If YC stops considering themselves a startup in 50 years, pg will be turning in his grave. It would mean there’s room for a competitor to dethrone YC, just like any other big company.

And startup jobs come with equity. That’s one of the biggest incentives to work for a startup. Otherwise the smart, capable hackers would quietly focus on getting a top job at Google.

All else being equal, there’s no reason to work as hard as you can for $10M when you can get it by coasting for two decades at a big company. And YC staff works hard.