I asked @garrytan what really happened when he went back to lead YC in 2023: "By mid-2022, Sam had gone to work on OpenAI. Jeff Ralston had taken over temporarily. PG, Jessica, and Brian Chesky were all on the board. And they really wanted me to come back. I wasn't expecting it at all. On the other hand, its like a dream job. YC gave me my start as a founder, an investor, and probably 80% of my friends. 80-90% of my wins at Initialized were either YC or YC alumni. We were the first investor in Rippling. The first Demo Day investors in Flock Safety. And a ton of other companies that are worth a lot of money. YC is basically a managed marketplace. and at this point, I've been every constituent that you serve in the marketplace. And I looked down, and realized its all a part of this larger ecosystem. And I understand the ecosystem really well."