Y Combinator

Y Combinator

Official Y Combinator channel: startup advice, founder stories, and inside looks at YC-backed companies and emerging technology trends. Frequent coverage of AI, developer tools, and product-led growth narratives.

Trust score
0 / 100
Track record
0 / 100
Thesis calls
149
Evaluated calls
123
Average return
+8.94%
Win rate
47%

Past bets that played out

Recurring themes: open-source models and model-agnostic platforms gaining traction; AI agents and coding agents emerging as major use cases; enterprise adoption and token economics shaping business models; platform risk and distribution dynamics (e.g., alleged blocking attempts that backfire). Also coverage of robotics, foundation-model roadmaps, and devtool scale stories.

TERrightbacktest PROMOTE

YC/Light Cone interview with Physical Intelligence co-founder Kwan Vuong frames robotics as approaching a “GPT-1 moment”: a general-purpose AI control model that can operate many robot embodiments across many tasks. The key market-relevant points are: robotics autonomy may emerge incrementally rather than suddenly; mixed-autonomy systems can be commercially useful before full autonomy; deployment in real-world jobs creates a data flywheel from edge cases; and a foundation-model/platform layer co

Mentioned: Apr 16, 2026, 10:00 AM EDTConviction: 58 / 100Return: +155.87%Observed price: $365.92
Source: The GPT Moment for Robotics Is Here
AMDrightbacktest HOLD

Interview-style content about Opencode (open-source Claude Code alternative) claiming rapid adoption (13M MAUs, 20x growth) and heavy token usage, framed around (1) open-source models becoming “good enough,” (2) enterprise adoption of coding agents, (3) model-choice flexibility and token economics, and (4) platform risk illustrated by Anthropic allegedly attempting to block Opencode, which backfired via attention/distribution.

Mentioned: Jul 24, 2026, 10:00 AM EDTConviction: 48 / 100Return: +134.04%Observed price: $530.91
Source: Opencode CEO: Blocked, 20X Growth in 6 Months, Building the Coding Agent for the World
GOOGLrightbacktest PROMOTE

Demis Hassabis argues that current AI systems still lack key ingredients for AGI—continual learning, long-term reasoning, memory, and active agentic problem-solving—but believes AGI could arrive around 2030. The discussion frames agents as the likely path from today’s large-scale pretraining/RLHF/chain-of-thought paradigm toward more general intelligence. It highlights Google DeepMind’s track record, including AlphaGo, AlphaFold, and Gemini, positioning Alphabet as one of the leading companies p

Mentioned: Apr 29, 2026, 10:00 AM EDTConviction: 72 / 100Return: +80.65%Observed price: $349.94
Source: How to Build the Future: Demis Hassabis

What this channel is watching now

Content frequently references public- and private-market leaders tied to AI and cloud infrastructure. Top tickers mentioned by volume: MSFT, NVDA, GOOGL, AMZN, ANTHROPIC, OPENAI, META, and AMD — reflecting focus on models, compute, developer tooling, and cloud/platform providers.

Latest videos and market context

Recent pieces include interviews and Startup School talks that spotlight rapid-growth open-source projects (Opencode), creator tooling (Photoroom), model-agnostic platform strategies (Dust), and fast-growing developer tooling (Supabase). Episodes emphasize product-market fit, distribution, and the operational implications of model economics.

What Actually Makes A Startup Durable

Jul 25, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

Content is a YC Startup School talk about building durable startups in the AI era. The actionable market-relevant bits are mostly high-level: (1) intelligence/AI inference is getting much cheaper, (2) moats shift away from “model choice” toward distribution, product loops, data/workflows, and founder execution, and (3) US export restrictions on frontier AI matter. No explicit company mentions or investable calls, so tickers are inferred by theme (AI compute stack, hyperscalers, and export-control-exposed semis).

What Big Tech Missed And How Startups Can Still Win

Jul 25, 2026, 2:00 AM EDT

Talk-level, largely qualitative discussion about AI startups vs Big Tech, with mentions of LLM limits, “world models,” robotics, and continued need for large-scale GPU compute. Actionability is low because there are no concrete catalysts, numbers, or near-term company-specific claims; the most tradable takeaway is a continued AI compute/infra demand narrative (GPU/accelerators, foundry, advanced packaging).

