Two points. One, my understanding of Paul's basic premise is that it's not the class quality that matters, it's the unicorns that matter. As in, in this game, you're not chasing good classes. You want the one or two superstars, even if they're in a crap class. Secondly, the analysis I'd find useful is one that looks at unicorns using hindsight. How early can you tell them apart? They are the ones we came here for, remember? It's a very hard task, like telling the gender of day-old chicks.
Lordarminius|9 years ago
I used to wonder at this thinking and so apparently have many other observers until I hit upon the realization that the narrative from YC was misleading. It doesn't make sense to rest your entire strategy on seeking one or two superstars from a crap class. What is really going on, is that they organize the most promising applicants into a class then nurture and wait for unicorns to emerge. The midlings make returns too