by Geoff Ralston1/19/2022

In 2021, many YC founders led their companies to achieve outstanding results, and we are honored to be part of these companies’ history.

by Jon Levy8/26/2021

In this guide, YC Managing Director Jon Levy talks about venture debt. He covers what it is, walks through some of its benefits and risks, and gives advice on how to approach the process of taking on venture debt.

by Geoff Ralston12/22/2020

In early 2020 the entire world underwent a transformation. The planet was consumed by a pandemic that altered life as we knew it. Most of our normal routines changed immediately. At YC, like most businesses, we closed our offices. We were forced to rethink the end of our Winter 2020 batch and transformed its demo day to an online-only event.

by Jared Friedman8/5/2019

Back when YC was getting started about 10 years ago, Paul Graham wrote some essays that predicted the way startup fundraising would change in the next decade – accurately, it turns out. Paul Graham predicted that there would be way more startups, that they’d be cheaper to start, that new kinds of investors would fund them, that founders would be more technical, and that founders would keep control of their companies. All of those seem to have come true.

by Michael Seibel9/28/2018

As YC grows, founders are wondering how it’s improved over time. This is a valid line of questioning – clearly much has changed about YC over 13 years. We have new leadership, much larger batch sizes, we invest more money, we have a growth fund, a series A program, a massive MOOC, and an internal social network for YC founders named Bookface.

by Michael Seibel7/9/2018

The hardest conversation I have to have with a founder is when they’ve spent their 1-2 million dollar angel round but haven’t found product market fit. Unfortunately, I have to ask them a very unforgiving question: why does your company deserve more money?

by Michael Seibel3/20/2018

More often than not, when I talk to a talented technical person who’s thinking about becoming a founder, their number one blocker is that they don’t have an idea. At some point during their formative years they learned that every great startup started with a great idea and if the idea isn’t amazing (usually as judged by peers, parents, or other people with little startup experience), the startup will fail.