Will the fall batch be different from the summer or winter batches?</strong><br>The fall batch is likely to have fewer companies than our Summer and Winter batches, but in every other respect it will be a “normal” batch.</p><p><strong>If I don't get selected for F24, will I be able to apply for W25?</strong><br>Yes, you will be able to apply for W25! Applications for the winter batch will open in early October and will be due late October. </p><p><strong>Will you do a new fall batch next year?</strong><br>YC is always updating how we do things because we want to serve founders to the best of our ability. We are considering adding new batches during the year and expect to have more to announce later in the year.</p>","comment_id":"66b268d9cd7d5f0001aee231","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/08/PBS_6793.jpg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-08-06T11:18:01.000-07:00","updated_at":"2024-08-19T12:35:53.000-07:00","published_at":"2024-08-06T12:00:15.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"In response to overwhelming demand, we are running a YC batch this fall. Applications are now open.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71173","name":"YC News","slug":"yc-news","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-news/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7117d","name":"Admissions","slug":"admissions","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/admissions/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71173","name":"YC News","slug":"yc-news","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-news/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/yc-fall-2024/","excerpt":"In response to overwhelming demand, we are running a YC batch this fall. Applications are now open. The Fall 2024 batch will begin in San Francisco on Sunday, 9/29, and Demo Day will be in early December. We are excited to work with founders who want to begin YC right away rather than wait for the W25 batch.","reading_time":2,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"6650d25c5df3e40001fdc6a2","uuid":"8aa537c9-6aa7-466f-b480-8b5c66effaec","title":"How AI will create more successful founders","slug":"opportunities-in-ai","html":"<p>When a major new technology comes out, huge new opportunities open up for founders that get in on the ground floor. Fortunes were made when the app store came out, when online payments became easy, and when the web itself was brand new.</p><p>Moments like these don’t happen often. When they do, it’s the people that put themselves right at the bleeding edge that find the opportunities — the people who pay attention to each new thing, pull threads, and search for the problems they can solve now that no one could solve before. It’s the people who stay informed and <em>move</em> that get to choose their paths.</p><p>In this episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/library/carousel/Dalton & Michael/">Dalton and Michael</a> we’ll talk about why this is that moment for AI, who will find those opportunities, and where to look for the people that’ll help you find them faster.</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/KxjPgGLVJSg?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"How New Technology Creates New Businesses\"></iframe></figure>","comment_id":"6650d25c5df3e40001fdc6a2","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/05/new-tech.jpeg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-05-24T10:46:04.000-07:00","updated_at":"2024-05-24T10:49:00.000-07:00","published_at":"2024-05-24T10:49:00.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"When a major new technology comes out, huge new opportunities open up for founders that get in on the ground floor. In this episode of Dalton and Michael, we’ll talk about why this is that moment for AI and who will find those opportunities.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71166","name":"videos","slug":"videos","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/videos/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71166","name":"videos","slug":"videos","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/videos/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/opportunities-in-ai/","excerpt":"When a major new technology comes out, huge new opportunities open up for founders that get in on the ground floor. Fortunes were made when the app store came out, when online payments became easy, and when the web itself was brand new.","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"661ff59beba13d0001fb3198","uuid":"06038b9e-32a8-40eb-b6b0-cb8cfe12bcf9","title":"When should a founder trust gut instincts?","slug":"when-should-a-founder-trust-gut-instincts","html":"<p>When you’re making important decisions as a founder — like what to build, or how it should work — should you spend lots of time gathering input from others or just trust your gut? </p><p>The answer: it depends. It depends on who you are, what you’re building, and what <em>you</em> know here.</p><p>We often see founders getting it backwards. Some of the founders with the most expertise are the ones who hesitate to build the thing they know the world needs, while founders without much experience want to spend the next five years working on their vision before talking to anyone about it.</p><p>In this episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/library/carousel/Dalton & Michael/">Dalton + Michael</a> we talk more about this, how to know when you should spend more time validating, and when to just commit. </p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ViqdR5E2wU?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"When Should You Trust Your Gut?\"></iframe></figure>","comment_id":"661ff59beba13d0001fb3198","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/04/TYG.png","featured":false,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-04-17T09:15:23.000-07:00","updated_at":"2024-04-17T10:54:03.000-07:00","published_at":"2024-04-17T09:16:00.