[theorique]

Would you invest in a CEO whom you had to interrupt every 10-15 seconds because you literally could not understand what he was saying? Since the CEO is the one responsible for communicating with VCs, investors, big customers, potential acquirers, this is a serious concern.

PG has already clarified that he's not talking about someone saying "zee" instead of "the". And YC has funded many non-native English speaking teams before.