors, compatriots, whatever. If you want certain "elite" advisors to help you, the only way they're going to be interested is with some equity upside. Otherwise it's just not meaningful for them, either financially or in terms of "impact". So my suggestion is that founders should ask themselves if they really need funding, or if they really need advising, or if they actually need both. If they need both, something like YC is probably a bargain.