[brandonb]

>I think the problem is rooted in the business model that seems to be preached by Y Combinator: build a great product, choose investment over income, and exit as quickly as possible.

YCombinator never tells founders to "exit as quickly as possible". In fact, they and most other technology investors get 90+% of their returns from the home runs and encourage founders to go big if things are working. You can do the math yourself: how many talent acquisitions would it take to add up to one Dropbox ($4B valuation)?

While a lot of companies coming out of YCombinator (and Silicon Valley in general) are focused on the internet, there are exceptions. For example, there was a 3D scanning company in the most recent batch: http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/27/matterport-3d-scanner/

[bobsil1]

Their application used to ask the lowest price you'd be willing to sell for. Seemed really focused on quick flips.

  If one wanted to buy you three months in (August 2007), what's the lowest offer you'd take?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27532820/app.html

[brandonb]

What makes you think that a low answer is what they're looking for?

[presty]

exactly. seems to me they want to understand how much you value your idea. you know what's cool? a billion dollars