Comment by updog

I was thinking this as well, but for a different reason. I, for one, would never enter the YC program. $15,000 (especially for that much equity) just doesn't work for most people. The only demographic that can really make that work are 20ish year olds coming right out of school. They haven't started real life yet, and have minimal obligations. Anyone else competent/qualified is probably quitting a job and has various bills and debts, and if they made the decision to do a startup, they already have some bootstrap money or a bit of revenue from a side gig, so that $15k isn't going to make or break them. For 150k however, this changes things entirely. YC can now attract a far more diverse pool of aspiring startups.