[Alex3917]

> none of that concludes to why YC has to be less prestigious

In 2005 YC's thesis was that the smartest technical people would make the best founders. That's why when you applied for startup school, they asked you what your favorite technologies were. And while there were certainly Java people there, the expected answers were clearly Python, Lisp, or Haskell.

The reason it may feel less exclusive now is because they're now actively encouraging people to apply rather than (arguably) actively discouraging people from applying. But that's because A) they know the original thesis was wrong B) you can basically now acquire the technical skills needed to build a startup by spending a few hours watching YouTube video about Django, so for most startups there isn't really any advantage conferred by being some sort of technical genius.

While it's true there are more startups now, it's also much harder to get in. Back in 2005 - 2007, probably a third of the startups went out of business without ever even launching. And it was expected that another third would never get any users. The stuff that would get you funded in 2006 not only wouldn't get you an interview today, it wouldn't even get you the email saying you were close to getting an interview.

[WikipediasBad]

Great. I agree with you on what you are saying, just like your last post. I agree the bar has changed dramatically for getting into startups and building software, hosting software, and building infrastructure. AGAIN....that doesn't conclude why YC is less personable, getting larger at the pace that it is today to the point that it's not as tight knit as it should be etc. That was really the only thing being mainly criticized in this thread, to which you brought up a true fact of the state of startup ecosystem, but not a fact which properly concludes and addresses the criticism. Anyway, good post so have an upvote at least.