YC W20 vs F26: founder says batch quality unchanged, Garry Tan endorses the take
garrytan · x · 2026-09-26
Mathew Pregasen, who went through YC W20 and is now in YC F26, pushes back on claims that YC is backing younger, inexperienced founders or losing its touch. He argues both batches had equally talented founders — his old batch produced PostHog and WhatNot, and he expects similar outcomes this time. On the criticism that "YC doesn't back visionary founders," he says the point of YC is to test hypotheses fast in a structured environment, not to advertise vision. YC president Garry Tan retweeted the thread, signaling official endorsement.
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