people always ask me whether i think they should apply to YC the answer depends: do you want to commit 10 years of your life to create a generational billion dollar company where you'll probably fail but if you do succeed you make enough money to never have to work a day in your life ever again? do yc. it makes raising future rounds so much easier. on the other hand, do you want to build fun little projects that make money and stay the sole employee and probably cap out at $2-3M / year but keep all the revenue to yourself? don't do yc. you don't need it. bootstrap instead. and don't get deluded into thinking raising VC money is the only way to start a startup i learned this the hard way.