Actually, YC's real returns will come from IPOs of big profitable companies like Airbnb and Dropbox, not exits any smaller than them.
And I think there's room for more Dropboxes. What I find strange is that so few startups (YC-funded or not) even try the freemium model seriously. It took Dropbox a long time and a lot of experimentation to find a scalable business model, and they wouldn't have found it had they not been persistent.
Building something great is harder than making money, but even YC's success depends on startups that can do both.
It reinforces jwr's point, not your argument that YC's interests are not aligned with free users.
It's only companies with a good business model that can support free users as a marketing cost in the long run. All others die once they run out of funding cycles.
And I think there's room for more Dropboxes. What I find strange is that so few startups (YC-funded or not) even try the freemium model seriously. It took Dropbox a long time and a lot of experimentation to find a scalable business model, and they wouldn't have found it had they not been persistent.
Building something great is harder than making money, but even YC's success depends on startups that can do both.