In a post on X, Paul Graham argued that the knocks on Y Combinator have barely changed over time: investors still say startup valuations are too high, competitors still say batch sizes mean YC has "jumped the shark," and, in his telling, both complaints have repeatedly turned out wrong. A follow-up post from Jack Altman on X pushed the argument further, saying YC's hit rate is strong enough that he thinks the program itself must be improving founders' odds, not just selecting winners.