"One investor who has spoken to companies in this Y Combinator group and who didn’t want to be identified said he estimates that the pre-money valuations on this batch will average $10 million."<p>I don't care how good a crop of candidates YC attracts - that type of pre-money valuation can't be for any _particular_ startup, rationally supported in just 90 days of work with a small team.<p>The following possibilities come to mind:<p><pre><code> A) The investor who was not named was pulling numbers
out of their ass and couldn't back them up.
B) The current crop has been working on their ideas for
a lot longer than 90 days
C) We've reached a bubble in valuations.
D) There is an expectation of at least one multi-billion
dollar hit that will make up for the losses on the
other 40 or so misses.
E) I'm wrong, and the current batch of YC start-ups
truly do deserve $10 Million pre-money valuations.</code></pre>
Two things, one, a $10 Million valuation for an angel round is really high. I'm suspecting that the real statement was something more like "one of the YC companies even got a $10 Million pre-money valuation" rather than the average.<p>Second, Paul Buchheit is investing in some of the YC companies in addition to his participation as a partner? Will that create signaling issues? I know he knows the YC companies better than other startups, but if he doesn't invest, it means he passed? Same thing happened with VC's doing angel rounds then if they don't follow up, they're leaving the startup in the lurch?