[mpdehaan2]

I never even thought to apply.

Why? The San Francisco requirement was against my ideals that tech exists everywhere, and that's not how I wanted to build a company.

More so, the stake they required relative to funding was pretty huge.

I would now, to a degree, put YCombinator kind of in the same vein as Shark Tank in outside perceptions - allegedly that show takes 3% of your company whether you get a deal or not. Clearly, advice is offered for either winner, but the deals given out are often not as valuable as the "press" or label in that case.

While a lot of interesting companies have come out of that particular incubator (thanks for the forum, BTW), there's also a lot of business models that I consider on the edge of a bubble, and without the weird investment ecosystem that does exist in the bay area, I don't think many of them would exist. I say this in terms of valuations of what service the business provides to society, and how niche is is, versus "valuations" in the typical investment sense. What is valued is, I don't know, skewed in strange ways.

By all means, if you want to try to create a startup (which I do believe is not for everyone, or even most people), build things your own way if you really believe in the idea. If you can bootstrap things and avoid venture capital entirely, and be your own boss, even better. I'd advise thinking of it as a company from day one, rather than a startup, and don't think of funding as a way to get profitable. That means you'll be free of the venture capitol addiction at a much earlier time, and be in more control of your own destiny.

[evook]

> without the weird investment ecosystem that does exist in the bay area, I don't think many of them would exist

Probably the wisest words spoken regarding the startup business on HN for months. If you are not able to launch a company without external money, there are two possible reasons behind that. Either you aren't ready to build a company, or your idea is not worth your efforts and there was never an expectable RoI to begin with.

[tyang]

A third possibility is investors are lemmings and are too stupid to understand the unique insight you have into a big market.

As an investor who thought Instacart, Uber and BufferBox were really stupid ideas and missed a chance to invest in them (Uber through AngelList), I know this possibility is all too real. :)

[BatFastard]

This is SO not true! The only ideas you can launch with no money as VERY small ones. Could Tesla or SpaceX launch with no money? Could any project that takes over 3-6 man months of labor? So basically you are just writing off anything but simple web projects.

[quadrature]

Tech does exist everywhere and so do markets and YC has funded companies internationally and in other cities/states.

The only requirement is that you be in the bay area for the duration of the program which I think is essential because of the networking opportunities,office hours and dinners that you'll be attending in person.

[beering]

> Why? The San Francisco requirement was against my ideals that tech exists everywhere, and that's not how I wanted to build a company.

So you have to be in the Bay Area for 3 months. After that you are welcome to be anywhere. If being in the Bay for the 3 months is not feasible, then just say so, or find something near you instead.

> More so, the stake they required relative to funding was pretty huge.

This is entirely dependent on what you currently have and what you hope to get out of YC. If you're just starting out, that 10% stake is worth approximately $0, so it's a good deal. If you're doing $5mm in EBITDA a year, then it's not. But to say that it's "pretty huge" without any context is shortsighted.

[joelrunyon]

> llegedly that show takes 3% of your company whether you get a deal or not.

I think this was the deal in season 2. Cuban made them change it though & they fixed everything retroactively as he argued it would push away quality deals.