That outcome was not likely for anyone other than the top 2-3 companies per batch pre about 2011, and in 2009, due to the financial crisis, we were basically told “you probably won’t raise money at all”.
We went to YC because it seemed like the best place to learn how to build successful companies and to be around others doing it.
I thought you gave away 7% of your company for the big pile of VC money that YC hooks you up with, so you have a few years of runway to find an intersection between "an idea you had" and "an idea people are willing to collectively spend a lot of money on".