Y Combinator
Y Combinator (usually shortened to YC) is an American technology startup accelerator and venture capital firm, founded in March 2005 by Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Robert Tappan Morris, and Trevor Blackwell, and headquartered in San Francisco (Wikipedia: Y Combinator). Its stated goal is “to help startups really take off,” leaving companies in dramatically better shape three months later (official About page).
How the program works and what else YC runs
According to the official About page:
- Batches: YC runs four three-month batches a year (winter, spring, summer, fall) with partner-led group office hours, the internal founder platform Bookface, an in-person kickoff, and Demo Day.
- Funding: YC invests $500k per company — $125k for 7% on a post-money SAFE and another $375k on an uncapped SAFE with an MFN clause.
- Alumni network: the page cites 6,000+ alumni domain experts founders can call on, with founders of Airbnb, Stripe, DoorDash, and Ginkgo Bioworks returning to speak.
- Other products: the application page, Work at a Startup, Startup School, Co-Founder Matching, and the technology community Hacker News.
Per Wikipedia, YC has helped launch more than 5,000 companies, including Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, Coinbase, Reddit, and DoorDash. Application deadlines and investment terms change; read them from the official pages.
Discussion in the show
In Weekly #001’s chapter “语音与多模态模型为什么仍然难用” (“Why speech and multimodal models are still hard to use”), the hosts discussed API relay (“中转站”) businesses as a startup opportunity. Xiangyang Qiaomu mentioned “one I saw recently that YC invested in — a relay station for speech models” (Chinese transcript), citing a YC-backed speech-model API relay as an example.
Frequently asked questions
What is Y Combinator and what does it do?
Y Combinator is an American startup accelerator and venture capital firm. Through four three-month batches a year it invests in, advises, and connects early-stage startups (official About page).
How much does YC invest per company?
Under the standard deal described on the official About page, YC invests $500k per company: $125k for 7% equity and $375k on an uncapped SAFE. Terms can change; the official page is authoritative.
How do I apply to Y Combinator?
Apply through the official application page; there are four batch windows a year. The About page describes the full process from group office hours to Demo Day.
Which well-known companies came out of YC?
Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, Coinbase, Reddit, and DoorDash are YC alumni (Wikipedia: Y Combinator).
What is the relationship between Hacker News and Y Combinator?
Hacker News is the technology community founded and run by Y Combinator (Wikipedia: Y Combinator); it lives at news.ycombinator.com.