I found that quote to be the most interesting bit of the piece as well.<p>Obviously it&#x27;s in every company&#x27;s best interest to hold a monopoly position in a large market. It&#x27;s that strong self interest and drive to do whatever it takes to be #1 that I think YC is generally looking for in its founders, rather than a truly brilliant or unique idea. Ideas are cheap, execution and grit is rare. This will be increasingly true for the new biotech&#x2F;hardware startups that YC is looking at - grinding away in the lab for a shot at a patented monopoly position is the name of the game.<p>It&#x27;s just interesting to see the goal of becoming a monopoly stated so bluntly as the end goal of every company that comes through YC. It clashes a bit with the hacker ethos of doing something because its intrinsically cool, interesting, and not expected to scale. Seems like YC is entering a new phase as a larger, more mature organization.