Relatively, yes. Sure, startups have existed for decades, but their popularity now is at a completely different level. Y Combinator, for instance, had 43 startups funded in 2008, and 274 in 2018. I am not even talking about the growth of the entire startup ecosystem, including angel investors and VCs. In 2008, startups were mostly only a thing in the US. Now there are tens of startup hubs across the entire world.
That's rewriting history, including a lot of hard work by a lot of people. YC disrupted the model, it didn't start it. PG repeatedly describes YC as a startup in changing how this works, so mistaking their growth with the industry misses what's happening.
The dotcom era had incubators through models like "I have access to capital but no one good idea; let me start a bunch and pick which to go". VCs regularly host EIRs (entrepreneur-in-residence). More dominant, many universities, corporates, and in gov, SBIR. Not sure how the numbers of SBIR compare to YC, but given SBIR is based on a % of each US dept's budget... ;-)
The "startup accelerator" changed the model: more $ to more varied entrepreneurs, structured program with educational eco-system, made VC capital more attractive, etc.
There are no questions about the history. What I am claiming, is that startups became much more widespread in the years since 2005, after the YC model was introduced.
2005 was still a period of massive hangover for tech startups after the .com collapse. To say that startups as a concept weren't a thing, is misunderstanding the situation. Like the rest of the tech industry, the startup scene has matured and grown.
