My understanding of the Fellowship was to fund very early ideas, not to just be a way to sneak into YC funding.
The problem which I understood the Fellowship to be addressing is that so many later stage companies apply to YC that it is very difficult for a pre-revenue company to compete.
If YC 'should' invest in Pinboard, why not invest as part of YC and not YC Fellowship?
Good points. I understand that Apply HN and YCF are not the same concept, but I was under the impression that Apply HN applications were going to take 2 YCF positions.
The thing is, what does Pinboard actually need? It's a lean one man operation, and has a viable subscription model. Why would that person want VC money?
His actual response when a YC partner sincerely offered to work with Pinboard:
> I feel like after seven years, I have a pretty good sense of what bookmarking/archiving needs people have, but am at the limits of what I can personally build. If the votes swing my way, I'd be happy to have a good-faith conversation with you.[0]
I do not understand the point of this comment at all. Everybody doing 'Apply HN' is looking for outside capital. Pinboard has a loyal following that would probably be interested in additional value being added to it.
There are a lot of interesting ideas in the submissions, so I wouldn't be surprised if Pinboard is one of them. It seems like an interesting pick.
Personally, if I could only pick one, I'd pick Eat My Dust - Home testing for dangerous materials. I know there's products that do this already, but I think there's a lot more that could be done.
You should give the money to Pinboard.