Y Combinator
also referred to as: yc
4 statements across 3 episodes · 2 bullish · 2 bearish · 3 people on the record · first statement Apr 8, 2025 by Michael Ovitz · said 28 times in 10 episodes since 2025 · across every show →
Mentions by year
brought up most by Brian Chesky (10), William Hockey (5), Patrick O'Shaughnessy (4), Sam Altman (2), Ramtin Naimi (1), Neil Mehta (1), Michael Ovitz (1), Karim Atiyeh (1)
tap a year for its mentions
2026 22 mentions in 4 episodes 6 per episode
- How Brian Chesky Is Redesigning Airbnb for the AI Era · Invest Like The Best
- How to bet on yourself (without venture capital) · Invest Like The Best
- Sam Altman on AGI, Compute, and Human Agency · Invest Like The Best
- Clay’s Unusual Path to Building a Multi-Billion Dollar Company · Invest Like The Best
- every mention in 2026, scene by scene →
2025 6 mentions in 6 episodes 1 per episode
- The Anatomy of Ramp's Hyper-Growth | Karim Atiyeh Interview · Invest Like The Best
- How This VC Went From Broke to Becoming the Hot Hand in Silicon Valley · Invest Like The Best
- The Chainsmokers’ Journey from DJs to VCs · Invest Like The Best
- The Obsession That Creates Enduring Companies | David Senra Interview · Invest Like The Best
- Finding the Next Figma, Wiz, & Stripe Before It's Obvious | Neil Mehta Interview · Invest Like The Best
- Michael Ovitz - Turning Potential Into Prominence · Invest Like The Best
- every mention in 2025, scene by scene →
Everything said about Y Combinator, oldest first
Apr 8, 2025 positive
Ovitz: Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz Have 'Frightening' Startup Recall
“I remember sitting with Mark and Ben at a Y Combinator day and Every presentation, Mark would go, yep, 19 so-and-so saw that, been there, done that. And Ben would say, yep, that didn't work. And the frame of reference is, and the memory is frightening.”
Mar 17, 2026 negative
Silicon Valley's safety net prevents the creation of truly great founders
“We've created this, like, incredible environment in Silicon Valley that it's really safe to start a company. And there's, like, a playbook, and you go through YC, and assuming you're, like, moderately competent and went to the right high school and college, yo…”
Mar 17, 2026 bearish
Founders should avoid building ideas from YC's Requests for Startups list
“You know, YC puts out this you know, quest for startups. My recommendation is like, that should be a list of startups you should not start. Because by the time that gets so consensus that this is a good area or super interesting, the amount of capital and the …”
May 5, 2026 positive
Chesky: Paul Graham accepted Airbnb despite disliking the idea
“Paul Graham made an exception to let me in early YCometer. He believed in me. I was an engineer, and he almost never funded non-engineers. He thought the idea was not a good idea, actually. He said, people are actually doing this? I go, yes. He goes, what's wr…”