From Stanford Pizza Nights to Palantir’s Birth
Amazing. In 2006 I went to Stanford with stacks of pizza to the Unix cluster at Sweet Hall with xerox fliers It said: Come join the next Google We were a 12 person startup The name of the startup? Palantir
Embrace Fluid Roles: Agents Can Be CEO Today
Running a team of agents is interesting because any given agent can be CEO one moment, then the eng manager wagging the finger the next And as the orchestrator, you want this. https://t.co/xjhE4jwiGq
Install Gstack Instantly via Claude Code Snippet
I've been having such an amazing time with Claude Code I wanted you to be able to have my *exact* skill setup: Introducing gstack, which you can install just by pasting a short piece of text into your Claude code...
Future AI Will Constantly Rewrite Perfect Software for Users
One of the things everyone believes about software is that "once it works you shouldn't touch it." But what if that is wrong? What if in the world of infinite software that is very very good and smart and well tested...
Groq + LLaMA 4 Maverick Excels at Low‑latency Tasks
Don't sleep on Groq + LLama 4 Maverick - wow, very very useful for low latency tasks
Vibe Coding Fuels Success, Despite the Haters
All these smartasses think it’s vibe coding I made Posterous (one of the biggest Rails sites in the world at the time) and Bookface (a social network used by half of YC alums daily) If you can fly, you fly to...
Hard‑
The hard left is becoming slightly more YIMBY, but the policies that got them here means their housing math doesn't add up. NYC and LA won't make housing affordable with Mamdani and Raman. https://t.co/CsMJLThCws
Great Journalism Turns Into VC Investment, Wired Missed
Trae Stephens Wants to Buy Wired. He’s Right. A 2011 article about male birth control became a Founders Fund investment. That’s what great journalism does. Wired forgot. https://t.co/nJv3I8Tg81
Cheap AI Cognition Fuels a Vibrant, Efficient Market
AI will unleash the most vibrant new market there could be. Cognition becoming cheap means we will do more with less, emphasis on doing more. https://t.co/jGKgs06jTi
Unusual Retention Curve Mirrors the Hype Cycle
Does a hype cycle have a retention curve that looks like this? Literally never seen a retention cohort graph like this https://t.co/BwMCDv7eIY
Boston Trains AI Founders; SF Steals Them—Others Beware
Boston has the schools. SF has the companies. 21 of the Forbes AI 50 founders went to school in Boston—then left for San Francisco. If SF doesn’t learn from this cautionary tale, Austin and Miami will. https://t.co/pmYxLaYXWy
AI's Open Era for Heretical Ideas Is Fleeting
AI Is In Its Gentleman Science Era. AI research is wide open for builders with heretical ideas. The window won’t last forever. https://t.co/QxaaZClAHj https://t.co/ZgLbymNfIw
Unrealized Gains Tax Threatens New Investments Globally
Unrealized gains tax is a mega-drag on new investments. The same reason why the California Asset Seizure Tax by SEIU-UHW is going to destroy startups is happening in the Netherlands. https://t.co/jMgP3ieI2G
Pre‑PMF Funding Demands Clear Traction Over Resume
Big splashy pre-PMF rounds happen on big legible ideas and teams with social proof Don’t hate the player hate the game It doesn’t mean you can’t build a big co if you don’t have the right resume but it does mean you...
SF's VC Boom Faces Tax Hike and Lab Bans
SF is the ONLY VC hub with positive company formation growth (+24%) while every other city declines—but an 800% gross receipts tax hike and lab bans threaten to destroy what makes the city special. https://t.co/gVxAtL7zDC
Startups Can Grow Tenfold, YC Fuels the Boom
What do I believe that few other people believe yet? Startups can and will be 10x bigger YC’s role to make that happen. We're the tree of prosperity: minting more great founders so that both the mega-platforms and the boutiques have...
Bug‑Fix Speed Reveals a Founder’s True Mastery
If you use any software, you will hit bugs. Only a tiny 5% of your users will ever report bugs. The speed at which those bugs are fixed is the true measure of a founder in mastery of their craft.
Avoid Boiling the Ocean: Prioritize Small, Impactful Wins
Boil the Ocean https://lnkd.in/gqrf2J2v
California Policies Threaten Fintech’s Growth Engine
Vlad Tenev: California is killing the golden goose https://lnkd.in/gi_PUuHa
Reviving the Lost Culture of Building Together
We used to build things? What happened? And what do we have to do to get back to building again? https://lnkd.in/gKUa7cNe
NIMBYism Costs U.S. Workers $8,775 Annually
I found a paper that actually quantifies the amount of money that is lost by society because NIMBYism prevents NY, SF Bay Area from building enough housing for their highly productive workers: $8,775 for every worker in America every year....
California Risks Losing Future Startups to Austin, Miami
The Atlantic acknowledges the core risk: California could lose not just current billionaires, but the next generation of startups entirely. Austin and Miami are waiting. https://lnkd.in/gdwZ97WW
Celebrating TigerEye Team’s New Chapter with Lennar
Congrats to Tracy Young Ralph Gootee and the TigerEye Team. So proud to work with this team all these years and can't wait to see what they do as a part of Lennar.
Voting Power Triggers 50% Tax on Alphabet Founders
Larry and Sergey can’t stay in California since the wealth tax as written would confiscate 50% of their Alphabet shares. Each own ~3% of Alphabet's stock, worth about $120 billion each at today's ~$4 trillion market cap. But because their...
