That's a really bad take. YC has a responsibility to the startups they fund to maintain the best team for the kind of work they're focused on. It's also not necessarily the best thing for employees to "be utilized on other roles" within their current company when their roles cease to exist due to business changes. Often the best roles for those individuals is at other companies or in founding their own companies. In truth, most people I've known who have stayed at the same job for a decade were worse off for it, not better.
I'm not advocating for reshuffling your workforce for very short-term needs, but if the longer-term goals change, the team often has to as well.
I imagine the people laid off are highly skilled investment bankers. I think YC laid them off because early stage seed funds do not require the same level of sophistication as late-stage investment.
I believe the employees laid off would be perfectly capable to assist in early-stage seed rounds as well. That way YC could have vetted more projects and invested more.
Imagine that the people laid off were tasked to find and seed environment friendly startups etc. Deep work requires a stable paycheck and job safety. If YC really wanted to make things better, they'd know better.
With these lay-offs, I won't be surprised if all the remaining employees would be yes-sayers lacking any individual incentive.
I'm not advocating for reshuffling your workforce for very short-term needs, but if the longer-term goals change, the team often has to as well.