There is another aspect to this that is not getting much mention: many more startups are reaching profitability without VC, but still don't have metrics to justify going for a home run. Ergo, the "ruthless culling" is not resulting in the bloodbath that some predicted. In general, great for startup founders & great for (the remaining) active VCs.
pg - do you have any stats around how many more recent YC co's are profitable & have not secured/pursued Series A?
That's a complicated question, because the nature of series A rounds has changed in the last couple years. A lot of so-called series A rounds now are de facto series B rounds, huge "seed" rounds having taken the place of series As (at least financially).
A bunch of the companies we've funded are profitable and haven't raised a series A round yet, but it looks like there is only one that is way past the (now much later) series A stage and yet didn't raise a series A: Weebly.
I learned of Weebly when someone complained on HN about your email communications. I immediately signed up and (with very few technical bones in my body) built a totally bad ass website for a friend of mine in 2 hours. There's a very good reason for your success. Incredible product.
Interesting.
Looking at some of the Weebly figures on the Sequoia website, I thing many people (myself included) would be surprised of the revenue run rate you guys must have today. This is an amazing venture - congratulations to you guys!
Well executed "simple ideas" are the best!
pg - do you have any stats around how many more recent YC co's are profitable & have not secured/pursued Series A?