I'm not privy to anything, as the only thing I have to do with YC is posting here.
However, I acted as a technical adviser to some investors during the first dotcom boom in the 90s. Even in the face of specific requests, there were a shocking number of people who started their responses clearly intending to go into detail, and ending up with a heavy dose of hand-waving.
Having since moved on, I still do hiring and see similar problems with people being unable to read and comprehend simple instructions. There is a shocking amount of _bad_ out there; it just gets worse when people are looking for money.
As an aside, I was being generous with the 80% guess. Anywhere else I would have figured the garbage submissions to have crossed the 90% barrier.
A friend of mine was a sound, power, and lighting technician for some pretty prestigious concert venues. According to him, the "green m&m clauses" of certain bands' touring agreements were a test specifically to see if someone from each venue had actually read the band's technical specification requirements. If you got to the concert location and the green m&ms were not ready, it was time to panic and start finding out where the power was going to cut out when you turned on all the kit...
However, I acted as a technical adviser to some investors during the first dotcom boom in the 90s. Even in the face of specific requests, there were a shocking number of people who started their responses clearly intending to go into detail, and ending up with a heavy dose of hand-waving.
Having since moved on, I still do hiring and see similar problems with people being unable to read and comprehend simple instructions. There is a shocking amount of _bad_ out there; it just gets worse when people are looking for money.
As an aside, I was being generous with the 80% guess. Anywhere else I would have figured the garbage submissions to have crossed the 90% barrier.