Has there been notable effort around improving the effectiveness of this process? From a distance it appears to be a waste of time. I'm making assumptions--that primarily makes guesses and significant assumptions about the range of those who attempt to raise funds. (Having gone through the seedfund process previously I have similar opinions about that program as well, not that this has much relevance to the question I'm asking. However that program doesn't require as much time which depending on circumstance makes it appear more effective.)
There is a lot of variance in how much time it takes for a startup to raise - some are already done before Demo Day, and some take a couple of months or they postpone it for later.
Although it looks like a waste of time from the distance, since it prevents you from building the product, in our case it was actually a very useful and formative experience, I'd dare to say even the most of all parts of YC. Being an OSS, developer and tech oriented startup with no revenue it made us very aware of that and forced us to learn about how we can get there. As the result, we solidified our vision and actually feel much more confident about it now than before the fundraising.
