There's a Burning Man analogy in the Twitter comments that struck me as quite apt. In fact, it holds for everything from vacation destinations to multi-decade music acts.
People who were there at the beginning feel that something magical has slowly been corrupted by success and all the bigness issues that come with it. They aren't totally wrong. But people who get there later still find something of value, and everything is now sturdy enough to support wider participation.
Yeah, it seems to be the natural evolution of anything that starts out small and obscure, then becomes famous and cool.
I have no doubt that there's some obscure, ramshackle accelerator out there that will someday be as prestigious as YC, just like there is some small, tight knit festival that will eventually become as huge as Burning Man.
But taking part early also means foregoing the prestige factor, and accepting that this obscure accelerator/festival will most likely never get big or cool. You can't have it both ways.
People who were there at the beginning feel that something magical has slowly been corrupted by success and all the bigness issues that come with it. They aren't totally wrong. But people who get there later still find something of value, and everything is now sturdy enough to support wider participation.
I'm okay with seeing it both ways.