[qhoxie]

The startup climate has been and still is changing for a multitude of reasons, and funding is changing along with it. Agencies like YC make the barrier to entry lower for a lot of companies. This is not to say that it is easy at all, but good ideas/teams/people coming to the surface is getting more and more common when compared to the past.

Look at mattmaroon's slides that are on the front page right now. They outline a lot of problems and why they occurred. People are understanding what goes well, what doesn't, and why.