$3.5M mobilized capital per job, when is it more efficient to just give handouts to random people? :)
But I think it's extremely misleading to talk about jobs, we are all here to destroy jobs and concentrate wealth, and some of us are doing worse than others at Uber, Lyft and co, where the value coming from the destruction goes to the VCs, and if they crash the value taken goes nowhere.
I always get a kick out of the 'created jobs' meme. It is always bandied about in such a positive way. As if you took people out of work and employed them.
The truth is you also need a number that reflect the amount of people that were put out of work or disadvantaged by a startup. And the people who worked for startups (to a lesser degree) that would have gotten a job somewhere else.
What is really sad for young people I think is this perception that the road is paved with gold for anyone in the startup business. Sure they know most don't succeed in the same way that they know it's hard to play major league sports or be a music or movie star. But I really don't know if they fully understand how much of a long shot it really is.
YC celebrating this is fine it's what I would do from a marketing and PR angle. But the truth is they are in the business of getting as many people involved in startups that they can because it benefits them greatly.
This is not sour grapes either. I make money off of all of these startups directly (in a pick axe kind of way). It has been great for sure but it also takes advantage of the hopes and dreams of a generation who think the only thing you can do is 'do a startup by going to an accelerator and raising angel and vc funds'. That is most certainly not the case.