[avichal]

Investing in great people is the ONLY viable angel investment strategy. Most great early stage investors invest in the team first and idea second. Capital is plentiful and readily available. Great entrepreneurs are extremely rare. These people are such a no-brainer than NOT investing in them would be a mistake. There are thousands of them out there and not meeting them because they don't have an idea yet would be a HUGE mistake. Betting that they will find a great idea and execute on it is the right approach.

The quality of an idea is just a proxy for the other intangibles that a great entrepreneur needs to have (including being able to identify a opportunity to pursue). Just because they don't have an idea yet doesn't mean you can't consider other proxies for how great an entrepreneur could be.

YC is looking at other non-idea filters and it's a smart approach. It's the approach most great angel investors use. Because it works.