Billionaire Tax Would Push Founders Out Early
In the future, should the UESF-UHW Billionaire Tax pass, startup founders like these would leave well before the valuation reaches $3B. (If founders have special founder class voting shares, that number is much lower — if you read the fine...
Jared Friedman: The Hacker‑Builder Rock of YC
YC Managing Partner Jared Friedman is a rock. He's a hacker, builder, and true founder. It's one of my favorite things about returning to YC the last 3 years, getting to work with him.
Antitrust Should Foster Small Tech, Not Block M&A
Antitrust regulators should just allow M&A and focus on helping little tech so consumers get alternatives and keep big tech in check American antitrust policy should be about creation Support little tech, allow M&A and stop big tech structural self-preferencing instead https://t.co/HNE3w7wX4r
Federal Pre-Emption Threatens AI Innovation, Favours Big Tech
If you’re wondering why we should support a federal pre-emption for AI regulation, this is a case study in the idiocy that will destroy AI innovation in America, particularly for little tech Big tech can afford the army of lawyers. Startups...
Billionaire Tax Threatens California Startups, Fuels Exodus
Why might the proposed “billionaire tax” kill startups in California? This is simple and extreme uncertainty that will cause people to leave the state before their startup becomes successful Many will choose not to start in California at all https://t.co/yPhUDw0Tbn
California's Agglomeration Fuels Billions, Protects US Innovation
California already has incredible agglomeration effects. It’s a thing that generates companies worth billions to trillions Why dismantle it? Startups in SF Bay succeed 2.5X more than every other place in the world. Protecting California *is* protecting American innovation
Tech Tax Could Disperse Startups Beyond California
Ro mistakes this for a big tech tax But over a decade all of big tech won’t start in CA anymore because little tech, the startups, will start in all the other states If you want to kill the golden goose of...
Unified AI Regulation Needed to Shield Small Startups
America doesn’t win by making every startup navigate 50+ regulatory regimes. Fragmented AI rules become a moat helping big tech only. A coherent federal framework is how you protect safety and keep US AI advancing. This EO is a meaningful...
LLM Startup Boom Mirrors 2009 Mobile, 2003 Web
It’s the golden age for startups that turn latent LLM capability and intelligence into actual adoption Will be like working on mobile apps in 2009 or the web in 2003
Product Strength Beats Capital as True Business Bludgeon
Capital is not a bludgeon The best product is the bludgeon
Customers Choose Outcomes, Not Just Software or Platforms
People don’t want to buy software or platforms or even products They want to buy outcomes
EquipmentShare Files S-1, Signaling Upcoming IPO
EquipmentShare filed their S-1 today
From $1M to $100M in Two Years
$1M to $100M in 2 years is an incredible run
Lulu Funding: Rare, Powerful Reality‑Distortion Field
Raising money from Lulu is like having a reality distortion field conjurer in your corner. Highly prized, incredibly rare.
Invest in the Next Coinbase at YC Demo Day
Highly recommend investing in the next Coinbase at YC Demo Day A+++++ incredible experience
Custom Weekend Code Will Outpace Pricey SaaS
Zoho’s business would be first to be competed away by people building their own custom software built by people using @Replit @emergentlabs and @Taskade Why pay $30/seat/month for over bundled SaaS when soon even nontech ops ppl can vibe-code a...
Avoid 50/50 Cap Table Deadlocks: They're Dangerous
From a lot of experience with lots of founding teams: 50/50 deadlock cap tables are considered harmful
YC Becomes Crypto’s Premier Startup Accelerator
YC is the YC for crypto
Bet on Weird Outliers, Not Consensus Seed Rounds
@HarryStebbings Invest in things that are weirder and you won’t be so circumspect about these rounds. The outliers are rarely consensus at seed
YC Persisted Funding Startups Throughout 2023 Despite VC Slowdown
YC kept funding people through 2023 when many VCs scaled back
YC Funds the Underdogs Most, and They Thrive
YC is funny because for everything we get hate for, we fund those and fund of that kind by #'s than anyone else Solos Non-traditional background Anything not B2B SaaS Almost any category, we do the most # of anyone, and the ones we...
Build AI Moats with Workflow, Data, UX—Start Now
The real moats in 2025: specific workflows, proprietary data with real switching costs, distribution, and UX that makes AI disappear into the job-to-be-done. Simultaneously: we are early (only a % are using AI properly) so this is an amazing time to...
YC Demo Day Cuts Dilution, Boosts Investor Returns
YC Demo Day median dilution for small seed is 11% (top 25% is 7%), not 18% for non-YC YC Demo Day median dilution for big seed is 13%, not 21% to 23% for non-YC You do it all faster: YC funds you...
Build for Users, Not Just for Funding
It was never “build what’s fundable” and it isn’t now. It’s always been: make something people want. This comes from users and customers and the needs of others.
Funding Space Fusion, Not Just a Consensus Engine
We're funding space fusion and your take is we're building a consensus machine Maybe you need to look harder
AI Transforms Flexport Hackathons Into New Product Roadmaps
Flexport is at $2B annual revenue and just getting started. AI is so powerful it has turned internal hackathons into roadmaps for entire new product lines https://lnkd.in/g5pueCR7