Paul, the Henry Potter reaction is understandable... this certainly could be interpreted as blatant plagiarism of your ideas. But the other way to read it is as a validation of the vision behind YC. The new model for startup investment that you all have pioneered is clearly in line with the current trajectory of innovation on the internet. You figured it out first -- everyone reading this knows that -- and it almost seems like it'd be MORE worrisome if other investors didn't jump on the same bandwagon right about now.

I mean, at the end of the day, "who's committed and who's merely involved?" -- as Dharmesh put it -- is a pretty damn important thing to know when making the decision to invest in a team. Is it that surprising that other investors are asking the same question?

Point is, techstars just proves that you guys are on to something. And, considering the growing buzz around YC -- not to mention the rockstars who post here at news.yc, speak at your events, and contributed to Jessica's book -- well, seems like Harry Potter's got a pretty serious first-mover advantage. =)

Perhaps the time has come for a startup that starts startups that start startups.

personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable telling my ideas to people who copy others so obviously. maybe they hoped nobody would see?! or make it easy for those submitting to YC?

but news.YC is building a community and others seems to missed the train on that..

"I wouldn't feel comfortable telling my ideas to people who copy others so obviously. maybe they hoped nobody would see?!"

Or maybe they've internalized the idea that ideas aren't the important part of most startups, and it didn't occur to them that people might see it as a negative.

I haven't applied (yet) to either, due to age (33) and a mortgage, but I'm still thinking about it. :)

Even as someone that rejects intellectual property as invalid, I suppose I can understand why you are displeased.

However, as for your example, why would anyone buy such a book unless it explored new stories or otherwise filled a void in the market?

The book analogy falls apart here, because only a limited number of people are accepted to YC or TS, while a (practically) unlimited number of people can read Harry Potter. The existence of two YC-like programs doesn't significantly decrease the amount of interest per program, especially since you can apply to both. It does, however, significantly increase (approx double) the number of entrepreneurs funded, and the competition may encourage YC to improve its program further.

As for your book example comment, if somebody wrote Henry Potter, I imagine lots of people would read it. The story in each new Harry Potter book isn't new and exciting either... it's the same story, new details. Also, just because Harry Potter was the most popular series with that story line doesn't mean there's no demand for other similar books.

We don't accept a fixed number of applicants. We'll fund anyone who seems good enough. If we suddenly got 30 great applications, we''d accept them all, and worry later about how to cram them all into our space.

My guess is that we're about to see more YC "copycats" popping up. YC is turning down hundreds of applicants each round, Techstars has at least a couple of hundred applicants for their first round, and those numbers are only going to grow as word spreads about these types of opportunities. Entrepreneurial minds aren't only coming from Boston and the Bay area (and other startup hubs), and they're looking for new opportunities. So, there seems to be a growing market for businesses wanting to help start startups. I think this is pretty exciting.

A half-assed program will likely yield half-ass results.

I thought that you'd be chaffed at being copied.