When it comes to expanding to NYC (which amounts to doubling the number of offices), here are some considerations off the top of my head:
* To have double the # of locations, you would need to hire a bunch more partners in order to double the sum talent/experience in your pool for Office Hours (lest the talent/experience density be diminished, harming YC and all its companies). But it's not just about sum talent/experience, because there's a big chunk of experience that no startup vet out there has: experience being a YC partner.
* YC dinners are about connections. To maintain the same quality of connections in a second location, the new partners would of course have to be as connected and as trusted in NYC as are the SV partners in SV.
* Launch emails (AKA the YC "press release") are typically written by PG. There is only one PG, and perhaps he can't or doesn't want to write twice as many launch emails every year. For all we know, going from ~8 potential launches to ~40 may have pushed him to the limit. If PG were made to write twice as many, he would only be half as intimate with each company.
* One of YC's most valuable assets is the reputation of its selection filter. If YC were to accept twice as many startups (assuming twice the # of applicants, of course), the partners and advisors running its current selection process would need to be either mirrored in NYC or overworked remotely. Again, this is a finely-tuned machine, and it's not as simple as "hire 5-10 smart startup vets and stick them in NYC to start interviewing candidates".
TL;DR: While I'm sure YC has considered (and are perhaps still considering) expanding to NYC, for you to claim that you understand their business better than they do is presumptuous. To suggest that "elitism" is YC's rationale for staying in SV is insulting, and to suggest that it is the sole potential rationale is woefully lacking in vision.
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YC has expanded, but in a centralized fashion.
When it comes to expanding to NYC (which amounts to doubling the number of offices), here are some considerations off the top of my head:
* To have double the # of locations, you would need to hire a bunch more partners in order to double the sum talent/experience in your pool for Office Hours (lest the talent/experience density be diminished, harming YC and all its companies). But it's not just about sum talent/experience, because there's a big chunk of experience that no startup vet out there has: experience being a YC partner.
* YC dinners are about connections. To maintain the same quality of connections in a second location, the new partners would of course have to be as connected and as trusted in NYC as are the SV partners in SV.
* Launch emails (AKA the YC "press release") are typically written by PG. There is only one PG, and perhaps he can't or doesn't want to write twice as many launch emails every year. For all we know, going from ~8 potential launches to ~40 may have pushed him to the limit. If PG were made to write twice as many, he would only be half as intimate with each company.
* One of YC's most valuable assets is the reputation of its selection filter. If YC were to accept twice as many startups (assuming twice the # of applicants, of course), the partners and advisors running its current selection process would need to be either mirrored in NYC or overworked remotely. Again, this is a finely-tuned machine, and it's not as simple as "hire 5-10 smart startup vets and stick them in NYC to start interviewing candidates".
TL;DR: While I'm sure YC has considered (and are perhaps still considering) expanding to NYC, for you to claim that you understand their business better than they do is presumptuous. To suggest that "elitism" is YC's rationale for staying in SV is insulting, and to suggest that it is the sole potential rationale is woefully lacking in vision.