1. Home
  2. Discover
  3. Startup
  4. Y Combinator

Y Combinator - 💸 Bootstrap or VC?

This Week at YC

February 9th, 2024
Last week I mentioned how the new office gives us room for lots of new traditions. It means the return of some old traditions, as well.

If you’ve been paying attention to YC for a while, you’ve probably heard stories about the chili. You can find articles pairing YC and chili going back decades. In the earliest days of YC, the entire batch (plus a guest speaker) would come together and PG — with the help of multiple crock pots — would make chili for everyone.
Though the chef would vary over the years, this tradition of huge group dinners would continue on across many of the batches — stopped only, as with too many things, by the pandemic.

YC is back in person, and so are the big dinners. And this week, so was the chili. Here’s Pete Koomen opening way too many cans (“For the first time in my life I have strong opinions about can opener design,” he says.) while prepping the chili for his group before a talk from Rippling co-founder Parker Conrad. 

As Jessica Livingston wrote when she saw these pics: long live the crock pots!

- Greg 

📺 The Latest

Featured content from the YC Library

💸 Should Your Startup Bootstrap or Raise Venture Capital?

Is it better to raise money from VCs or bootstrap your startup? It's a common debate in the startup Twitter world — but does it really need to be? In this episode of Dalton + Michael, the pair dig in.

🤖 The Truth About Building AI Startups Today

New podcast alert! Yesterday we shipped the first ever episode of Lightcone, an unscripted, twice-a-month podcast where YC’s Group Partners dig into the newest tech and the impact it’ll have on the world.

This debut episode features Garry, Harj, Jared, and Diana, and their first topic is a great one: AI, LLMs, and what it all means for startups. Where are the opportunities here? What are the ideas that already seem like potential tarpits? What have we learned from the best AI startups so far? They dive into all that and more.

🌎 YC Community

Highlights and news from around YC
Daedalus (W20) is building precision-manufacturing factories powered by AI
TechCrunch
"Could there be a company worth $10B managed and run by a team of 10 people or less? 

More possible now than ever."

- YC President Garry Tan on Twitter
How Humanloop (S20) is "providing picks and shovels for the AI gold rush"
Silicon Republic
Stellar Sleep (S23) battles the
"root cause of chronic insomnia"
TechCrunch

🚀 The Launchpad

Some of the most recent YC companies and product launches 
Our immune system acts locally to combat disease, why don’t our medicines?
W2024
Stop spending hours making ugly documents, and start creating a dynamic experience now!
W2024
We develop cancer drugs that only become active inside solid tumors. By delivering active drug only to the tumor site, we localize the effects of the drug to the tumor and minimize systemic toxicity.
W2024
We help companies like dating apps, ad platforms, news sites, and marketplaces distinguish human-authored materials from AI-generated content.
W2024
We provide an industry-leading and developer-friendly API to combat survey fraud and bot detection.
S2023
Find more YC companies and discover new products

🔥 Hacker News

Top posts from this week
  1. Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize awarded: we can read the first scroll (scrollprize.org)
    1363 points by amrrs | 212 comments

  2. FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal (www.fcc.gov)
    1100 points by ortusdux | 638 comments

  3. Relativistic Spaceship (dmytry.github.io)
    1079 points by thunderbong | 481 comments

  4. John Walker, founder of Autodesk, has died (scanalyst.fourmilab.ch)
    1016 points by jdougan | 204 comments

  5. Pkl, a Programming Language for Configuration (pkl-lang.org)
    923 points by bioballer | 562 comments

  6. Mozilla names new CEO as it pivots to data privacy (fortune.com)
    814 points by jacooper | 643 comments

  7. SQL for data scientists in 100 queries (gvwilson.github.io)
    800 points by Anon84 | 157 comments

  8. Show HN: Improve cognitive focus in 1 minute (oneminutefocus.com)
    696 points by junetic | 273 comments

  9. TSMC to build second Japan chip factory (finance.yahoo.com)
    631 points by ytch | 459 comments

  10. The Ladybird browser project (ladybird.dev)
    620 points by defied | 278 comments

    11.  
Read more on Hacker News
More YC resources: Why YC | Apply to YC | YC Library
Copyright © 2024 Y Combinator, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive emails from Y Combinator.

