I don't think the MOOC gets away from this original ambition. YC is still interested in funding the maximum possible number of promising companies.

This is, however, a clear logistical challenge when you have a partner/advice model that doesn't scale all that easily. It may just turn out that an online, infinitely scalable net is precisely the best way to grow the number of great companies you can see and subsequently fund.

I don't think YC intends this to be a purely educational exercise.

YC would like to fund a lot more startups. We're working on this.

Also, being connected doesn't help people get into YC. We have no connection to most of the companies we fund.

RE: "We have no connection to most of the companies we fund."

This certainly isn't the perception on my part - the flood of posts from previous YC companies who talk about how they had help from other YC companies to polish their pitch makes it seem like current YC companies are definitively connected to previous YC companies.

The handful of blog posts you see here on HN are not representative of the whole batch. The majority of companies that we fund have zero alumni connections.

To me, this is actually one of the most important features of YC: the application process is completely open and we fund people from around the world regardless of background. Having graduated from college in Ohio in the 90s I moved here with zero connections and really wished for something like YC.

An awesome feature certainly. I appreciate the access (and the free teaching we're getting more of soon) :)

While I can't dictate what orgs do, it'd be helpful to see some "we applied with zero connections and got in on our strength alone" posts to balance it out.

I agree it would be good to have more blog posts with that message -- I worry that good founders won't apply due to the mistaken impression that alumni connections are required.

Here's one for you: https://twitter.com/joseluisnuno/status/770711984543244288

I not only had zero connections to YC.. I actually had zero connections to silicon valley! We (RedCarpet.Cash) are a India-based fintech startup - IMHO the third to ever get funded by YC.

We were also unusual because we are probably the first Indian YC startup with on-ground operations. We went through 3 rounds of YC interviews (not just the one!) .. because the interviewers had to learn about India. Our first interviewer was mwseibel !

What impressed me was that YC learned about India, invested in us and supported us through a pivot back in India. Big shout out to Aaron Harris, who is probably the resident Asia expert now [1]

[1] http://www.aaronkharris.com/carts-without-horses

We don't have any blog posts about it, but the company my friend's and I started got into YC with 0 connections and we're pretty much all from the midwest USA. No one took a risk on us until YC, every penny the company had came from 2 of the cofounders' pockets. While we're not out of the woods yet, there is no way we would still be at it w/o YC.

We applied and got in without any connections whatsoever to YC.

We hadn't ever been to Silicon Valley or to the United States, and no company from our country (Brazil) or even our continent had ever joined YC before us.

Having no connections is no reason not to apply.

I am interested in a startup idea, what do I have to do to get in YC?

I am from India.

As a YC alum, I help a few companies polish their pitch every application season. I have no connection to most of those companies - they're just folks with an exciting idea who sent me a compelling email.

My cofounders & I got the same help from folks we didn't know when we were applying to YC. It's a pretty awesome community.

I think the net needs to include people who know people that were funded by YC and not just the partners themselves.