[nostrademons]

There's a difference between "Everyone who gets into yCombinator is smart" and "Everyone who doesn't get into yCombinator is not". The former is true as far as I've observed; I don't have a whole lot to go on, but I've met a couple YC applicants at startup gatherings and frequent the sites of a few more, and they all seem like sharp cookies. I never claimed the latter. There are bound to be smart people that don't get into YC. (At least, I hope so, since I've been rejected twice and have no affiliation wit yCombinator besides posting on news.YC.)

[vlad]

Yeah, it makes sense that you didn't mean that. I got stuck on the line that said "The YCombinator application weeds out people who are unintelligent"--which of course clearly implies that 90% of the applicants are NOT smart, unless they got to the interview stage--but the second paragraph has a great message.

Of course YCombinator founders are smart. That's why I said so. I haven't met a stupid one. But it doesn't mean that they were the only smart people, or that stupid people make bad entrepreneurs, or that a great way to judge how smart someone is is by their degree, or that a great way to predict success in the consumer app space is how 'smart' someone is. All of those assumptions go against what is preached time and time again by both Pauls, Max Levchin, and others.

And I still disagree that, based on Paul's application, essays, interviews, and speeches, that YCombinator's main filter is how smart the team is. The order is likely 1) how famous the company already is, 2) whether the team is incorporated already, 3) whether the team is bigger than one person, 4) followed by how dedicated the team is, 5) and, how smart it is. (But it's the same kind of speculation as anyone else's.)

Please let me know what you think, because I respect your opinion.

[vlad]

(It says you already replied 12 mins ago but I just finished editing my response, so you might want to get the update.)