This might help for creating an initial analysis: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/founders

Of 11,162 YC founders who haven't opted out of the directory, the top 9 alma maters account for nearly exactly 20% of founders.

    540 - Stanford University
    388 - University of California, Berkeley
    373 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    193 - University of Waterloo
    187 - Harvard University
    144 - Carnegie Mellon University
    143 - Columbia University
    143 - University of Pennsylvania
    124 - Cornell University

I don't know what you'd compare this to for "society at large" but of the 500 CEO's in the Fortune 500, the top 9 alma maters account for about 16% of those CEO's.

    25 - Harvard University
    11 - Stanford University
    9 - University of Pennsylvania
    7 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    6 - Cornell University
    6 - University of Chicago
    6 - Northwestern
    6 - Columbia University
    6 - Yale

Very nice work and pretty interesting to see. The comparison for society at large is definitely difficult, but I'm not sure if there's a better one than what you've come up with.

It's nice to see my ala mater up there! Go Cornell! Also, I know PG disassociates himself from his roots but it's nice to know he was probably once sitting at the same desk I'm at now.

Good question. Probably? I imagine so. But I doubt the data is public. I'm just talking from my own observations in any case.

Edit: i inserted an IMO into my comment to make that clearer

Question:

- I am older, established, and have done a number of successful startups in various roles.

- I have a family and can't spend a summer in California.

- I don't need the seed funding YCombinator provides, but I don't mind it either. I can self-fund a bit

However, I'd truly enjoy the experience, and with my next startup, I'd be glad to trade off the equity to be in the YC community. I think I'd learn a lot from it, since YC does startups very differently than I have (learning might go both ways!).

Does it make sense to engage with YC in any way next time I do a startup (or before)? Or am I far enough outside the target demographic?

There is no target demographic, so I wouldn't think in those terms. Also, last I heard, there wasn't a hard requirement to spend the entire program in California, although most founders do. Your track record with previous startups should certainly help. I'm biased but I'd say go for it!

As two times YC founder, you fit 100% in what YC invests.

As someone in a similar scenario to the comment you're replying to, I feel like we 0% fit because of this:

> I have a family and can't spend a summer in California.

I'm curious: Why two-time?

It feels to me that YC would generate enormous value the first time. It feels like there might be very strongly diminishing returns on investment after that. My impression is that the equity YC receives, relative to funding, is quite high, and most of the network / learning / etc. would happen on round one (This is a comment about me to give context for my likely naive question, not a comment about YC; I'm explaining in hopes you'll explain how I'm wrong. Given you did it twice, I am aware my thinking here is probably wrong, and I need to share my misconception to have it addressed)