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Y CombinatorRegarded as the most well-known and successful startup accelerator, Y Combinator is an organization focused on helping early-stage companies achieve rapid growth through a combination of funding and structured mentorship.
Many companies that would later become household names and change the way we live today got their start at Y Combinator or YC, including Airbnb, Reddit, DoorDash, and more.
The accelerator has funded more than 5,000 startups, which it claims are now worth more than a combined $800B. Over 90 of those startups now have valuations of $1B or greater, and at least 11 were publicly traded, as of August 2025.
As many as 90% of startups fail on average—but Y Combinator startups only have about a 20% failure rate. Some argue that these portfolio companies may achieve higher valuations due in part to the brand recognition and subsequent investor access stemming from the association with the program.Explore Y Combinator
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Y Combinator Cofounder Jessica Livingston once interviewed her husband and cofounder, Paul GrahamTwo of Y Combinator’s cofounders, Jessica Livingston and Paul Graham, were in a romantic relationship before they started the accelerator. They later married, and much later, Livingston started a podcast. In an episode of her podcast, Livingston and her cohost interview Graham about the beginning of YC and more. The Social RadarsCEO Gary Tan explains Y Combinators guiding philosophyHear YC President and CEO Garry Tan talk about why he values earnesty and excellent communication skills in YC founders, his thoughts on AI, and more in this unexpectedly deep and in-depth interview. The Knowledge Project with Shane ParrishY Combinator cofounder Paul Graham keeps a public archive of his insightful essaysIn addition to cofounding Y Combinator and other companies before it, Paul Graham is a prolific writer and artist. He chronicled many of his thoughts while building Y Combinator in a series of dozens of candid essays, all of which you can read in an online archive. Paul GrahamY Combinator changed the way startups around the world are builtMany 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. WIRED87% of the startups in Y Combinator’s Fall 2025 batch were AI companiesY 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. Fast CompanyY Combinator has a roughly 1% acceptance rateThat’s lower than the most elite universities and colleges in the world—but insiders have some tips about how applicants can have the best shot of being accepted to the selective startup accelerator. TechCrunch‘Demo days’ are when founders at Y Combinator pitch their startup ideasInvestors sit in the audience, waiting to hear what this season’s batch of YC founders have cooked up. YC argues that going through the process of a demo day can help founders get a better understanding of their startup themselves. Y CombinatorY Combinator was founded in 2005 to bridge gaps between founders and investorsIn one of Paul Graham’s essays on his website, he took the time to explain how and why he and his cofounders (including his girlfriend at the time, and now wife, Jessica Livingston), came up with the idea of and eventually created Y Combinator. Paul GrahamY Combinator takes its name from a computer science conceptY 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. Lucas F. CostaY Combinator tends to outperform many other Silicon Valley startup acceleratorsIn 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. My First MillionThe Y Combinator startup directory includes every company YC has fundedThe startup accelerator has funded more than 5,000 companies over the years. This YC-specific search engine lets you look up any company to find out if it's a YC alum. Y CombinatorMark Zuckerberg credits some of Facebook's success to constant evolutionBefore becoming the head of OpenAI, Sam Altman was the president of Y Combinator—a startup accelerator company that supported companies like Airbnb, DoorDash, and Coinbase. In 2016, Altman interviewed Zuckerberg about creating Facebook and its growth over time. Zuckerberg said that, unlike other companies (think: CourseMatch), Facebook kept growing and adding new features, which prevented the app from becoming obsolete. Y CombinatorSam Altman gave his first-ever startup pitch after dropping out of StanfordHe dropped out of Stanford to start Loopt, which sold in 2012 for $43.4M. You can watch his first-ever startup pitch in a video. X (formerly Twitter)Stanford’s ‘How to Start a Startup’ seriesStanford’s archive of lectures about creating a startup includes advice from Y Combinator notables such as former YC president and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and YC Cofounder Paul Graham. Y CombinatorStartup accelerators that include more training activities, such as pitch competitions, tend to have better long-term success ratesThat'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. Knowledge at WhartonExplore the schedule of a three-month YC batchDuring the three months that founders accepted into Y Combinator spend on YC’s California campus, they receive mentorship from YC partners, networking opportunities, and, overall, a ton of time to build and scale their companies. Y CombinatorDive deep into the numbers that shape each YC dealY Combinator invests $500K into each company in any given batch. $125K of that investment converts into a fixed 7% in ownership of the startup, and the other $375K is invested on something called an uncapped MFN safe. YC explains what that means and more terms of the deal in a detailed article on their website Y CombinatorWhere are the first batch of YC founders now?Reddit was one of the companies in Y Combinator’s first batch. While OpenAI wasn’t among the companies started at YC, Sam Altman, who would later become the AI company’s CEO, had a different company called Loopt in the first batch. Drake DukesRead Paul Graham’s initial post announcing YC’s first batchIn March 2005, Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham announced the program that would become Y Combinator on his website. Paul GrahamYC was partly inspired by an investor named Julian WeberY Combinator Cofounder Paul Graham’s former professor’s husband Julian Weber provided $10K in seed funding to Graham’s previous startup, Viaweb in its early days. In exchange, Weber received 10% of the company. Weber’s involvement inspired Graham to start a program where investors were more involved with the companies they contributed seed funding to. Paul GrahamYahoo acquired Paul Graham's former startup Viaweb in 1998Viaweb was the web app tech startup that Paul Graham, Robert Morris, and Trevor Blackwell cofounded before they started Y Combinator. The company sold for $49M and Viaweb was rebranded as the Yahoo Store. CNETStartup accelerators offer mentorship and seed funding in exchange for equityThose programs, such as Y Combinator and Techstars, not only offer expert advice to founders, but also seed funding in exchange for equity. The goal is to help young startups learn from successful companies, making it more likely they attract venture capital. Silicon Valley Bank'Founder mode' is the idea that startup founders should take a hands-on approach to running their businessesIn 2024, Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham popularized the idea of "founder mode" when he wrote a viral manifesto in response to a talk that Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky gave about leadership styles. Graham positioned the concept of founder mode as the opposite of manager mode—when founders hire executives and middle managers to run their companies and make decisions that Graham says are better left to founders. Founder ModeStartups follow a 'minimum viable product' strategy to determine demandMichael Seibel, group partner for startup incubator Y Combinator, explains how to build a minimum viable product (also known as an MVP) for any startup idea. Using real companies that experienced the Y Combinator program as examples, he walks through how to determine an MVP feature set, how to present an MVP to potential investors, and more. Y CombinatorStartups are small, early-stage companies designed to grow fastThe definition of the word “startup” is complicated—so who better to define it than Y Combinator, perhaps the most well-known startup accelerator in the business? YC’s blog also explains how startups make money and build products. Y Combinator
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