not really that surprising, if you follow techcrunch you can definitely see that they value $$$ above else. The way they see it, is that someone got $$$ their idea got validated.
Thats why they cover YC startups so much, because PG does the leg work of verifying that the ideas have merit and its worth reporting on it
The amount of money that some of these startups have already taken is mind blowing. What the heck are they spending it on? I was under the (wrong) impression that the vast majority of these companies had taken between $0 and $500,000.
It's all about perspective. When it's just you or you + one other, you can easily start thinking, "Man, I could do so much with only $200,000." But you really couldn't - you just think you could. Oh sure, you could spend it all on marketing and/or R&D to drive interest/adoption. But if you do blow it all on those and you are successful, you and your co-founder will no longer be able to handle it all; you'll need an inside sales person, an outside sales person, HY, bookkeeping, legal help, operational help, etc. And now you need more money. And raising more money takes time. After all, you just got $200,000 - "Why do you need more so soon?"
Don't get stuck in that mindset; plan for success and spec out your hires before you get there. You'll quickly find that you'll be able to spend more than you thought you could once you start writing your business plan.
The money primarily goes to salaries. The more VC money a startup has, the more temptation there is to hire a team of "seasoned" VPs of ... something, at the tune of $150K+ per employee per year.
Thats why they cover YC startups so much, because PG does the leg work of verifying that the ideas have merit and its worth reporting on it