YC requires that because they have a whole program that is designed around educating entrepreneurs. They all have to be in that location so they can meet the l

YC requires that because they have a whole program that is designed around educating entrepreneurs. They all have to be in that location so they can meet the local VC community, attend the get togethers, etc... I don't think everyone being together has all that much to do with it (though I obviously could be wrong) The bottom line is there's nothing you can do in person that you can't do with a Skype connection and a whiteboard program. Moreover as someone whose both worked with local programmers and worked with long distance ones I didn't find much of a difference. I'd almost always IM anyway regardless of whether the person was up the hall or in Prague