# Y Combinator

20 Hacker News commenters recommended Y Combinator and 27 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its founder network, funding that lets founders pay themselves, and fast application process; critics say its prestige has faded and its network favors insiders.

## Why people recommend it

- Large network of founders and mentors (3 comments): "A massive network of people you can draw on that surpasses literally anything you could build yourself." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46776293)) "try to get into an accelerator like YC, who can make lots of customer intros in the early days" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47384637)) "Access to bookface network (secret network for YC founders and mentors)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46776424))
- Strong track record and impact (3 comments): "YC is pretty good at what it does, it still has a very high false negative rate" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50309971)) "Judging by its impact, YC is one of the greatest companies of all time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46774802)) "how great it is as an accelerator as well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45922256))
- Urgency and clear, hard goals (2 comments): "Y Combinator really opened my eyes to how helpful setting clear and hard to reach goals is." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47558440)) "the sense of urgency is so infectious among founders" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46747296))

## What people warn about

- Political and ethical concerns (6 comments): "the leading figures of it seemed to have decided that fascism is a better alternative to any kind of regulation on their activities" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47988732)) "YCombinator is a criminal mafia organisation, guilty of racketeering, and illegal market collaboration and manipulation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46943661)) "Y Combinator has a vested stake, they want to encourage a maximalist Flock-centric police force." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49578788))
- Prestige has faded (3 comments): "Today, YC is like Harvard: an institution whose approval confers prestige" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48632221)) "Late Soviet Paul Graham exists as the lobbyist for Garry Tan Y-Combinator, which isn't even really prestigious anymore." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48527969)) "Whatever ship the supposed prestige was on sailed a long time ago, then sank." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49149686))

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.ycombinator.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Y Combinator", https://hackerapproved.com/p/y-combinator/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).