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by jacquesm 1909 days ago
To determine this you'd have to track how many companies raise funds and how much they raise (at what valuation) both inside and outside of YC. From my own view on this supported by quite a bit of data I would say that YC is as close as you're going to find to a stamp of approval in the start-up scene, it has a substantial effect on your chances to raise funds and on the amount you will raise when you do.
2 comments
jeanlaf 1909 days ago
Actually, Airbyte is a pivot from a first product. And we struggled a lot to raise with the previous product, even though we were fresh out of YC. YC is an indicator but not enough by itself.
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jacquesm 1909 days ago
Yes, but you did raise. Now ask yourself if you would have raised this round without YC backing and the same product.

Time will tell if you will succeed, best of luck to you and your team.

But keep in mind that raising money is not success in itself.

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jeanlaf 1909 days ago
Raising money is not a success indicator at all. We agree. Having your first paying customer is typically a much more important one :).
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kenneth 1909 days ago
One of my best investments is a company I turned down at demo day, but who pivoted a year later after running out of funds and finding a completely new product. I gave them their first post pivot angel check and they're well on their way to unicorn status now.

Big fan of looking at what YC founders do 1 year out of the program. YC backs companies in large part on founder quality even if the original idea isn't a winner, and I've made quite a few strong bets on YC founders when they needed a reset a bit later. (The good ones keep the original company cap table intact to take care of their pre-reset investors. That's a huge positive signal for me coming in as fresh blood.)

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jacquesm 1908 days ago
This is very smart.
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lejohnq 1908 days ago
Out of curiosity, what was the first product?
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kenneth 1909 days ago
Not only that, but it also materially improves your business for many B2B startups given the network of companies who will do you a favor and sign up for your service during the program. It helps kickstart early traction.
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