Like the other commenter said, I guess it really depends on who you are and what type of business you're building. Personally, with the benefit of hindsight, I'm almost certain if my startup made it to YC (we failed at the interview stage many years ago), it would have ruined both the startup (at least the product at the time) and our personal lives. We were too "green", too different culturally, in an industry that moves too slow. Going the "European" VC speed really helped us get to a healthier business and product foundation, but it took many years.
To paraphrase my original statement, it's like winning the opportunity lotto, but opportunity isn't success. You get a lot of great opportunities handed to you, but you still have to know how to take advantage of them, and they might not be the type of opportunities you want.