That link doesn't even show that they got an interview. It shows that they got an email and some application advice—entirely generic advice, the same things (be concise! for god's sake be concise!) that pg would have said to anybody.
Scott and I were in the same YC batch as Airbnb. We had no connections and knew no YC founders. It's simply not the case that you needed "friends with connections" to get into YC, then or now. It's not necessary, and it's not sufficient either.
I don't mean to be a stickler but it's harmful when people imply such things. It discourages founders who don't have friends-with-connections from applying. That's really bad—what if they're just the sort of founder YC wants to fund? A lot of people are, who don't think they are—and maybe they lack the self-confidence to try, or they're teetering. If they run into HN comments or whatever that cynically say "it's all about connections", they may teeter away, and that could have a huge effect on their life. Getting into YC, knowing no one and having no special connections, changed my life bigtime, and that of many others as well.
We met the Airbnb founders in the waiting room because our interview was right after theirs. They were super nervous, as were we, so we bonded around reassuring each other that their startup was great. I remember Brian saying that they had never heard of YC, but they knew the guys at Justin.tv, who had encouraged them to apply at the last minute, and that was why they were there. So the primary effect of the "friends with connections" was not that it got them into YC, but that it got YC into them—i.e. it got YC on their radar in the first place.
Scott and I were in the same YC batch as Airbnb. We had no connections and knew no YC founders. It's simply not the case that you needed "friends with connections" to get into YC, then or now. It's not necessary, and it's not sufficient either.
I don't mean to be a stickler but it's harmful when people imply such things. It discourages founders who don't have friends-with-connections from applying. That's really bad—what if they're just the sort of founder YC wants to fund? A lot of people are, who don't think they are—and maybe they lack the self-confidence to try, or they're teetering. If they run into HN comments or whatever that cynically say "it's all about connections", they may teeter away, and that could have a huge effect on their life. Getting into YC, knowing no one and having no special connections, changed my life bigtime, and that of many others as well.
We met the Airbnb founders in the waiting room because our interview was right after theirs. They were super nervous, as were we, so we bonded around reassuring each other that their startup was great. I remember Brian saying that they had never heard of YC, but they knew the guys at Justin.tv, who had encouraged them to apply at the last minute, and that was why they were there. So the primary effect of the "friends with connections" was not that it got them into YC, but that it got YC into them—i.e. it got YC on their radar in the first place.