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Ask HN: Should YC become a non-profit?

5 points by jrkelly ↗ HN
YC has many of the features of a top tier college. Careful admissions process, strong alumni network, great branding on resume, lasting relationships with talented peers, high cultural cachet, etc.

Universities are more persistent than companies or investment funds (the best universities have been around for centuries). Part of this stability is rooted in alumni having a powerful drive to give back both money and time.

YC seems close to being a new sort of top tier educational institution that could really persist, however alumni are less inclined to give to an institution that primarily exists to enrich individuals. If YC established an endowment and went non-profit, it would have a shot at being a new MIT.

I'm not a YC alum. Just an observation from the outside.

9 comments

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YuriNiyazov
YC is a new type of organization. Converting it to a university would just make it a good old type of organization. Being a new type of organization is much more interesting.
jrkelly
Yeah, I agree with you - I think YC is one of the first new organization types that actually has a shot at creating an equivalently prestigious alternative to top tier schools. Wasn't suggesting to convert to a university, but I do think YC would be longer-lasting as a non-profit.
mcintyre1994
From what I've read (never been through YC), YC alumni seem brilliant. What do you think they should be doing that they're not?
jrkelly
From the outside admissions seems great, no complaints about the people they accept and alumni they create. I just think the organization right now is fragile. YC is unlikely to be around in 100 years while top tier universities are very likely to be around. I think moving to a non-profit model would increase YC alumni give-back (in time and $) and thus increase the odds that YC lasts 100 years.
ig1
If YC ever got to the point where it needed donation from alumni to survive it would mean it has failed. That is if it got to the point of no-longer graduating successful companies which generate heaps of money for them, then there would be no purpose in keeping it going.
samfisher83
I don't believe that is his point. Harvard could become a for profit school charge some obscene tuition and it could make money, because there is so much demand for a harvard degree. It isn't about just surviving. If the YC crew is making a lot of money more power to them.
jrkelly
I think the model of taking a piece of alumni future income (via ownership in their startups) is a competitive advantage of YC relative to places like MIT. It's a forced donation policy. Going to a non-profit doesn't stop this. NPs obviously can take in tons of revenue - a NP model just encourages alumni to give more back (time/connections as well as $). I wouldn't feel the same sense of wanting to give back to MIT if the school basically existed to increase the wealth of the school president. YC is very different from a typical VC fund, it would be sad for it to die just because (like every fund) eventually it'll have a bad run. It could be more stable than that since it is also providing value to it's alumni that they'd happily pay back.
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bitonomics
Is the thought to keep the process the same and find a way of managing the endowment from the Alumni?

Any reason they couldn't seed the additional resources of the Alumni and remain a for-profit entity?