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"We often see founders getting this one backwards.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71166","name":"videos","slug":"videos","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/videos/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71166","name":"videos","slug":"videos","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/videos/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/when-should-a-founder-trust-gut-instincts/","excerpt":"When you’re making important decisions as a founder — like what to build, or how it should work — should you spend lots of time gathering input from others or just trust your gut? ","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"65fc85e32023130001bf1f97","uuid":"2082ee64-b11f-4671-87b2-6a05a7fcad65","title":"Build for customers, not VCs","slug":"build-for-customers-not-vcs","html":"<p>It’s easy to analyze your way out of taking the first step. It’s something we see a lot, particularly when founders try to choose what to build based on what they think VCs will like.</p><p>These founders will find a great problem that they<strong> </strong>could solve, only to convince themselves it’s not “venture scale.” Before they’ve written a line of code or even talked to a single person about it, they’re trying to predict market opportunities and exit strategies a decade down the road. That’s just not how early stage startups work.</p><p>In this episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/library/carousel/Dalton & Michael/">Dalton & Michael</a>, we’ll talk about the risks of “thinking like a VC”, how to know when you’re stuck in this mindset, and how to unlearn it (spoiler: stop reading so much about who’s raising what.) We’ll also cover a short list of things that we’ve found <em><strong>actually matter</strong> </em>when starting a company — it’s simpler than a lot of people think.</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/SMi3JO-hsyY?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen title=\"Why Founders Shouldn't Think Like Investors\"></iframe></figure>","comment_id":"65fc85e32023130001bf1f97","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/03/mindset.jpeg","featured":false,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-03-21T12:09:23.000-07:00","updated_at":"2024-04-11T09:46:51.000-07:00","published_at":"2024-03-21T12:11:29.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"It’s easy to analyze your way out of taking the first step. It’s something we see a lot, particularly when founders try to choose what to build based on what they think VCs will like.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"}],"tags":[],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"},"primary_tag":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/build-for-customers-not-vcs/","excerpt":"It’s easy to analyze your way out of taking the first step. It’s something we see a lot, particularly when founders try to choose what to build based on what they think VCs will like.","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"65e0b97fb27489000102ece4","uuid":"c3ace2c1-8f67-42c2-b95a-7c4c6c92be2a","title":"Building Confidence In Yourself and Your Ideas","slug":"when-to-pivot-and-when-to-stick-with-it","html":"<p>One trait that many of the best founders share is conviction. You can be great at programming, sales, and raising funds — but if you don’t truly believe in what you’re building, you’re probably not going to make it.</p><p>Too often we see founders who get blown off course the second they get negative feedback, or who want to pivot after a few cold emails don’t get them the response they were hoping for. If you keep changing directions at every step, you’re just going to get lost.</p><p>At the other extreme are founders who spend years trying to build the perfect product without making sure anyone actually wants it. How do you find the happy medium?</p><p>In this episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/library/carousel/Dalton & Michael/">Dalton & Michael</a>, we’ll talk about finding the right speed, the dangers of inaccurate assumptions, and a question founders need to ask themselves before they start trying to sell to anyone else.</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/al-15mMAS18?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen title=\"Building Confidence In Yourself and Your Ideas\"></iframe></figure>","comment_id":"65e0b97fb27489000102ece4","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/03/maxresdefault.jpg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-02-29T09:06:07.000-08:00","updated_at":"2024-03-01T09:01:19.000-08:00","published_at":"2024-02-29T15:00:00.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"People are going to have feedback about your startup idea — how do you make sense of it all? ","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/when-to-pivot-and-when-to-stick-with-it/","excerpt":"One trait that many of the best founders share is conviction. You can be great at programming, sales, and raising funds — but if you don’t truly believe in what you’re building, you’re probably not going to make it.","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"65ce4f9d377b9c0001ddf1b0","uuid":"95938699-d05f-422f-9d29-633b26aac799","title":"Stop innovating on the wrong things","slug":"stop-innovating-on-the-wrong-things","html":"<p>Founders by definition have no limit to their job responsibilities, so they often get pulled in a millions directions at once.</p><p>Meanwhile they’ve heard stories of founder heroes that did <em>everything</em> from scratch — building the entire tech stack, picking paint colors and designing every inch and angle of the office, walking on water — and believe that to be successful they must get this granular about every aspect of their startup.