[thepanister]

Well, it's absolutely NOT the same "thing"! I don't know pg in person, or any of his partners at YC, and I never talked to them in person... but here is what I know:

1- YC is hosted at the Silicon Valley, which is considered a huge advantage itself.

2- YC is a well known brand name in the seed funding, and if your startup goes to investor under YC's brand name, then they will listen to you, just because you are funded by YC, and they trust it.

3- If you are funded by YC, then everyone in the Silicon Valley will know about your startup so fast!

4- Because of YC, all the editors on the web, like TechCrunch will write articles about your startup. Like what happened with DivvyShot and others.

5- You would be so lucky to be funded by YC, simply because they are experts! Paul and his partner has a vision... it's not only about the money and investment! And their vision and ideas are probably playing a critical role in their startups life!