Well, if they said yes to that, they'd have equity in a huge number of companies too. ;-)
But yeah, I can understand why they didn't go for it. It's turned out that yCombinator partner time is the scarcest resource in the Founders Programs. It makes sense to concentrate that where it's most likely to have the most effect, in the accepted founders. Which unfortunately doesn't include me.
This was for the first funding cycle though: at the time, nearly everyone harped on the money and not on the fringe benefits. Maybe Graham et al knew that partner bandwidth would be scarce, but I thought I was being clever by going for the part I really needed and offering to give up the part that didn't matter so much to me.
It's not only time but respect too. The ability of YC to connect startups with investors and acquirers depends on its ability and commitment to select only the most promising teams. Anything that may look like a deviation from that would harm the YC brand.
Waiving the cash suggests that you have your priorities right, but if YC believes in you, that money serves you both better in your pocket than in YC's, don't you think?
But yeah, I can understand why they didn't go for it. It's turned out that yCombinator partner time is the scarcest resource in the Founders Programs. It makes sense to concentrate that where it's most likely to have the most effect, in the accepted founders. Which unfortunately doesn't include me.
This was for the first funding cycle though: at the time, nearly everyone harped on the money and not on the fringe benefits. Maybe Graham et al knew that partner bandwidth would be scarce, but I thought I was being clever by going for the part I really needed and offering to give up the part that didn't matter so much to me.