Given that a lot of YC seems to come from PG's own experience, which involved selling Viaweb to Yahoo, I'm not sure "long term sustainable business" is necessarily what these guys are going to shoot for. And I think that's ok too: some people are just cut out for taking a business from 0 to 80, but not managing it long term.
Thats like saying, given that Apple experience comes from building the first computer they must not know anything about mobile.
YC experience comes from doing YC itself.
Seriously folks, this is some dumb, dumb stuff. Even the senator who gave the infamous "tubes" speech probably knew that the Apple didn't invent computers.
No, but I really got the impression as YC grew over the years, from what was reported of it, that PG modeled it, at least initially, after his own experience. Doubtless it has changed over time as they've learned.
My point was merely that there is not necessarily a "build a company to last years" in the group's "DNA".
The Viaweb crew took an exit - a good exit, in my opinion - but their business model was sound, profitable, and strong.
Seems that way to me too. But they opted for an exit, rather than deciding to work at it long term.
I think the world is better off with YCombinator, rather than some evolved form of Viaweb, myself, but the point was merely that for them, not doing something "long term" is not a failure.