Let me go against the grain here and say: there&#x27;s nothing wrong with this idea! Sounds like a fun way for several startups to get visibility (more power to them), Justin to broaden YC&#x27;s visibility, and to encourage a few startups to be visually creative in a way that they wouldn&#x27;t be able to on a normal application. YC doesn&#x27;t have a quota for its current programs, so it&#x27;s not zero-sum.<p>There are tons of mature adults that use Snapchat for normal communication with friends.<p>And the &quot;lack of transparency&quot; criticism is just looking for anything to criticize YC for. <i>If anything, there&#x27;s more transparency than the normal YC process</i> because the runners-up are publicly known and exposed to community comments.