Yep, thats how they work, there's a ton of data to back it up.
Unless you are from few *US* unis, you have zero to none chance of getting in, unless you have significant traction already, in which case you may as well go to any investor and they will fund you.
And if you are among those lucky few, they will fund you with the most shitty idea you have, or even without any at all.
>unless you have significant traction already, in which case you may as well go to any investor and they will fund you
This is the part that really bothers me unfortunately. I honestly grew up thinking that YC invested in people and ideas more than traction. If I had traction, I could raise money from anywhere. YC does invest in people without traction, but you have to be a certain type of person, from a certain background, and from certain institutions.
That's great, but just look at the profiles advertised on the front-page there: Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, etc. Nothing against them personally of course, but I really think this is the trend YC is going towards these days. It's the old school institutional prestige back, but this time it's blended together with SV startups.
> I got 3-4 emails telling me to strongly consider finding a co-founder
A lot of YC's advice is terrible, such as their advice on finding a cofounder.
You can easily tell when they give bad advice: ask them for their dataset. When they don't offer it, consider doing the opposite of what they tell you.
Now, some of their advice is great, when it is data backed an easily testable like Jessica Livingston's "I don't know of a single case of a startup that felt they spent too much time talking to users."
Now, what's a version of their "find a co-founder" advice that doesn't suck: "I don't know of a single case of a successful founder that wasn't building things all the time with many different people."
Don't find a co-founder or two, find dozens of "building buddies" who you just build shit with. Every now and then you can form a legal entity and be "co-founders", but the more important thing is you just create stuff together.
Unless you are from few *US* unis, you have zero to none chance of getting in, unless you have significant traction already, in which case you may as well go to any investor and they will fund you.
And if you are among those lucky few, they will fund you with the most shitty idea you have, or even without any at all.