[tosh]

I wonder when YC is forking to other cities.

Staying in the Bay Area longer than other acceleration programs which decentralized (& often diluted their network and quality) earlier was wise. That said, from the outside it seems like sticking to the Bay Area is no longer optimal.

Startup School and YC China are mentioned but I think by now there must be enough YC alumni all over the world to facilitate local communities/office hours and investment activity (while keeping the quality).

For example I like how Lambda School is expanding globally much faster. I know the two are difficult to compare and it is not a straight forward decision to make.

Would love to learn if you have some thoughts on this.

[nostrademons]

The model for YC startups is that most need to raise outside capital after YC. Part of their value proposition is being able to create a market of follow-on investors so their startups don't get totally shafted in those deals. That requires being in areas where there are enough investors to create a liquid market in fundraising rounds after YC.

China is one such area, and places like NYC or Boston could also work (YC used to be in Boston before PG & JL had kids). Those don't help much with the cost-of-living issue, though.

[my_username_is_]

It doesn't help with cost of living, but it does help open the door to a new pool of founders that can't/don't want to live in the Bay Area for any number of reasons.

If there are enough quality founders and enough quality investors, it seems reasonable that YC could provide value to a new region by filtering for quality and facilitating new connections within the network

[kenneth]

It's fairly common for startups based outside of the bay to take a fundraising trip to SF when they're raising money. Even NYC-based startups do it.

[cududa]

I assume they’re testing the waters given that they’re doing interviews for the next class on the ground in NYC

[akharris]

Interviewing in NYC has much less to do with testing the waters for a new location than simplifying the application process for a greater number of good founders.

[streulpita]

suuuure