</p><p>In this episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/library/carousel/Dalton & Michael/">Dalton & Michael</a> we’ll discuss the downsides of trying to “innovate” on best practices and why that can make it <em>less</em> likely a company succeeds.</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/FNwu440UxhU?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen title=\"Stop Innovating (On The Wrong Things)\"></iframe></figure>","comment_id":"65ce4f9d377b9c0001ddf1b0","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/02/innovating.jpeg","featured":false,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-02-15T09:53:33.000-08:00","updated_at":"2024-02-27T14:19:28.000-08:00","published_at":"2024-02-15T09:55:54.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"In this episode of Dalton & Michael we’ll discuss the downsides of trying to “innovate” on certain things and why that can make it LESS likely a company succeeds.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/stop-innovating-on-the-wrong-things/","excerpt":"Founders by definition have no limit to their job responsibilities, so they often get pulled in a millions directions at once.","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":"Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel in front of the text \"Stop Innovating (on the wrong things)\"","feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"65cbd413377b9c0001ddf10e","uuid":"a4d9b282-5cc5-4105-820f-fd7992a32709","title":"YC's latest Request for Startups","slug":"ycs-latest-request-for-startups","html":"<p>Every week the YC Group Partners meet and discuss the current batch. One common area of discussion is ideas — what kind of ideas are these founders having the best luck with? Which ones are they pivoting away from?</p><p>These discussions also do a good job of helping us notice the gaps. Ideas that should be made real — and that we’d want to fund! — but that we aren’t seeing many people work on or apply with. In a recent discussion like this, we realized it was time to put together an entirely new <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/">Request for Startups</a>.</p><p>The RFS is a YC tradition — you can find examples going back as far as 2009. Each one offers up ideas we’d want to see made real, in spaces that we believe will be important in the coming decades. The world is full of founders with expertise that could be tapped into something new and great; our hope is that this list inspires some of those people to do so — or if they’re already building, to apply to YC.</p><p><strong><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/">This new RFS</a> lists 20 categories, each suggested and explained by at least one YC Group Partner:</strong></p><ul><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#applying-machine-learning-to-robotics\">Applying machine learning to robotics</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#using-machine-learning-to-simulate-the-physical-world\">Using machine learning to simulate the physical world</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#new-defense-technology\">New defense technology</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#bring-manufacturing-back-to-america\">Bring manufacturing back to America</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#new-space-companies\">New space companies</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#climate-tech\">Climate tech</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#commercial-open-source-companies\">Commercial open source companies</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#spatial-computing\">Spatial computing</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#new-enterprise-resource-planning-software\">New enterprise resource planning software (ERPs)</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#developer-tools-inspired-by-existing-internal-tools\">Developer tools inspired by existing internal tools</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#explainable-ai\">Explainable AI</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#llms-for-manual-back-office-processes-in-legacy-enterprises\">LLMs for manual back office processes in legacy enterprises</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#ai-to-build-enterprise-software\">AI to build enterprise software</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#stablecoin-finance\">Stablecoin finance</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#a-way-to-end-cancer\">A way to end cancer</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#foundation-models-for-biological-systems\">Foundation models for biological systems</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#the-managed-service-organization-model-for-healthcare\">The managed service organization model for healthcare</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#eliminating-middlemen-in-healthcare\">Eliminating middlemen in healthcare</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#better-enterprise-glue\">Better enterprise glue</a></li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs#small-finetuned-models-as-an-alternative-to-giant-generic-ones\">Small fine-tuned models as an alternative to giant generic ones</a></li></ul><p>These are by no means the only ideas we’ll accept — many of the best ideas are the ones we would never expect — but if you aren't sure what you want to work on, these RFSs should provide a useful jumping off point to begin your ideation process. </p><p>Applications for the YC Summer 2024 batch are open now and the early deadline to apply for the batch is February 21. Apply <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/apply//">here.