Our mailing address is:
Y Combinator
320 Pioneer Way
Mountain View, CA 94041

Add us to your address book


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Older messages

How Tom Blomfield created two (!) billion-dollar startups

Friday, February 2, 2024

The YC Group Partner shares his backstory This Week at YC February 2nd, 2024 We (very) recently opened a new office in San Francisco, and with a new office comes room for new traditions. The newest

Gustaf's best advice for anyone starting a company

Friday, January 26, 2024

YC's Gustaf Alstromer brings the knowledge | This Week at YC January 26th, 2024 A solid number of people wrote in after I mentioned the W24 retreat last week to say they appreciated that glimpse

🚩 Red flags in YC interviews

Friday, January 19, 2024

Dalton shares a few things he watches for | This Week at YC January 19th, 2024 This week was an important one for the YC W24 batch, but not one that's super-widely known outside of YC: the retreat.

Do technical founders need business co-founders?

Friday, January 12, 2024

New episode of Dalton & Michael! This Week at YC January 12th, 2024 Let's say you can't code, but you've got business experience and big ideas for a software startup. With all the no-

What's the best advice you've ever received?

Friday, January 5, 2024

YC's Pete Koomen shares an important lesson This Week at YC January 5th, 2024 And we're back! Happy New Year. In the last newsletter of 2023, I asked you all to write in and let me know if you

You Might Also Like

What’s 🔥 in Enterprise IT/VC #426

Saturday, December 28, 2024

What's 🔥 Greatest Hits from 2024, one VC's year-end recap, + advice as you enter 2025 to build your new thing... ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

9 Lessons from 2024 + My Goals for 2025

Saturday, December 28, 2024

View in browser → Hola amigo, It's December, and as the year wraps up, I've been doing some thinking. You know, the good ol' "let's reflect on everything" end-of-year vibe.

🚨 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝟒𝟖 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬—𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝟖𝟓% & 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞!

Saturday, December 28, 2024

Grab the lowest price at the biggest holiday sale ever for our life-changing courses. fdrlogo Hey Friend , This is the BEST HOLIDAY DEAL Foundr has ever offered—and it's ending in just 48 hours. At

What I’m most proud of in 2024.

Friday, December 27, 2024

Read time: 45 sec. It's reflection season, so here's mine: 2024 was the year of builders. This year, I spent 1000s of hours building and iterating on Starter Story Academy. Don't get me

10words: Top picks from this week

Friday, December 27, 2024

Today's projects: StreamSlide.io • Summarize.One • QRaffity • Shipped • OneClickCopy • Spellar AI • Wellhero • Designsense AI • Noise • Blogster AI • MarketingHero • STREAM SLIDE 10words Discover

Arvid's Year in Review: 2024 — The Bootstrapped Founder 365

Friday, December 27, 2024

A new business. Raising money. Bootstrapping. Lifting. And then some. My 2024 was a year of progress, changes, and taking a few more risks than usual ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

 ⏳ 72 hours left—your best chance to start your dream business

Friday, December 27, 2024

Time is running out to grab our best-ever deal—start building your business today! fdrlogo Hey Friend , This is it. The final 72 hours to claim the BEST HOLIDAY DEAL Foundr has ever offered. For the

🚨 Announcing: The inaugural “What’s in your stack?” survey

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Tracking the most commonly used (and beloved) tools in tech ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

91 new Shopify apps for you 🌟

Thursday, December 26, 2024

New Shopify apps hand-picked for you 🙌 Week 51 Dec 16, 2024 - Dec 23, 2024 New Shopify apps hand-picked for you 🙌 What's New at Shopify? 🌱 Charge Tax on Shipping Proportionally in Canada with

SaaSHub Weekly - Dec 26

Thursday, December 26, 2024

SaaSHub Weekly - Dec 26 Featured and useful products Tickkl logo Tickkl Tickkl is a free time tracking software #Productivity #Time Tracking #Developer Tools Athena News API logo Athena News API