About 1 out of 3 startups from our last fund were not YC. Many came from warm intros, but a few I scouted and found myself. I went out and recruited Bannerman to YC personally (they're focused on security, which fulfills a key role on Maslow's hierarchy of needs), for instance, and then later invested afterwards.
Cold inbound emails haven't worked well for me, but that's where software down the road should help.
so a quick follow up: how many startups of the last round were not located in SF? Sometimes as a non US citizen it seems like the whole startup world is all centered in SF...
SF/SV is still the most concentrated place for startups, so when you want to grow fast it's still probably the most concentrated place for talent and capital. You can certainly start a company anywhere (and people are, and that's great!), but when you want to grow fast many people still move here, now increasingly at the Series A.
I love the bay area. Worked at startups there off and on for over twenty years. But it's precisely because its the center of the universe that when I start my next company, I'm going to do it somewhere else. I do love it there though.
Cold inbound emails haven't worked well for me, but that's where software down the road should help.