Y Combinator - 🏛️ Why YC went to DC

This Week at YC

June 9th, 2024

Hey all —

Garry here, jumping in for Greg this week to open the newsletter.

A few weeks ago I went to DC as a voice for startups and little tech to speak with policymakers and leaders from both of the major parties. You can read all about why here, but the short version: the world is at a pivotal moment in the development of AI, and we can’t let the biggest companies be the only ones with a voice.

We need policy that promotes fair, open, and competitive markets. Policy that prioritizes open source AI models, fosters competition, and moves us forward with steps like the FTC’s recent decision to ban employee noncompetes. We need policies that can help little tech thrive and which make room for new entrants; this is how we make American innovation truly bloom.

Whether or not you care about politics, politics cares about you. The decisions being made in the weeks and months ahead will steer the future of tech and startups for decades, and the only way to have a voice is to speak up. Find more about our trip, and what we shared in our conversations, here.

- Garry Tan

📺 The Latest

Featured content from the YC Library

💡 Lightcone: Better AI Models, Better Startups

There's been a lot of news lately about the updates to some of the largest foundational AI models. But what does this mean for startups? How will future product releases from the AI giants effect the companies built on top of them? The hosts of Lightcone discuss how founders can take advantage of these developments and avoid being steamrolled by the competition. 

5 common mistakes teams make when building with LLMs

Humanloop has helped hundreds of companies make better AI products. This week on the YC Blog Greg spoke with Humanloop CEO and co-founder Raza Habib about some of the most common mistakes people make when building on top of LLMs.

🌎 YC Community

Highlights and news from around YC
Ashby (W19) injects recruiting with a dose of AI
TechCrunch
If you were interested in applying for YC S24 but thought it was too late— it’s not! We're still accepting last-minute applications.

Apply by June 13, and we’ll get back to you by June 20.
YourChoice's (W19) first-of-its-kind male birth control is safe for men, so far
Fierce Biotech
Fizz (S21), a credit-building debit card aimed at Gen Z college students, raises $14.4m seed
TechCrunch

🚀 The Launchpad

Some of the most recent YC companies and product launches 
Keep every lead on your website engaged with a dedicated AI agent.
S2023
Layup turns your product usage data into touchpoints that drive retention and growth.
W2023
Keep face, hairstyle, skin, ethnicity of human characters consistent in AI image generation.
S2021
We use AI to get behavioral health providers in network, so they can start billing twice as fast.
S2024
Comprehensive rankings, CYA, and requirements tailored to your exact use case.
W2021
Autopilot curates, edits, and posts the best clips from your existing video content.
W2021
Find more YC companies and discover new products

🔥 Hacker News

Top posts from this week
  1. How many photons are received per bit transmitted from Voyager 1? (physics.stackexchange.com)
    1022 points by williamsmj | 195 comments

  2. Microsoft AI spying scandal: time to rethink privacy standards (spectrum.ieee.org)
    906 points by walterbell | 377 comments

  3. Show HN: I made a tiny camera with super long battery life (toaster.llc)
    838 points by davekeck | 298 comments

  4. Hacking millions of modems and investigating who hacked my modem (samcurry.net)
    830 points by albinowax_ | 273 comments

  5. Vulkan1.3 on the M1 in one month (rosenzweig.io)
    822 points by todsacerdoti | 354 comments

  6. I'm forking Ladybird and stepping down as SerenityOS BDFL (awesomekling.substack.com)
    822 points by zmodem | 261 comments

  7. Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico (twitter.com)
    811 points by thepasswordis | 853 comments

  8. You'll regret using natural keys (blog.ploeh.dk)
    732 points by thunderbong | 551 comments

  9. Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers (www.haaretz.com)
    718 points by frob | 662 comments

  10. Boeing Starliner launches first crewed mission (www.bbc.co.uk)
    641 points by helsinkiandrew | 684 comments
Read more on Hacker News
More YC resources: Why YC | Apply to YC | YC Library
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