It's actually quite ridiculous, I actually thought YC is starting to feel like a pyramid scheme. I took a look at the recent batches of YC companies and more than 70% of them seemed to be of the "meta" type, startups selling to startups. Of course these companies do well initially being able to tap into YC's huge community of startups. That doesn't mean they provide fundamental value to the economy, they're just sloshing around a lot of VC money.

On the other hand, maybe that's intentional, kindof of how sports players practice on each other before facing others in a real game. YC is like a startup playground, but the ones who "make it" are those who can use their experience to play in the wider economy. Still, I feel like YC is providing a lot of false hope to people by not being more selective in the ideas they fund.