[staunch]

1. AH could offer $50k on the same terms if they wanted, and most companies would probably take it. It's not like Yuri/Ron have any exclusivity arrangement.

2. YC classes have grown in size a lot. It's probably a bit more expensive than they planned, so they don't mind sharing the load.

3. Having AH as a partner helps the startups, which means they're more likely to succeed (hopefully).

[timerickson]

1. Then why did they need to negotiate to be a part of Start Fund, surely they could offer a separate, secondary deal of $50k to each YC company

2. This is highly plausible and sounding to me like the most likely reason

3. Absolutely, I'm just trying to understand why its as 1/3rd of Start Fund instead of offering their own deal