Non-YC founder here as well. Please don't read results like this and think there is no way you will have success as a founder if you do not get into an incubator by this age. Rather, what should be looked at is that YC looks for a very specific profile when grooming their prospective companies. They want young, vibrant, fearless candidates whose idealism allows for a significant chunk of ownership to be forked over in exchange for connections and press. As founders get older, we tend to learn there is more than one way to skin a cat. So you'll see us learning our own ways to network, or get press, or get traction.
Non-YC founder here as well. Please don't read results like this and think there is no way you will have success as a founder if you do not get into an incubator by this age.
Not sure if that was meant for me, or just for everyone else reading this thread, but I definitely don't think that way. When I say "it's now or never," I mean "it's now or never to launch this startup, and make it work by hook or by crook." YC isn't even on our radar now, for various reasons, but we're confident we'll succeed with or without any given incubator, or anybody else, aside from the only people who matter - customers.
Yes, it's not like YC is discriminating against older founders. It's more like older founders realizing it doesn't make sense for them since they've developed a network, savings, management experience, etc.
Many of the benefits of an incubator (or even of angel investing/VC/etc in general) are the benefits of experience. No need to spend time gaining something you've already got and certainly no need to give up equity for it.
