The mention of $250k at the end is, I believe, telling. This size of deal isn't really available, yet it could well be the most useful to modern startups, especially as a seed round.<p>YC, despite being compelling to young entrepreneurs, presents too high an opportunity cost for a season professional, yet a megabuck is too much for an initial build.
John's jotted down some thoughts on how VC is breaking - he and I had a phone conversation on it this morning - I agree with a lot of what he's saying.<p>If you have any thoughts or quibbles, I'm interested in hearing them - we're trying to get a wide array of input before we do a long-ish post on it.