I am somewhat sympathetic to the check size argument simply because I have seen a lot of people drift from accelerator to accelerator to accelerator and mostly focus on getting to their next one. They become really good at the pitch and grant collecting, but have websites that barely work or rarely go and meet customers. There is a perverse incentive in the accelerator spot in itself being a reward.
I suppose it depends on what YC wants to optimize for. You can risk giving money to not so serious founders or risk excluding ones who want to cap their risk.
I don't get why they would want to ban dev tools and SaaS. The latter especially is a huge segment. Many enormous companies like IBM and SAP are built around those types of offerings.
That's the second third and fourth accelerators fault. If this is their third accelerator app and they haven't done anything useful with the money they were given initially, then YC should reject them. They shouldn't make it harder for everyone else so they can accommodate investments into zombie companies on their third round through the accelerator circuit.
I suppose it depends on what YC wants to optimize for. You can risk giving money to not so serious founders or risk excluding ones who want to cap their risk.
I don't get why they would want to ban dev tools and SaaS. The latter especially is a huge segment. Many enormous companies like IBM and SAP are built around those types of offerings.