their application seems pretty simple to fill out (in some cases requiring less than 100 words of description) unlike YC app so I assume they want to funnel interest from as many founders as possible before deciding which apps to pick to fund.
Which could be their first mistake. YC gets a lot of signal by requiring people to clearly answer so many questions. YC's questions are really good and it wouldn't have been a bad idea to wholesale copy them like some other's have. Not least of all because then founders could apply quickly using copy-paste.
I suspect someone could out-compete YC just by obtaining the YC application data and funding on that basis alone, eschewing the interview process entirely as it very possibly introduces more noise than signal. It'd take some guts though, kinda like starting YC in the first place took guts.
I don’t think the length or complexity of the YC app is a barrier for anyone with a shot to build a successful startup, with the possible exception of an English language barrier.
