Back
Vishu Bheda
ย โขย
Medialย โขย 5m
Day 2 of The Startup Mafia Series: Why YC Founders Have an Unfair Advantage The world thinks startups are a meritocracyโthat the best ideas win, the smartest founders get funded, and anyone can build a billion-dollar company if they just work hard enough. Thatโs a nice thought. But itโs not reality. In the real world, the biggest startups are chosen before they even launch. And one of the most powerful forces behind this? Y Combinator. What is YC? Y Combinator (YC) is the most famous startup accelerator in the world. It has funded companies like: Airbnb โ Changed travel forever Dropbox โ Redefined cloud storage Stripe โ Powers billions in online payments Reddit โ Became the internetโs front page Sounds like a dream, right? Join YC, and you get funding, mentorship, and connections. But hereโs what most people donโt realize: YC doesnโt just pick winners. It creates them. The YC System: Why Itโs Not a Fair Game Getting into YC is like getting a golden ticket. Once youโre in: Investors chase you instead of the other way around. Media covers you because YC startups are seen as the next big thing. Top talent joins you because they trust YCโs vetting process. Suddenly, youโre no longer just a random founder with an idea. Youโre a YC-backed founder. And hereโs where it gets really interesting. YC doesnโt just support individual startups. It builds a powerful network. YC alumni invest in each other, hire each other, and give each other insider access. Just like the PayPal Mafia. What About the Rest of the Founders? If youโre not in YC, you donโt get the investor hype, the press, the automatic trust. Youโre playing the game on hard mode while YC founders get a shortcut. This is how startup power works. Itโs not about who works the hardestโitโs about whoโs already inside the right circles. And the same pattern repeats in India, Europe, and beyond. Tomorrow: The IIT & IIM Startup Pipeline โ Why They Keep Winning Follow now. The next post will open your eyes.
Replies (6)
More like this
Recommendations from Medial
Mannan Baluvuri
Lifelong Learnerย โขย 5d
Want a role at the ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฏ or ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฝ๐ฒ without endless job hunting? One profile connects you to thousands of YC startup jobs. Hereโs the smart way to get hired. Y Combinator hosts thousands of open roles from over 100+ vetted star
See More
Vishu Bheda
ย โขย
Medialย โขย 4m
Day 5 of The Startup Mafia Series: Inside the Indian Startup Mafia โ The Exclusive Circles That Control the Industry Every industry has gatekeepers. People who decide who gets in, who gets funded, and who wins. The Indian startup ecosystem is no di
See More
Satya
Learner & Creatorย โขย 1m
๐ Why does Silicon Valley create legends? Itโs not just brains or money-itโs mindset! 1๏ธโฃ Contrarian Thinking: Misfits & outsiders are welcomed. Playing safe? Not here. 2๏ธโฃ Experimentation: Try fast, fail fast. Most decisions are reversible-
See More
Vishu Bheda
ย โขย
Medialย โขย 5m
Day 1 of The Startup Mafia Series: How 1 Startup Created 10 Billionaires The startup world loves a good mythโthe lone genius who hustles in a garage, builds something incredible, and becomes a billionaire. Sounds inspiring. Too bad thatโs not how i
See More
Havish Gupta
Figuring Outย โขย 4m
Surge, The Y Combinator of India! So Surge is a seed-stage accelerator program launched in 2019 by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA). It provides early-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia with funding, mentorship, and
See More
Tarun Suthar
ย โขย
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Indiaย โขย 2m
YC Just dropped Requests for Startups. (Summer 25 - AI Agents) ๐ฅ If anyone doesn't know It's a tradition at Y Combinator (YC) where they share ideas for startups that they would particularly like to see founders work on. The ideas on the RFS list
See More
Rishi Agarwal
Founder of Career Cl...ย โขย 15d
Co-founder โ Business Partner. Co-founder = Battle Partner. ๐ฅ Theyโre the one who said โchal karte hainโ when the world said โyeh nahi chalega.โ The one who saw your Google Doc idea and said, โBhai, tu CEO ban, main backend sambhalta hoon.โ ๐จโ๐ป๐ฉ
See More
Vishu Bheda
ย โขย
Medialย โขย 4m
Day 8 of The Startup Mafia Series: How to Build Your Own "Startup Mafia" Even Without a Fancy Degree If youโre not from IIT, IIM, or YC, does that mean youโll never succeed in startups? No. But it does mean youโll have to build your own network fro
See More
Download the medial app to read full posts, comements and news.