"If we'd had enough time to do what we wanted, Y Combinator would have been in Berkeley."
As a co-founder of Berkeley based company from YC S11 batch. Darn it! Berkeley would have been a great place to start YC. With Berkeley campus supplying a lot of CS students and the easy-going counter-culture that Berkeley provides (which gels well with counter-intuitive funding strategy of YC). It would have been great! Of course, the VCs would've to trek to Berkeley to attend demo days but that filters out the people who aren't serious. :)
I had the opposite reaction: "What good fortune that they didn't have enough time!" Not that Berkeley isn't great, but it isn't in the Valley. It's hard to imagine YC being quite as successful if it weren't right in the thick of things.
On the flip side, now that MobileWorks is here, pg, jl and the YC community have a welcome place to hang out when they're in Berkeley. Thursday nights at the MobileWorks offices are starting to have a YC vibe to them.
As a co-founder of Berkeley based company from YC S11 batch. Darn it! Berkeley would have been a great place to start YC. With Berkeley campus supplying a lot of CS students and the easy-going counter-culture that Berkeley provides (which gels well with counter-intuitive funding strategy of YC). It would have been great! Of course, the VCs would've to trek to Berkeley to attend demo days but that filters out the people who aren't serious. :)