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Low Status, High Status - Marvy101

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One of the reasons why this batch is so legendary is because the kind of people who would work on an idea for a summer, when it was not popular to do so, are the kind of people who end up being successful. Another data point is that, when the internet just began, it was low status to go work for Google, Microsoft, or some other internet company compared to banking. The people who took the low-status option then, are rich af now. Now, starting a startup is no longer regarded as low status and is even regarded as elite. This means that starting a startup no longer attracts only the specific type of people who are willing to do some low-status thing because of their conviction or interestingness. It also attracts people who are looking to attain higher social status. Former YC president, Sam Altman, talked about how he feels some responsibility now that starting a startup is no longer the way it was when he started - ‘the motivation for starting a startup has changed and is now equivalent

The Legendary First Batch at YC in 2005 Company Founder(s) Recent Graduate Current Student 4+ Years Outside College Notes Reddit Steve Huffman Yes No No Graduated from the University of Virginia in 2005 Reddit Alexis Ohanian Yes No No Graduated from the University of Virginia in 2005 Reddit Chris Slowe No No Yes Research assistant at Harvard for 6 years since his graduation in 2000 from Harvard Infogami Aaron Swartz No Yes (Dropped out) No Was working on projects and activism prior to YC, dropped out of formal education Kiko Emmett Shear Yes No No Graduated from Yale in 2005 Kiko Justin Kan Ye

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