"I wanted YC to be the Y Combinator of Silicon Valley." March 15, 2012 Plus I didn’t want someone else to copy us and describe it as the Y Combinator of Silicon Valley. I wanted YC to be the Y Combinator of Silicon Valley. — A great tidbit from Paul Graham’s How Y Combinator Started. If you’re wondering where to go next, think about what you wouldn’t want someone else to do instead of you doing it yourself.