1. how you feel after successfully helping/mentoring/funding 80 companies?
2. What is the secret of YC's success and the success of YC funded companies?
3. How did you came up with YC business model?
4. What is the most important thing you think companies/founders get from your program? (i know most of them will say VC connection, demo day, mentoring etc. but is it anything else that we are not seeing?)
and finally
5. what advise would you give to the people who wants to replicate your model (as there are few clones already) not to make money but to help grow the spirit of entrepreneurship, employment and innovation?
Pg, your reply/essay will go long way to help - because I think if there are more YCs then there are more successful startups, more startups will bring more jobs in the market, there will be more innovation and it help directly and in-directly the whole economy (especially to the third world countries who might implement your model to get balls rolling).
2. This answer will sound useless, but it's the same reason anyone is good at anything. There's no single secret. There are about 20 different things we have to do, from recognizing talent to talking about product ideas to matching people up with VCs, and we try hard to do them all well.
3. By accident. When we first started YC, we didn't know what to do, so we started with a summer program. Most college students regard summer jobs as disposable anyway, so we figured no one would mind if the experiment was a disaster and all the companies failed. As it turned out, that batch did remarkably well.
4. This one I already did write about: http://ycombinator.com/about.html
5. That it's not as easy as it looks. A lot of people think investing is like betting on horses: you pick, they race, and if they win you get money. Actually it is a lot more active than that. And the earlier the stage, the more work it is. If you want to invest at this stage, you need to have the same qualities you'd need to be a successful founder.