[davidw]

'Surprising'? I think pg has his hands full with the companies that he already helps, in a country where he knows how things work. Why would they go to some country where they don't speak the language, know the laws, or have many contacts? It would be insane, in my opinion.

[osipov]

>>Why would they go to some country where they don't speak the language, know the laws, or have many contacts?

For the same reason companies expand to BRIC economies -- to make more money. Every growing business has their hands full with operations, however the challenge is to perform the balancing act of scaling up the business through expansion while keeping the existing business in order. I wouldn't call it insane though, risky is a more appropriate term imo. Nonetheless it is a sort of risk that many businesses manage to overcome successfully. I think the real question is whether pg manages YC as a business or as a hobby.

[davidw]

Most companies try to grow in their home country prior to expanding abroad, and YC has yet to do any of that at all, as far as I know. Also, not all businesses try and grow all over the world in a short period of time. Some realize their limitations and try and concentrate on doing their niche really well, leaving other places to other people.

> I think the real question is whether pg manages YC as a business or as a hobby.

My offhand guess would be "as an experiment". Past comments have indicated that they do want to come out ahead with it, to justify its continued existence, but that it's too new to just start franchising it... it's not exactly like McDonalds in terms of their business model!

http://paulgraham.com/ycombinator.html