","comment_id":"65cbd413377b9c0001ddf10e","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/02/RFS-top.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-02-13T12:41:55.000-08:00","updated_at":"2024-02-15T13:41:05.000-08:00","published_at":"2024-02-14T05:55:00.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"These are some of the things we want to see more founders working on.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"}],"tags":[{"id":"638a7d499132af0001d1aee9","name":"rfs","slug":"rfs","description":"Request for Startups","feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/rfs/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"638a7d499132af0001d1aee9","name":"rfs","slug":"rfs","description":"Request for Startups","feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/rfs/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/ycs-latest-request-for-startups/","excerpt":"Every week the YC Group Partners meet and discuss the current batch. One common area of discussion is ideas — what kind of ideas are these founders having the best luck with? Which ones are they pivoting away from?","reading_time":2,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":"\"Request for Startups\" on an orange background. ","feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"65c11e69377b9c0001ddf0b5","uuid":"3035740d-3335-45e5-949c-b050cbc54522","title":"Bootstrap or VC?","slug":"bootstrap-or-vc","html":"<p>Founders making a decision to start a company often find themselves torn between “bootstrapping” (i.e. not raising money from venture capitalists) or trying to fundraise from VCs. </p><p>The fact is, the vast majority of businesses don't raise VC and that is often an excellent decision. Many do, and that can be great too!</p><p> In this episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/library/carousel/Dalton & Michael/">Dalton & Michael</a>, we’ll explain why this particular debate is a much simpler one than many make it out to be.</p>","comment_id":"65c11e69377b9c0001ddf0b5","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/02/bootstrap.jpeg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-02-05T09:44:09.000-08:00","updated_at":"2024-02-05T09:47:45.000-08:00","published_at":"2024-02-05T09:47:08.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"In this episode of Dalton & Michael, we’ll explain why the \"Bootstrap or raise Venture Capital?\" debate is a much simpler one than many make it out to be.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/bootstrap-or-vc/","excerpt":"Founders making a decision to start a company often find themselves torn between “bootstrapping” (i.e. not raising money from venture capitalists) or trying to fundraise from VCs. ","reading_time":0,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"65a03520f55b5d0001807992","uuid":"577dc3de-cc43-45df-8672-067d1623b9eb","title":"Why do investors say you need a business co-founder?","slug":"why-do-investors-say-you-need-a-business-co-founder","html":"<p>Whether or not you need a co-founder is always a hotly debated topic — but going one level deeper, founders often wonder what <em>kind</em> of co-founder they need.</p><p>In a prior video Michael and I explained <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/library/KO-does-your-tech-startup-really-need-a-technical-co-founder-yes/">why <strong>every</strong> software company should have a technical co-founder</a>. But it’s also common for technical founders to be told by investors and advisors that they would benefit from a co-founder with non-technical expertise in things like business or marketing. </p><p>Are they correct? In this episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/library/carousel/Dalton & Michael/">Dalton & Michael</a> we dive into exactly that question.</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/43RhhwpiSk0?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen title=\"Do Technical Founders Need Business Co-Founders?\"></iframe></figure>","comment_id":"65a03520f55b5d0001807992","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/01/business-co-founder.jpeg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-01-11T10:36:16.000-08:00","updated_at":"2024-01-11T11:44:29.000-08:00","published_at":"2024-01-11T11:35:00.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"Every software company needs a technical co-founder. But what kind of co-founder does the technical founder need?","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/why-do-investors-say-you-need-a-business-co-founder/","excerpt":"Whether or not you need a co-founder is always a hotly debated topic — but going one level deeper, founders often wonder what kind of co-founder they need.","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":"Y Combinator Group Partners Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel in front of the text \"Business Co-founders?\"","feature_image_caption":null}],"filter":"By Dalton Caldwell","featured":null,"pagination":{"page":1,"limit":10,"pages":3,"total":21,"next":2,"prev":null}},"url":"/blog/author/dalton-caldwell","version":"86a82864a2e98321858efc8147c8b7f9287218a4","encryptHistory":false,"clearHistory":false,"rails_context":{"railsEnv":"production","inMailer":false,"i18nLocale":"en","i18nDefaultLocale":"en","href":"https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/author/dalton-caldwell","location":"/blog/author/dalton-caldwell","scheme":"https","host":"www.ycombinator.com","port":null,"pathname":"/blog/author/dalton-caldwell","search":null,"httpAcceptLanguage":"en, *","applyBatchLong":"Spring 2026","applyBatchShort":"X2026","applyDeadlineShort":"February 9","ycdcRetroMode":true,"currentUser":null,"serverSide":true},"id":"ycdc_new/pages/BlogList-react-component-30785928-1a0c-487e-8216-9a5e2eecbe00","server_side":true}" data-reactroot="">Recent Posts By Dalton Caldwell
All Posts
When should a founder trust gut instincts?
by Dalton Caldwell4/17/2024
We often see founders getting this one backwards.
Build for customers, not VCs
by Dalton Caldwell3/21/2024
It’s easy to analyze your way out of taking the first step. It’s something we see a lot, particularly when founders try to choose what to build based on what they think VCs will like.
Building Confidence In Yourself and Your Ideas
by Dalton Caldwell2/29/2024
People are going to have feedback about your startup idea — how do you make sense of it all?
Stop innovating on the wrong things
by Dalton Caldwell2/15/2024
In this episode of Dalton & Michael we’ll discuss the downsides of trying to “innovate” on certain things and why that can make it LESS likely a company succeeds.
YC's latest Request for Startups
by Dalton Caldwell2/14/2024
These are some of the things we want to see more founders working on.
Bootstrap or VC?
by Dalton Caldwell2/5/2024
In this episode of Dalton & Michael, we’ll explain why the "Bootstrap or raise Venture Capital?" debate is a much simpler one than many make it out to be.
Why do investors say you need a business co-founder?
by Dalton Caldwell1/11/2024
Every software company needs a technical co-founder. But what kind of co-founder does the technical founder need?