> > Also, "free": "If you're not paying for it, you're the product being sold"

> HN is "free" too. :)

Indeed: you deliver valuable information about market trends, market sentiments, technology, ... to SV startups and investors.

Additionally, Hacker News is basically a marketing expense of YC.

At least free to data mine by everyone (as far as I know).

that isn't the gotcha you think it is.

Y combinator absolutely profits from encouraging group think and positive attitudes about things they're involved in.

How else would you get a large part of the tech world to somehow believe that suckling on the teat of Venture capital until that elusive "exit" is the holy grail of business models?