Randy was a fixture in our S11 batch and had as much of an insight into YC as the people in the program. He sat in on and experienced private meetings, office hours, social events, dinners, Demo Day, and fundraising so he is as qualified to write about YC as anyone. I just wrapped up the advance copy of The Launch Pad, and highly recommend it to anyone who wants an inside look at what life is like in YC.
I pre-ordered this book and I'm excited to see how it is.
I tend to be instantly turned off by phrasing such as "American Idol for budding entrepreneurs" but then I think back to everything I've learned about pitching and understand the value of these types of phrases as well as the target audience (which is obviously not people who already know about y comb).
I'm hoping I'll enjoy it in the same way I enjoyed Steve Job's biography: an interesting behind-the-scenes look at events that have been happening in my periphery, where I've heard stories here and there, and am finally able to put all the pieces together.
Looks like this book is going to do pretty well for the author. I've seen it pop up at least 3-4 times on sites I visit frequently this week. Heck, it convinced me to buy a copy.
Which strikes me as somewhat funny if the review is true.
Ivy league isn't about what you know, but where you went and who you know. Isn't Y Combinator turning into Ivy League? People want to get in even without an idea? You want to network with people already in YC or those associated with it?
YC served a great purpose; to show how you can bootstrap your startup. Get an idea, refine it, sell it, profit.
I feel as if YC will become less relevant as time goes on, but the lessons and knowledge its aggregated will go on as "startup common sense".
EDIT: This is not to say that YCombinator hasn't served a great purpose. It has. Now that the idea has taken off, its bigger than a single organization: http://startupweekend.org/incubators/
