From the outside looking in, it seems to me that the biggest benefit of YC is the people you get to meet and build relationships with along w/ the advice and feedback and accountability to focus on the things that actually matter to growing a business. These are lessons and relationships that will carry through even if you decide that VC-backed hypergrowth isn't for you and you want a small lifestyle business. Joining YC does not preclude you from doing things differently, but it does provide access to some amazingly smart and capable people that would be hard, if not impossible, to replicate somewhere else.