[Rajiv_N]

"Graham is the cofounder of Y Combinator, the investment firm that plugs seed money ($18,000 on average) into early stage startups in exchange for mentorship and access to its ever-growing network of alumni."

Maybe I'm not understanding this right, but the phrase "in exchange for", seems like it should have read "in addition to". Can someone please clarify?

[gigantor]

Maybe not the most clear sentence since it leaves out the equity part; it's conveying that it provides seed money plus mentorship/networking in exchange for a modest equity from the startup.

Could be better organized as: "... Y Combinator, the investment firm that plugs seed money (~$18,800) into early stage startups and offers mentorship and access to its ever-growing network of alumni, in exchange for a modest equity (~7%) of the startup."

[Rajiv_N]

Aha! Thanks for the explanation. Now I get it.