Congrats to Geoff. He, along with others, has done a great job with Startup School. I would suggest that the YC core program could learn a lot from the Startup School program.<p>For an example of why: my startup was initially rejected from Startup School, then accidentally accepted, and then we kicked butt and won the YC Startup School Grant out of 10,000+ startups. Then we got a YC interview and were rejected for what (I think objectively) was a pretty random reason. And I understand that the stated reason isn't necessarily the full reason.<p>It was still a very enjoyable and super helpful experience overall. The advice, $10k cash, and cloud credits have helped tremendously and it's still helping a lot.<p>I just wish I could have competed against other startups for acceptance into the core YC program, rather than have a few people attempt to judge how much of an "animal" I am in 10 minutes as they groggily try to wake themselves up with coffee. Not a knock against them at all (still a very long-term PB fan!), just the process.<p>Because I know I'm <i>much</i> better at competing with hard sustained effort over the long-term than I am at seeming super impressive on first impression.<p>Anyway, that's my suggestion.<p>We will hopefully be ramen profitable soon, and may not try for YC again because it is mentally exhausting. But whatever we do, Startup School was a <i>huge</i> boost for us and YC asked nothing in return, so thank you very, very much.