Throwaway account for this one.. We&#x27;re a team of 2 and have tremendous growth since we&#x27;ve been founded last year and we always wanted to be part of YC for a couple of specific reasons than just the funding or mentorship.<p>We&#x27;re currently partnered with a big YC company and they&#x27;ve specifically requested us to not pursue VC money or apply to YC. I think the reason is when the time is right, they would want to acquire us at a very low price.<p>Since this is a YC company, would applying be a conflict of interest and we&#x27;d be just wasting our time or even worse.. cut ties on our trusted partnership?
Ask HN: Should we still apply to YC even after told not to?