[pg]

Big successes and sustainable businesses aren't necessarily the same thing.

I'm not sure what you mean by "sustainable businesses," but if you mean profitable businesses, big successes necessarily are that.

[enjo]

Is that true? Was Photobucket or MySpace a "big success"? They certainly sold for a lots of money, but profitable was never a strong suit was it?

[pg]

By big successes I mean companies big enough to go public.

[tatsuke95]

Honest question: by that definition, how many YC companies have been big successes?

I scanned this list, and don't see many public companies... http://yclist.com/

[dot]

I guess Airbnb and Dropbox could go public if they wanted. The stock market likes companies that print money!

[gsharm]

Yes, but profitable businesses aren't necessarily big successes.