This is going back to YC&#x27;s roots and I love it!<p>If you are scrappy, $20k can get you extremely far at a cost that is &quot;basically&quot; zero (1.5% stake that only converts upon a liquidity event of $100M+ or IPO).<p>Remember, PG &quot;...started Viaweb with $10k...&quot;[0] in 1995 and &quot;Julian got 10% of Viaweb&quot; for that investment. Viaweb sold to Yahoo! for $49M[1]. The whole reason why YC exists is because PG got a $10k investment!<p>Back in 2005, pre YC, PG started the Summer Founders Program and invested $20k in each group. &quot;Another of our hypotheses was that you can start a startup on less money than most people think. Other investors were surprised to hear the most we gave any group was $20,000. But we knew it was possible to start on that little because we started Viaweb on $10,000.&quot;[2]<p>The first version of Viaweb.[3]<p>I keep finding examples of the seeds of YC and they get me really excited. You can see a photo from 2005 from the SFP and YC&#x27;s roots here[4]<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;old.ycombinator.com&#x2F;start.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;old.ycombinator.com&#x2F;start.html</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Viaweb" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Viaweb</a><p>[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;paulgraham.com&#x2F;sfp.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;paulgraham.com&#x2F;sfp.html</a><p>[3] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;19961120231442&#x2F;http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.viaweb.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;19961120231442&#x2F;http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.viaweb....</a><p>[4] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ep.yimg.com&#x2F;ty&#x2F;cdn&#x2F;paulgraham&#x2F;sfptable.jpg" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ep.yimg.com&#x2F;ty&#x2F;cdn&#x2F;paulgraham&#x2F;sfptable.jpg</a>