perhaps 5000+5000n isn't enough to cover your actual expenses for the period.. perhaps you have a mortgage, or dependents, or debt, or a lease that can't be broken, or you need health insurance (see other thread)...
This is why YC's audience is typically college students and very recent grads, who are less likely to have additional obligations. Or, rather, originally the YC concept was geared towards this audience, and the funding amount is an artifact of that.
In theory it's supposed to be suitable for both groups. People who have cheap lives, like recent grads, can actually do everything on our funding. People with expensive lives may not be able to, but they'll also tend to have savings.
Right - that's what I had assumed. From what was said in the thread above, it sounded like moving costs were above and beyond, which I didn't think they were.
How can you say that with such certainty? I moved from Washington, DC to the Bay Area last fall, and my costs were significantly higher than $1000. Even if I cut all the corners, a hypothetical move to Boston would still cost me thousands of dollars.
If I was doing YC for a summer, I wouldn't need to move. I could just fly there with a couple of suitcases and a laptop, but I'd need some way to cover my existing apartment rent. That's a pretty significant expense over 3 months. And I suspect YC is not looking for companies who see the experience just "doing YC for a summer."
This is why YC's audience is typically college students and very recent grads, who are less likely to have additional obligations. Or, rather, originally the YC concept was geared towards this audience, and the funding amount is an artifact of that.