I don’t think this is true at all. I did YC and neither I nor my cofounders had any hype surrounding us or our idea. Unless if by hype you mean a handful of paying users then sure, that won’t hurt :)

Not true for me. No social media other than HN and got in first try.

You need to be the right idea at the right time, and the right team to do the thing.

Gen AI two years ago was a toy that fit "somewhere" into the "creator economy", which seemed dead.

Now try and you'll get a completely different reception.