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17K for 7% isn't as raw a deal as you think when you realize that at an "acceptance" into YC essentially doubles your valuation to most seed investors.

• Patrick_Devine 12y ago
  Absolutely. Being vetted by YC certainly won't hurt your company, but it's still tough though when you've dumped $100k-$200k of your own money plus your time and energy (which is not insignificant when you're an engineer in the Silicon Valley), and you're giving up that amount of equity.
  • zmitri 12y ago
    Depends on what you're trying to achieve I think. I worked on my own stuff for 3 years before doing YC and it was well worth it. My thoughts after going through the program: If you have no product and no track record, it's definitely worth it. If you have something working, but growth isn't amazing, it's a risk because there's a chance you don't get the absolute most out of demo day due to timing -- so one might feel what you describe. That said if you blow up later, I'm sure they will do a fantastic job of getting you to the people you'd want to meet with - eg. Homejoy. But if you come into YC with good growth (like doubling in size every month) it is without a doubt one of the smartest things you can do. You will probably never have as much leverage as you get while going through YC.