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In December, Y Combinators first-ever Fall batch got their own Demo Day. The Silicon Valley-based startup acceleratorwhich has produced big hits like Airbnb, Doordash, and Stripehad doubled the number of startup classes that could enter its program. The showing was mixed: 87% were AI companies, and few have yet to publicly disclose their seeds. Undoubtedly the most prestigious hub of Silicon Valleys startup culture, YCs outside critics have grown in their ranks. They have many sore spots to point to: increased batches, diminished seed rounds, more duplicate companies, less specialized training, and the list goes on. But, from the inside, its rare to hear a YC founder complain about their experience. The deal ($125,000 for 7% of the company, plus a $375,000 SAFE note, extensive mentorship, and physical office space) remains highly sought after. YCs acceptance rate is still a mere 1%. So, whats with the shift in energy? Its hard to tellbut the change has been immediate. From the entrepreneurs perspective, the core base of Y Combinator has diluted, says Arpita Agnihotri, an associate professor of management at the Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg. The excitement has definitely reduced. Its just so many companies’ Like a university, YC has its own specialized application process, where it chooses which startups to accept into its class (or batch). These batches are remarkably successful; where the average startup failure rate is around 90%, YCs is an estimated 18%. 5.5% of YC startups become unicorns; the summed value of YCs graduates is over $600 billion. In YCs early days, there were only two batches a year, and they remained small. In 2009, when Airbnb and Stripe went through, YCs two cohorts hosted a summed 42 companies. But then things got out of hand; the 2022 winter batch had 400 companies. New CEO Garry Tan took action to reduce batch sizes, though they remain relatively large. He also introduced two additional cohorts in the fall and spring, creating a more distributed schedule. But this reconfiguration comes with its own challenges: Two more classes of entrepreneurs for investors to consider, and two more Demo Days for them to attend. Masha Bucher, CEO of Day One Ventures, has invested in 35 companies out of YC within the past six years. Eight of those companies have been acquired. She slowed her investments during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she saw the quality of YCs choice in firms go down. But shes been happy under Garry Taneven if she wishes hed cut down the number of participating firms. I want batches to be smaller, because its a bit overwhelming, Bucher says. Its just so many companies and, as a result of it, you dedicate less time for every single opportunity. At one recent Demo Day, Bucher noticed that many more founders were surrounded by angel investors than venture capitalists, a sign that valuations have gotten too high for VC firms and left founders reliant on smaller-dollar investors. To Bucher, greater exclusivity could be the solution. While smaller (or fewer) cohorts would saddle YC with more risk, it could also coax back these VCs, proving that the high valuations are worth it. This change makes it easier for YC to support founders when theyre ready, instead of making them wait for the next application cycle, a YC spokesperson wrote in an email to Fast Company. The batch sizes are smaller nowabout half the size of the old cohorts. So even with more cohorts, the total number of startups we fund each year stays the same. Not everybody is hopeful of being the star AI startup Artisan sparked outrage in 2024 for its provocative San Francisco ads: Stop Hiring Humans. But, among the YC heads, Artisan is a golden child. Theyre one of the biggest raisers among the winter 2024 batch, having collected around $12 million in seed funding. The companys CEO, Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, was confident in his ability to court investors far before he joined YC, but credits the accelerator with bringing brand awareness. Artisans $12 million seed ranks them among the declining number of YC firms who aim for bigger seeds. Among its cohort, AI-powered legal software Leya was the only other firm to publicly break $10 million. Some others made it around $5 million; more landed closer to $2 million or below. For many, it looks like the seed rounds of YC-stamped firms are in decline. A lot of people end up raising $2-3 million and sometimes that’s enough, but sometimes it’s not, says Amy Cheetham, a partner at Costanoa Ventures who estimates that 1015% of the companies that come across her desk are from YC. What I always tell people is to make sure that they’re really thoughtful about not under capitalizing their business coming out of [YC]. For those rare big raisers, its common to bring big investors on board before even applying for YC. Artisan collected $2.3 million in pre-seed funding. Lumen Orbit, a space datacenter startup that now boasts a staggering $11 million seed, amassed $2.4 million beforehand. Its CEO Philip Johnston says he thinks of the seed as a small Series A, and claims that the big raise was necessary because of the companys hardware focus. Taking on gobs of money out of YC may not be the best move for founders. At a minimum, it lessens the chances for future catastrophic down rounds. YC has also been a haven for little tech, the smaller, more technically oriented companies that are not looking to be the next Airbnb or