You are massively undervaluing YC. It's not just "advice dispensed over diner", there is lot goes on [1]. In startup world, there are just too many bad decisions you can make at any point in time and even just 5 minute advice from an experienced person who has literally seen it all 100s of times is worth all of the 7% cut that you give to YC. In the book[1] you will see several cases described by author where founders are at critical juncture such as what features to work on, what to pivot, which investors to reject and so on. YC also preps you for demos, protects you against signing bad terms and exposes to pretty much all investors that matter in business in one fell swoop. This is all in addition to $120K seed money that they are pretty much guaranteed to lose. If your friend was lending you $120K, wouldn't you offer 10% of your company? IMO, YC's 7% cut is far more reasonable.

Next, you are also massively undervaluing Susan's work. Did you read that she kept failing for 2 years and still kept at it? If you were already rich, would you go through that kind of hustle as opposed to enjoying your margarita on a private island? Did you also read that she was pregnant while making her attempt and with 3-year baby in hand? Do you have any idea how is it like to be pregnant and working on something as taxing as startup while also taking care of 3-year old? If you don't I humbly suggest to ask this to your mom.

Next, Loopt was innovative in its time but unfortunately way too easily and quickly copiable. Being still able to sell that is actually a business success and tells you something about Sam's ability to win over investors and break a way against odds.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Launch-Pad-Inside-Combinator-ebook...

Additionally, use the ?layout=compact option on a the wishlist URL (http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/?layout=compact) to simplify the HTML served by Amazon. The script would then want to extract the Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) from the linked URL. For example, B007X5ZBU4 is the ASIN for "The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator, Silicon Valley's Most Exclusive Schoolfor Startups [Kindle Edition]" (http://www.amazon.com/The-Launch-Pad-Combinator-ebook/dp/B00...). Now take the list of ASINs and convert them to ISBNs. I'm sure there's an Amazon API that can handle this lookup. With a list of ISBNs you can search against your school's database of books. Depending on how open they are with this information there may be an API that allows you to search by ISBN. Maybe talk to a tech-savvy librarian at your school.

http://www.amazon.com/Launch-Pad-Combinator-Exclusive-ebook/...