> They were all looking to raise nearly identical rounds: $1.5 million to $2 million

On top of $500k from YC. Tiny $2M+. Barely anything for two people and a dream.

>> The trend toward smaller rounds shows that YC’s current batches of founders have become more realistic toward current market conditions.

Value engineering. The WhatsApp model. Keep your eye on the money at all times. Your product needs to pay for itself (running) while it grows. Dont be Cloudflare and rug pull everyone on a sales call. Dont be uber, or door dash and susbisdise your growth.

The infrastructure of whole 2000 era dot coms can be rented, at fixed cost for a few hundred a month.

Or you know, get vc's to fund your AWS spend so Bezos can launch rockets too

Your call founders.