It's interesting that the tone of the blog post suggests a desperation about getting into YC, rather than the old adage of wanting to build something that people actually want to use.
It's also interesting that HN is full of people who talk about a higher education bubble, but a YC bubble mysteriously seems to be off-topic here.
If they're anything like me, it's not "desperation" to get into YC, necessarily, as much as the ridiculous hatred of failure. They'd probably go equally nuts for anywhere they applied, be it Harvard or Juliar or for unemployment checks.
I got the impression that mrkurt was implying the Grubwithus founders didn't want to fail the YC interview, not that getting into YC guaranteed Grubwithus would be successful.
This reminds me of a post a long while ago from someone who basically equated getting into YC as the ultimate test for whether their company would be viable. They also hinted that the existential questions of their own self-worth were put into jeopardy when they were rejected.
It's also interesting that HN is full of people who talk about a higher education bubble, but a YC bubble mysteriously seems to be off-topic here.
(Note that I love and use a lot of YC companies)