Obviously something like YC could in principle work outside the Valley, because YC itself used to be. We had to fly startups from Boston cycles to present to i

Obviously something like YC could in principle work outside the Valley, because YC itself used to be. We had to fly startups from Boston cycles to present to investors in Silicon Valley, though, and the more prominent clones do as well, so I think you have to take that as a given. Probably the biggest disadvantage for startups in Boston cycles was the scarcity of experienced founders there. In our Boston cycles, we considered ourselves lucky to get 2 or 3 speakers of the caliber we get in SV cycles (http://ycombinator.com/w9speakers.html http://ycombinator.com/w9speakers.html). I would guess this problem is even worse in other towns.