Honestly, has YC actually been shown to consistently add value? I thought the jury was out on that, until we get stats about success rates. Given how many companies they fund, how much time do they actually spend with each company? How do they scale the model without diluting experience?
Most VC's, even poor ones bank on 2/10 paying for the failures, otherwise they go out of business. Has YC provided > 20% success rate - I don't know, I'm asking? How does YC even define success?
Sequoia and YC do not have a monopoly on technology success, far from it. There are many thousands of excellent, proven technology investors around the world available to work with. Pretending your idea is better than all but the "top 10" is laughable really.
PS: Mentioning YC in the same sentence as Sequoia isn't really fair to Sequoia given their success.
And I was being concrete, but generic...I don't think one should take money from someone you can't trust to share your vision for your company. In our case, we're being extremely particular about what investors we talk to, and who we'd take money from (and, so far, we've opted not to accept any additional funding--we don't need it urgently, and we'd rather it be a perfect fit than a desperate cash-for-suffering deal). Of course, perhaps I shouldn't use the phrase "top ten"...there are certainly great VCs we haven't heard of yet. Sequoia wasn't always top dog (KP held that title for many years in the past, if I recall correctly), or even on the radar for most investors. I'm just saying it's really important to be careful who you allow onto your board.
I would never suggest taking money from someone who doesn't share your vision, I just know that Sequoia and YC don't have a monopoly on technology success. I especially find advice from serial entrepreneurs in tangible technology space useful - while they don't have the big exits that the early/lucky digital technology entrepreneurs have, they know "real" business better in my experience, and always have something useful to say.
Most VC's, even poor ones bank on 2/10 paying for the failures, otherwise they go out of business. Has YC provided > 20% success rate - I don't know, I'm asking? How does YC even define success?
Sequoia and YC do not have a monopoly on technology success, far from it. There are many thousands of excellent, proven technology investors around the world available to work with. Pretending your idea is better than all but the "top 10" is laughable really.
PS: Mentioning YC in the same sentence as Sequoia isn't really fair to Sequoia given their success.