Stripe. Saurabh Bhattacharya, a reader in digital marketing at Newcastle University Business School, notes the importance of these companies: Not everybody is hopeful of being the star startup. YC encourages founders to raise only the capital they need, a YC spokesperson wrote. With advancements in AI, startups are increasingly able to achieve more significant milestones with less funding. This approach not only enables rapid progress but also minimizes founder dilution, allowing them to retain more control of their companies. Multiple horses in the same race’ When Demo Day arrives, a founders success often hinges on their companys individuality. But as YC continues to accept similar startupssome of which directly overlapstanding out has become increasingly difficult. Concerns about company duplication flared up in fall 2024 when an AI code-editing scandal shook the accelerator. New YC inductee Pear AI, which promised to create VSCode for The New Age of AI, came under fire for altering the open-source license of Continueanother YC-backed startup. Many saw it as a blatant case of copying. (Pear AI did not respond to an interview request.) Even when direct imitation isnt an issue, many startups find themselves with ner-identical counterparts within the accelerator. Using the AlphaLens tool, Léopold Gasteen analyzed 4,938 YC startups and identified numerous look-alikes. [YC] conducts a whole bunch of concurrent experiments, Gasteen says. Whats clear to me is that they dont mind having multiple horses in the same race. Are founders uncomfortable with having a duplicate within YC? Fast Company reached out to several of them; only two were willing to speak on the record. Cossi Achille Arouko, founder of Africa-based Bujeti, doesnt mind sharing space with Middle East-based Alaan, which also runs a corporate expense management platform. Hes spent so much time [with the Alaan team] that we are all friends, he says. Similarly, Flock Safety and Abel Police were flagged as look-alikes for their AI-driven crime footage uploads, but Abel CEO Daniel Francis dismisses concerns. Theyre not a competing product, he says; if anything, Flock Safety has only helped his business. YC maintains that it prioritizes founders over ideas and sees competition as an unavoidable byproduct of innovation. But Artisan CEO Carmichael-Jack admits he only applied to YC because his company filled a niche within the accelerator. If I was doing an HR platform, dealing with [YC companies] Gusto and Rippling, I probably wouldnt do YC, he says. Because, are you really going to become the category leader over them? ‘A whole bunch of B2B SaaS businesses’ YC only has one guiding principle for companies: Make something people want. But, on the inside, the types of companies that succeed within the accelerators walls may be more unified. One of the criticisms of YC is that it’s turned into a whole bunch of B2B SaaS businesses sitting around selling their stuff to each other, says Ryan Wardell, the cofounder of StartupSauce, a digital community of SaaS entrepreneurs. How much help are you actually getting to move outside into the real world and sell to actual companies that are outside the YC ecosystem? Fast Company asked every YC founder interviewed for this piece whether there was a certain type of company that succeeds within the accelerator. Most demurred, citing a low fail rate or positive personal experiences. Lumen Orbits Johnson acknowledged the stereotype that YC was built for young B2B SaaS founders, but insisted that YCs advantages move in waves and trends. Artisans Carmichael-Jack, though, was unusually blunt. I wouldnt do Y Combinator if we were a consumer company, he says. The value that we got from YC was specifically from being a B2B company. ‘How much value does the actual accelerator program provide? When YC was founded in 2005, Silicon Valley was a smaller, more insular community. For tech founders, the accelerators mentorship provided a crucial entry pointoffering access to the right investors and influential networks. Twenty years later, the landscape has changed. Capital is more accessible, and any startup generating revenue can find a seat at the table. This shift raises a pressing question: Is YCs training still worth it? How much value does the actual accelerator program provide? Wardell asks. If Y Combinator just picked out the top 1.5% of startups and said, We think these ones are good, you should invest in them, and then they got out of the way, I think their success or failure rate would probably be identical to what it is now. While YC continues to thrive, the accelerator space has encountered some turbulence. Newchip, once an Austin-based competitor to YC, filed for bankruptcy in 2023. Meanwhile, Techstars closed its Boulder, Seattle, and Austin operations. Those hiccups have led some to speculate that accelerators might eventually drop or reduce their mentorship programs. YCs value, they argue, might lie primarily in its stamp of approval; guidance would take a secondary role. Agnihotri, the Penn State professor, sees the diminished training as a trade-off with the high number of companies. What startups gain from a wider network, they lose in mentorship. When you have large batch sizes, then you cannot have customized solutions to the problems that startups are facing, she says. Y Combinator, for its part, insists its 21 full-time and visiting partners can adequately mentor the founders they take on. Founders are getting just as much, if not more, support than ever, a YC representative wrote.