Why Physical AI Is the Next Platform Shift

Jul 25, 2026, 1:00 AM EDT

YC talk argues “Physical AI” (AI applied to the physical economy via multimodal sensing/robotics/automation) is the next platform shift; content is conceptual with limited concrete catalysts, but maps to tradable beneficiaries in GPUs/edge compute, industrial automation, and sensor/vision stacks.

Opencode CEO: Blocked, 20X Growth in 6 Months, Building the Coding Agent for the World

Jul 24, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

Interview-style content about Opencode (open-source Claude Code alternative) claiming rapid adoption (13M MAUs, 20x growth) and heavy token usage, framed around (1) open-source models becoming “good enough,” (2) enterprise adoption of coding agents, (3) model-choice flexibility and token economics, and (4) platform risk illustrated by Anthropic allegedly attempting to block Opencode, which backfired via attention/distribution.

Proof-backed call history

YC’s content mixes founder interviews, Lightcone/YC-produced episodes, and Startup School talks. Coverage balances founder narratives with practical lessons for scaling product and distribution, often drawing read-throughs for public cloud, AI infrastructure, and software vendors.

XAIopen

...C batches I agree on both those points. We have PE this guy with a MIT PhD in nuclear the MIT nuclear PhD to the the um the that have like API money to actually uh long, but you know, we do four batches a votes, launch two up votes, launch sell to XAI for $60 billion. hypothesis very very quickly and then hypothesis or not and if not you change normally for an LLM it's mostly about PLG you talk to customers not all of advice from YC that you should pivot. Uh specifically even if you have reve

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 10:00 AM EDTConviction: 100 / 100
Source: What Actually Makes A Startup Durable
ANTHROPICopen

...om have um about the AI native company. I fully understand and I think everyone understood because of your presentation. However, how can you actually practically start and building the structure to build that AI native company? Like do you go on claude code and tell him exactly everything that you told us? Because we understand the idea, the concept, but in terms of how do you actually do it? Um, so thank you. >> Thanks. [snorts] Um, I'd pick a single loop basically. So I' presumably your co

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 10:00 AM EDTConviction: 100 / 100
Source: What Actually Makes A Startup Durable
ASMLrightbacktest DEMOTE

Content is a YC Startup School talk about building durable startups in the AI era. The actionable market-relevant bits are mostly high-level: (1) intelligence/AI inference is getting much cheaper, (2) moats shift away from “model choice” toward distribution, product loops, data/workflows, and founder execution, and (3) US export restrictions on frontier AI matter. No explicit company mentions or investable calls, so tickers are inferred by theme (AI compute stack, hyperscalers, and export-contro

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 10:00 AM EDTConviction: 42 / 100Return: -7.59%
Source: What Actually Makes A Startup Durable
NVDArightbacktest DEMOTE

Content is a YC Startup School talk about building durable startups in the AI era. The actionable market-relevant bits are mostly high-level: (1) intelligence/AI inference is getting much cheaper, (2) moats shift away from “model choice” toward distribution, product loops, data/workflows, and founder execution, and (3) US export restrictions on frontier AI matter. No explicit company mentions or investable calls, so tickers are inferred by theme (AI compute stack, hyperscalers, and export-contro

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 10:00 AM EDTConviction: 44 / 100Return: -17.10%
Source: What Actually Makes A Startup Durable
GOOGLrightbacktest HOLD

Content is a YC Startup School talk about building durable startups in the AI era. The actionable market-relevant bits are mostly high-level: (1) intelligence/AI inference is getting much cheaper, (2) moats shift away from “model choice” toward distribution, product loops, data/workflows, and founder execution, and (3) US export restrictions on frontier AI matter. No explicit company mentions or investable calls, so tickers are inferred by theme (AI compute stack, hyperscalers, and export-contro

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 10:00 AM EDTConviction: 53 / 100Return: +21.59%
Source: What Actually Makes A Startup Durable
AMZNrightbacktest HOLD

Content is a YC Startup School talk about building durable startups in the AI era. The actionable market-relevant bits are mostly high-level: (1) intelligence/AI inference is getting much cheaper, (2) moats shift away from “model choice” toward distribution, product loops, data/workflows, and founder execution, and (3) US export restrictions on frontier AI matter. No explicit company mentions or investable calls, so tickers are inferred by theme (AI compute stack, hyperscalers, and export-contro

