[tzs]

YC doesn't run your company for you, but a big point of YC is that they provide advice and guidance. As they say in an article [1] linked from the YC FAQ:

   Most people don’t do YC for the financial investment—they
   do it because they want the advice, the help of the
   network, the benefits of the program.

Heck, for a long time YC only invested something like $20k and got something like 7% of your company. From a money point of view, only a complete idiot would have taken that deal. What made it worthwhile was getting access to the YC people for advice.

Now YC gives $120k for 7%, so it is no longer completely idiotic from a purely monetary point of view, but even at $120k most of the value is in the access it gives you to the YC staff and the other people YC puts you in contact with.

Because of this a lot of people have higher expectations for YC companies.

[1] http://blog.ycombinator.com/the-new-deal

[argonaut]

Are you suggesting YC can run your company for you? YC can exert pressure but that's it. They don't have any legal or corporate control whatsoever.