Yes, there were too many people. We originally expected the event to be much smaller, but a lot more people asked for invitations than we expected, and we then had to choose between increasing the size and turning away most of the people who wanted to come. With some misgivings, we chose the former. But unfortunately then it no longer felt like the informal meetup we intended. I'm not sure what to do about this problem. Maybe we just can't do meetups.

Being in attendance, I don't think the size detracted from the quality of the event. It actually made networking a lot easier (merely because there were so many different people to talk to). Being that this was the first NYC event ever, I think things went well. If you decide to do another in the future, you'll know what works and what doesn't. I hope more than anything, though, the size and enthusiasm of the crowd helped to show the desire for a strong startup community on the East Coast.

YC is, in a sense, transitioning from being a startup into being a 'big company'.

I think the answer to this is to be very selective and unfortunately for them, turn down many many people. I think this would only increase the value of the meetup for those who are selected.

Ah, you need a fake name and a disguise.

I'd suggest "Richard Feynman", in honor of the inventor of this idea, but that might not achieve the desired effect.

I don't know exactly how YCNYC worked (so this may of already happened) but my suggestion would be to do seperate groups i.e. Group 1 & Group 2 and then in the Evening you could bring together as an "After-Party" type thing to facilitate networking etc.

For instance if you were to speak as well as some of the YC Alumni then the following could happen;

Group 1 - YC Alumni - BREAK - PG

Group 2 - PG - BREAK - YC Alumni

Obviously this would add a few extra problems, including increased costs although, this could easily be solved having a small fee for attendance (again I don't know the exact details of how YCNYC worked so if it was a free meetup charging $10 say wouldn't bother people and would help to recoup the additional costs etc)

This would make the event appear much smaller than what it actually is thus, making it more informal as well as allowing, people to network in the Evening as well.