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 10:00 AM EDTConviction: 56 / 100Return: +28.44%
Source: What Actually Makes A Startup Durable
MSFTwrongbacktest DEMOTE

Content is a YC Startup School talk about building durable startups in the AI era. The actionable market-relevant bits are mostly high-level: (1) intelligence/AI inference is getting much cheaper, (2) moats shift away from “model choice” toward distribution, product loops, data/workflows, and founder execution, and (3) US export restrictions on frontier AI matter. No explicit company mentions or investable calls, so tickers are inferred by theme (AI compute stack, hyperscalers, and export-contro

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 10:00 AM EDTConviction: 58 / 100Return: -1.33%
Source: What Actually Makes A Startup Durable
OPENAIopen

..., "Okay, I the legal team, you know, they will never ever uh want to have this discussion with me." And so we knew we cannot release it. It's just an example. Um and so OpenAI could do could take some risks with with GPT-1, 2, 3, you know, until ChatGPT. That that no one else could could do. So they have the ability to they have enough money and resources to scale this training. >> [snorts] >> And but the ability to take risk at because yes, they they had this combination they they made it wh

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 2:00 AM EDTConviction: 100 / 100
Source: What Big Tech Missed And How Startups Can Still Win
METAwrongbacktest DEMOTE

Talk-level, largely qualitative discussion about AI startups vs Big Tech, with mentions of LLM limits, “world models,” robotics, and continued need for large-scale GPU compute. Actionability is low because there are no concrete catalysts, numbers, or near-term company-specific claims; the most tradable takeaway is a continued AI compute/infra demand narrative (GPU/accelerators, foundry, advanced packaging).

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 2:00 AM EDTConviction: 45 / 100Return: -10.10%
Source: What Big Tech Missed And How Startups Can Still Win
AMZNrightbacktest HOLD

Talk-level, largely qualitative discussion about AI startups vs Big Tech, with mentions of LLM limits, “world models,” robotics, and continued need for large-scale GPU compute. Actionability is low because there are no concrete catalysts, numbers, or near-term company-specific claims; the most tradable takeaway is a continued AI compute/infra demand narrative (GPU/accelerators, foundry, advanced packaging).

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 2:00 AM EDTConviction: 50 / 100Return: +28.44%
Source: What Big Tech Missed And How Startups Can Still Win
ASMLrightbacktest HOLD

Talk-level, largely qualitative discussion about AI startups vs Big Tech, with mentions of LLM limits, “world models,” robotics, and continued need for large-scale GPU compute. Actionability is low because there are no concrete catalysts, numbers, or near-term company-specific claims; the most tradable takeaway is a continued AI compute/infra demand narrative (GPU/accelerators, foundry, advanced packaging).

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 2:00 AM EDTConviction: 52 / 100Return: +44.53%
Source: What Big Tech Missed And How Startups Can Still Win
TSMrightbacktest HOLD

Talk-level, largely qualitative discussion about AI startups vs Big Tech, with mentions of LLM limits, “world models,” robotics, and continued need for large-scale GPU compute. Actionability is low because there are no concrete catalysts, numbers, or near-term company-specific claims; the most tradable takeaway is a continued AI compute/infra demand narrative (GPU/accelerators, foundry, advanced packaging).

Mentioned: Jul 25, 2026, 2:00 AM EDTConviction: 56 / 100Return: +24.30%
Source: What Big Tech Missed And How Startups Can Still Win

About this channel

Y Combinator invests $500,000 in startups and runs an intensive three-month program; founders retain lifelong access to YC’s community, funding networks, recruiting resources, and exclusive deals. The channel shares advice, founder stories, and deep dives into technical and business trends.

Subscribers2.3M
Videos623
Win rate47%
Average return+8.94%

All the world is changing around technology and you may contribute a line of code. What will yours be? Subscribe for startup advice, founder stories, and a look inside Y Combinator. What is Y Combinator? We invest $500,000 in every startup and work intensively with the founders for three months. For the life of their company, founders have access to the most powerful community in the world, essential advice, later-stage funding and programs, recruiting resources, and exclusive deals. Visit ycombinator.com to learn more.

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