Something relevant to note, is that YC's two biggest successes got into YC at least in part because of personal relationships.
IIRC, Dropbox was recommended by former roommates and friends from MIT (Xobni guys?). Airbnb was recommended by Michael Seibel from Justin.tv, perhaps others.
In both cases it's possible that YC wouldn't have interviewed or perhaps accepted one or both of these companies if not for those recommendations.
Or perhaps wouldn't have accepted Dropbox without the MIT credentials.
Based on the stories the founders tell, YC was very skeptical of both ideas (but it's probably hard for them to judge).
The next question I think of is whether Airbnb would have succeeded without YC. I suspect not. As good as those guys were at staying alive even they had limits, which they seemed in danger of reaching at that point.
Dropbox had a better chance probably, since it was already very well received, but maybe they would have fumbled it without the YC help. Certainly they wouldn't have done quite as well.
If personal connections was the thing that pushed some of YC's big successes over the application/interview acceptance hurdle it's fair to conclude that they've probably missed out on some others that didn't have those connections.
Even in a meritocracy, those making the decisions need some way to both gather and screen candidates. Properly utilized personal relationships (as opposed to nepotism style situations) can be a good way to do both.
Maybe Dropbox and Airbnb wouldn't have succeeded without those recommendations, but those recommendations could certainly have led to a MORE merit based process. When it comes to judging quality, it can sometime be hard to beat a personal opinion from someone you trust. That may narrow the field a little bit (nobody has personally experienced all the alternatives) but it may also improve your decision.
IIRC, Dropbox was recommended by former roommates and friends from MIT (Xobni guys?). Airbnb was recommended by Michael Seibel from Justin.tv, perhaps others.
In both cases it's possible that YC wouldn't have interviewed or perhaps accepted one or both of these companies if not for those recommendations.
Or perhaps wouldn't have accepted Dropbox without the MIT credentials.
Based on the stories the founders tell, YC was very skeptical of both ideas (but it's probably hard for them to judge).
The next question I think of is whether Airbnb would have succeeded without YC. I suspect not. As good as those guys were at staying alive even they had limits, which they seemed in danger of reaching at that point.
Dropbox had a better chance probably, since it was already very well received, but maybe they would have fumbled it without the YC help. Certainly they wouldn't have done quite as well.
If personal connections was the thing that pushed some of YC's big successes over the application/interview acceptance hurdle it's fair to conclude that they've probably missed out on some others that didn't have those connections.