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When youre booking travel, scoring a ticket to a sporting event, or securing yourself a spot at some other sort of show, youre frequently faced with the impossible-seeming task of committing to a specific seaton the spot. It may seem simple. But, wellwhich is the best seat on the plane? Which areas of the arena will give you an unobscured view of the action? Is that concert seat going to be behind a speaker? And are the more expensive options really worth their cost? Today, Im sharing some excellent tools I rely on to pick the best seat at any kind of event or activity. In addition to helping me feel confident about the quality of my selection, they often help me save some cashsince I can book some of the least expensive seats with the knowledge that they’ll offer a good view and/or experience. Hang onto these now, and the next time youre faced with that daunting moment of needing to select a seat without first seeing it, youll have all the inside intel you need. Psst: If you love these types of tools as much as I do, check out my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. You’ll be the first to find all sorts of simple tech treasures! Your new seat selecting superpowers Ive got two especially useful tools for you in this areaboth designed to help you find the right seat for different types of occasions. For selecting the best possible seat on an airplane, fire up SeatMaps. And, for choosing a seat at an event venuea sporting event, concert, or anything elsehead to A View From My Seat. Both couldn’t be much easier to use. First, on the air travel front, just open up the SeatMaps website in whatever browser you’re using on any device. Plug in the information about your flight and select your flight number. SeatMaps will then show you a color-coded grid with all the seats on that specific type of plane, and you can dig in deeper to any given option for all sorts of helpful infofor instance: What is the exact size and width of each seat? Which seats have more legroom? Which seats cant recline? Which seats are missing a window view? With that insight in hand, you can then figure out the right seat for you and decide if any extra fees are actually worthwhile. You’ll see seats like never before with SeatsMaps’ crowdsourced insights. ~ Next, when youre planning on attending an event, pull up the A View From My Seat websiteor, if you’d rather, grab the app for Android or iOS. Then, just use the service’s search feature to look up any performer, venue name, sports team, or even city to find the place you need. Select “Seating Chart” and click or tap any green area to see an actual photo taken from a nearby seat in that exact location. Average people going to shows submit these, complete with a short review of each option. Youll get an idea of the view and learn about any problems or obstructions you might encounter. Once you get used to selecting seats this way, you’ll never go back. ~ All that’s left is to make your choiceand now, you can do so with full confidence that you’re making a fully informed decision. SeatMaps is available only on the web. A View From My Seat will work on the web as well as via its native apps for Android and iOS. Both services are 100% free. You dont need any accounts, and neither service asks for any manner of personal info. Ready to unearth more off-the-beaten-path tech treasures? Check out my free Cool Tools newsletter for an instant introduction to an audio app thatll tune up your days in some delightful waysand another little-known tech gem in your inbox every Wednesday!
