Isn't that in part because the pre-A funding options have gotten so much better? In the early 00's, a normal progression might have been "~100-500k angel", followed by "2MM-4MM A". Now it's "~100-200k seed", followed by "up to maybe 1.5MM in rolling convertable note financing", so that by the time you need to pull the trigger on an A, you're already pretty far down the road.
Yes, that's true. A rounds are becoming de facto B rounds.
If Jason had written that 50% of companies would raise an amount of money that a few years ago would have meant an A round, he might have been close to the truth, but I don't think 50% will raise money using documents that say "Series A" on them.
My understanding of "seed" was that it was used to get the thing off the ground, i.e. "I don't even have a real demo yet, but I really believe in this". I don't think YC is going to let you in on that, right? Even if they do, forcing me to move back to the US for 3 months is a pretty steep price. :(
