Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 5/5 debate potential 1/5

Replit's Y Combinator application video is still a Rickroll

Amjad Masad · The AI Coding Agent Revolution, The Future of Software, Techno-Optimism | Amjad Masad, CEO, Replit · Feb 6, 2025 · at 28:31

Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit, recalls submitting Rick Astley's music video as Replit's Y Combinator application video.

0:00 / 0:06exact quote · 6.3s

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“Actually, if you go to our YC profile, now they publish the videos, click on the video, it is still a Rickroll.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Replit's published Y Combinator application video is a Rickroll.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Y Combinator's public company directory page for Replit embeds the application video link submitted during Replit's Winter 2018 YC application. Records confirm that Replit's original submitted application video link was Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up', making the published application video on their YC profile a Rickroll.

On Y Combinator's public directory profile for Replit (ycombinator.com/companies/replit), the listed Winter 2018 application video field displays the video submitted during the application process.
Replit's official 2018 blog post and secondary sources confirm that the video link submitted by co-founder Amjad Masad in the application video field was Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up'.

Checked against

[1] replit.com [2] ycombinator.com [3] ycombinator.com [4] notboring.co [5] notboring.co

Y Combinator Replit company directory Replit Y Combinator application video "why did you Rick Roll us" replit "Y Combinator"

assessed as of 2026-07-30

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

Replit Y Combinator

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Disclosure

Replit treats manual code editing as a disengagement metric like Tesla

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Replit's Y Combinator application video is still a Rickroll

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