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In sports, time-outs are a strategic weapon. Super Bowl teams dont just go full speed from kickoff until the clock runs out; they pause at the right moments to regroup, recalibrate, and regain momentum. In business, the same principle applies. High-performing teams know when to stop, reassess, and make adjustments before forging ahead. Yet, in our relentless, always-on work culture, calling a time-out can feel counterintuitive. Speed is glorified. We celebrate hustle. For many, Mark Zuckerbergs motto, Move fast and break things, has been the dominant approach to innovating in the digital age. And now, with AI supercharging efficiency, the obsession with speed has only intensified. But the most effective teams dont just move fast. They move with purpose. And that requires knowing when to slow down. Slowing Down to Speed Up I often tell my teams, We need to slow down to speed up. It sounds paradoxical, but strategic pauses prevent wasted effort, misalignment, and burnout. A time-out recalibrates and ensures youre moving in the right direction. Velocity, after all, is not just speed; its speed with direction. Without thoughtful direction, we risk climbing the ladder of success only to realize its leaning against the wrong wall. This is the difference between playing a finite gamefocused on short-term winsand an infinite game, where the goal is enduring growth, adaptability, and purpose. Many organizations default to the former, focusing on immediate metrics, quarterly targets, and rapid iterations. The best leaders, however, recognize that time-outs are an investment in lasting success. When to Call a Time-Out So how do you know when to pause? Here are a few critical moments: Before a Major Launch or Initiative:When we launched Glean out of stealth, we took a 10-day time-out first. We had set an aggressive timelineless than 60 days to name and position the company, build a website, and create all external marketing materials. To ensure alignment, we held large team meetings, reinforcing our founders commitment to transparency and buy-in. This extra time, even though it pushed our launch back, allowed us to refine our narrative, resolve key debates, and iterate daily. It also gave us the runway to secure an exclusive interview, integrate customer quotes, and orchestrate a rolling thunder campaign to sustain postlaunch momentum. Far from slowing us down, this approach set the stage for Glean to become a $4.6B+ company. When You Need to Regain Control of the Game:Great sports teams use time-outs to stop an opponents momentum and reset their game plan. In business, if execution starts feeling reactive instead of proactive, its time to pause. Often this means shipping another random feature, versus solving real problems. Look internally at your companys why and reset around your original motivation for solving a big problem, and how you uniquely solve it. When Leaders Need to Update Their Assumptions:When major industry shifts happenlike disruptive technological advances or regulatory changesleaders need to take stock. A perfect example is the emergence of DeepSeek, an open-source large language model. The rapid advancement of highly capable, low-cost, and open-source AI models is forcing companies like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft to rethink their AI strategy. For their leaders, now is the time to call a strategic time-out to ask, are we still prioritizing the right AI strategies, or do we need to pivot to a more flexible, modular approach? Ignoring change and plowing ahead can be a recipe for disaster. To Prevent Burnout and Sustain High Performance:Elite athletes dont train at full intensity 24/7. They build in recovery time. Yet, in business, we expect people to sprint indefinitely. I learned this lesson the hard way as Evernotes CEO. I didnt take a meaningful break for two years, and it led to burnout and costly hiring mistakes. A well-timed pause can prevent these long-term setbacks. Making Strategic Pauses Part of Your Culture Many teams resist time-outs because they confuse activity with progress. Leaders need to reframe pauses as a competitive advantage, not a loss of momentum. Heres how: Embed retrospectives into your cadence:Great coaches make halftime adjustments; great businesses do the same. Frequently review whats working and whats not, and adjust accordingly. Regular offsites, strategy refreshes, and retrospectives ensure course corrections happen before the business veers off track. This avoids an emergency reset later. Set three strategic priorities at a time:At GrowthLoop, rather than sweating over every KPI we can measure, we focus on a few vital things around our product, processes, and people that must be true for our customers and team to win. This ensures our team stays focused on what truly moves the needle. Emphasize deep work:Elite athletes dont just train haphazardly; they work with intention. They break down their training into focused componentshoning agility, refining technique, and studying game film to anticipate their next move. The best business leaders do the same. Instead of glorifying constant busyness, they prioritize deep workuninterrupted, high-focus sessions where real breakthroughs happen. Its not about doing more; its about doing what matters most with absolute focus. This more productive work prevents wasted energy and allows time for proper recovery. The Best Teams Know When to Stop John Wooden, one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time, once said: Be quick, but dont hurry. Its a lesson I remind myself of constantly. Speed alone wont win the gamevelocity will. Making strategic pauses a part of your culture and recognizing when to stop and refocus will keep everyone moving in the right direction, together. So, the next time your team is running hard but you sense a lack of alignment, dont be afraid to call a time-out. It might be the most important play you make.
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