YC’s real power is creating more startups, not just funding batches
ycombinator · x · 2026-07-27
YC is framed as a startup factory, not just a batch program
The post argues that YC’s biggest contribution is not the batch itself, but making startups more accessible to technical people who might not otherwise become founders.
It traces that influence from the early days — when the first YC batch was mostly students from Paul Graham’s Harvard talk — through events like the first Startup School in 2007. The broader point is that YC’s real power is creating more startups, while much of venture capital merely competes for startups that would have existed anyway.
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