I think a lot of early stage startups look up to YC acceptance as validation, but when you apply at the early stage, you get rejected almost automatically. Too much emphasis on number of users, revenue, etc. So a lot of potentially great startups die before they even see the light of day.
Feedback to early stage startups could encourage more founders to apply and keep going. Otherwise it's time consuming to put an application together.
I have a feeling that the next Facebook, Google, etc. will not be discovered in any accelerator program.
I would imagine that as investors YC would like to invest in the founders that look at users and revenue as validation of their ideas rather than acceptance into YC as validation. Not only does that show the startup is more viable but shows the dedication of the founders.
I agree with you on feedback. I would LOVE specific reasons why I was not accepted as it would give me very clear goals to shoot for. I also understand that the time to provide that feedback would be crippling to their own productivity.
(As an aside, I wonder if we are past the stage of another Facebook or Google. In a macro sense it seems as if we might be at a bit of a pullback from globalization and a result of that might be less new large global companies. I wonder if the next global companies of that size come from India or Brazil but for that to be the case the company would really need to come at the same time of massive economic growth and reduced corruption.)
Feedback to early stage startups could encourage more founders to apply and keep going. Otherwise it's time consuming to put an application together.
I have a feeling that the next Facebook, Google, etc. will not be discovered in any accelerator program.