41% of recent YC founders worked at a YC company as employees before starting their own company. We only learned this stat recently and even we were surprised it was so high.
@snowmaker Is there a Pareto of most of them coming from the few largest / most longstanding YC cos? Or distributed across a long tail?
@snowmaker From my experience when you’re hire 5 to 10. The founder and key contributors are mostly on the fund raise path at all times. This lets you experience the full spectrum and you’re the one manning the ship. You suddenly realize I can do this just as good or better. 🫡
@snowmaker The YC nepotism (I don't mean that in a bad way) has been present since the first years. Back then, startups weren't trendy, and people found out about YC through word of mouth. After startups blew up, everyone started applying, you needed an alum to show you how to stand out.
@snowmaker @paulg Interesting... Average age of founders?
@snowmaker @paulg The YC logo was depicted as a tree in one of my old YC hoodies, and I think this is an apt depiction. For YC to continue its impact, its roots must stay strong, and its branches must extend further.
@snowmaker It's been a pitch in YC startup videos that if you want to make one, you should work at one :D. Also, once you are in, you can get referrals, tips, network, adapt to the philosophy.
@snowmaker Not surprising. The recommendation letters from other YC founders is a big part of acceptance process. People that work at YC startups have more recommendations and connections in the YC network.
@snowmaker @paulg On balance, is it a net positive that tech startups are extremely in-group biased? For the purposes of innovation, isn’t diversity of work background, thought, etc inherently valuable?