Y Combinator has a roughly 1% acceptance rate

Y Combinator tends to outperform many other Silicon Valley startup accelerators

In a podcast episode, Garry Tan—CEO of startup accelerator Y Combinator—speaks about how YC has a better track record than the rest of Silicon Valley at placing bets on startups. Learn how Tan earned his first million dollars, as well as lessons from other successful businesspeople, including Y Combinator’s Paul Graham.

Startup accelerators that include more training activities, such as pitch competitions, tend to have better long-term success rates

That's according to a new study from Wharton. Y-Combinator, perhaps the most famous startup accelerator, currently has 16 alumni companies trading on the public market. But not every entrepreneur who joins a startup accelerator makes it big.

Y Combinator changed the way startups around the world are built

Many of the philosophies that the leaders of Y Combinator have infused into the program’s portfolio companies have become the playbook for building the next big thing, such as its focus on founder personality and more.

Y Combinator takes its name from a computer science concept

Y Combinator, the startup accelerator, gets its name from the “Y combinator” computer science concept. Specifically, something called a “Y combinator” in computer science is a function that runs programs, just like the Y Combinator startup accelerator runs a program that helps grow startups.

87% of the startups in Y Combinator’s Fall 2025 batch were AI companies

Y Combinator also recently increased its number of cohorts or “batches” per year from two to four. Its leaders cited artificial intelligence’s rise as a reason for the increase.

75% of venture-backed startups fail

Startups are inherently risky ventures. Successful startups are relatively rare due to factors including cash flow drying up, marketing issues, and more.

Why women are underrepresented in VC

Only about 11% of investing partners at venture capital firms are women, according to Harvard Kennedy School research. What’s more, only about 13% of VC dollars go to startups with a woman on the founding team. To learn more about why women are so often sidelined on both sides of the venture capital equation, click here.

In 2018, roughly 13% of Yale University graduates became consultants

Consulting is a popular career path for today’s top college students. A student newspaper article dives into a Yale University student’s brief love affair with the consulting industry, starting with a depiction of the interview process.

Difficulty of getting into every Ivy League school

Harvard graduates have the highest average starting salary in the country at $91,700. But getting to graduation at any Ivy League school like Harvard is no easy feat. This visual breaks down exactly how difficult getting into an Ivy League school is, from Yale to Cornell, including average admission rates, median SAT scores, and more. See the graphic here.

Some educators argue society's obsession with colleges at the top of rankings has hurt the US higher education ecosystem

Why are "good colleges" often the ones that accept the fewest students? Speaker Cecilia Orphan argues that society's obsession with colleges that are often private, expensive, and that reject applicants with high frequency has done harm. Instead, she argues, we should focus on regional public universities that meet the needs of students in a cost-achievable manner.

The early success of Facebook made Mark Zuckerberg a college campus celebrity

Within 24 hours of launching in 2004, more than 1,200 Harvard students signed up to the platform, which quickly expanded to other Ivy League and Boston-area schools within months. By year's end, Zuckerberg left Harvard to run the company in California.

7 prominent investors rejected Airbnb in its early days

Airbnb is arguably known as one of the most successful startup stories of all time. But back in 2008, many prominent investors rejected their pitch when they went out to raise money—and Airbnb's founder still has the rejection emails to prove it.

To be in Connecticut's 1%, you'd need to earn more than $1M per year

That makes Connecticut the most competitive state in the country when it comes to joining the 1%. This map outlines how much it takes in the other states.

16 credit unions with almost no membership requirements

One of the hallmarks of credit unions is that they tend to be exclusive. For instance, one of the largest credit unions only does business with Boeing employees. However, this roundup introduces 16 credit unions that have practically no membership requirements. Interested customers may need to guarantee $5 minimum deposits and in some cases, make a donation to an affiliated charitable organization.

Learn more about Palantir's 'meritocracy fellowship'

In 2025, Palantir launched a fellowship program for high school graduates to bypass college and begin working at Palantir. The fellowship is positioned as an alternative to American universities, which Palantir leaders and cofounders frequently criticize, and offers students four months of paid training, seminars from business leaders, and return offers to top students.

The matchmakers serving the elite of Silicon Valley

If members of the wealthy elite want to find romance, they often choose expensive match-making services rather than dating apps. These services can cost $150,000 for each match, and providers are experts in dealing with the unique social dynamics caused by being wealthy and the unusual egos such wealth can bring. This article explores this hidden cultural phenomenon.

The world's 50 most valuable private companies

While public companies typically have the highest valuations, private companies get close. This list breaks down the top 50 as of 2025, with SpaceX at the top with a value of $350B, followed by ByteDance. Over three-fifths of the list are located in the US, with eight in China.

More than $100M in scholarships goes unclaimed each year

More than $50B in scholarships are awarded each year, though analysts estimate more than $100M goes unclaimed due to a lack of qualified applicants. That fact should be unsurprising given the dizzying number and criteria for thousands of applications. This portal from the US Department of Labor lets you quickly search more than 9,600 scholarship opportunities by program, eligibility criteria, and more.

The pedigree of one’s MBA program matters a lot to elite employers

One expert even said that having an MBA from a prestigious school is “non-negotiable” for certain employers, such as elite management consulting, investment banking, and private equity.

Find out ways to get lower rates on private loans, such as applying with a cosigner

More borrowers are being pushed to opt for private student loans as changes to federal borrowing caps and repayment plans are implemented. Private lenders typically advertise interest rates that fall anywhere between sub-3% and 15% or higher.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

The hypercompetitive world of becoming a K-pop star

K-pop, a global $8B industry, rose from its 1990s regional roots to worldwide fame thanks to hits like “Gangnam Style.” Trainees endure years of intense training in performance and media skills, with only 4% to 5% debuting.

It’s actually pretty hard to get into CES

The event is technically a “trade” event, designated only for industry professionals. Roughly 170,000 attendees pass muster to get in, and according to this blog post, not all of them adhere strictly to the standard qualifications. Sometimes folks create a false credential or simply buy unused tickets from absent industry pros, while others sneak in.

Investing in private equity is typically reserved for 'accredited investors'

Limiting PE to accredited investors helps protect less experienced investors from large and risky investments. Accredited investors must meet requirements set by the Securities and Exchange Commission—they're typically required to have a net worth exceeding $1M, for instance. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Only allowing three recipients causes the Nobel Prize to overlook team discoveries

While science has grown more inclusive and collaborative, the Nobel Prize system still struggles with outdated practices, such as secrecy and a rigid limit on awardees. This restriction sidelines many deserving scientists, especially in complex projects like the human genome or gravitational waves.

Less than half of TikTok's US users have posted a video

Like most platforms, content is driven by a small number of active users—in TikTok's case, 25% of accounts are responsible for an estimated 98% of content posted.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Elk Cloner, the first computer virus to spread in public, was written as a practical joke by Richard Skrenta, a Pittsburgh high school student.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.