Are GitHub stars important for YC applications?

Hello PH

We applied to Y Combinator few days ago and we’ve had a few spikes in GitHub stars after sharing our open-source project with dev communities.

But we’re wondering: how important are GitHub stars when applying to YC?

Also curious to hear from fellow open-source builders:

• How did you attract your 500 first ⭐️ without being spammy?

• How do you motivate contributors when your project is still evolving?
  

  We’d love to hear your thoughts.
  
  Thanks