consumer startups

6 statements across 4 episodes · 0 bullish · 2 bearish · 5 people on the record · first statement Feb 15, 2019 by Dalton Caldwell · across every show →

Everything said about consumer startups, oldest first

Feb 15, 2019
Assertion Contradicted
Caldwell: Consumer startups make up only about 5% of YC's portfolio
“People think that YC funds consumer companies, and this is what our bread and butter is. And like, Yeah, like, I think it's like five percent consumer.”
Dalton Caldwell Feb 15, 2019 ▶ 16:43 Ryan Hoover on Product Hunt's Acquisition and Lessons Learned About Launches with Dalton Caldwell · Y Combinator
Feb 15, 2019 negative
Insight
Hoover: VCs judge consumer startups on current revenue once monetized
“Ultimately, the challenge is always, especially with consumer kind of focused startup is as soon as you start making money, then VCs will start judging you based on that revenue today. And so strategically, there's some challenges there, which is an unfortunat…”
Ryan Hoover Feb 15, 2019 ▶ 22:39 Ryan Hoover on Product Hunt's Acquisition and Lessons Learned About Launches with Dalton Caldwell · Y Combinator
Jan 6, 2024
Insight
Blomfield: 5% monthly growth is unlikely to yield breakout consumer success
“A good growth rate is 15% month over month. At that rate, you'll five X your user base every year. 10% monthly growth for consumer company is okay. It means you'll approximately triple your user base every year. Five percent a month or lower is unlikely to rea…”
Tom Blomfield Jan 6, 2024 ▶ 1:00 Consumer Startup Metrics | Startup School · Y Combinator
Jan 6, 2024
Insight
Blomfield: A +50 NPS is the minimum baseline for new consumer companies
“If your net promoter score, your MPS, is not extremely high as a new consumer company, you're toast. You pretty much have to re-engineer the product to make it something that people love. The reason is it correlates extremely well with word of mouth referral. …”
Tom Blomfield Jan 6, 2024 ▶ 18:11 Consumer Startup Metrics | Startup School · Y Combinator
Nov 28, 2025
Insight
Garry Tan: Platform consolidation and closed distribution spurred startup shift to B2B
“The explosion in consumer in, you know, sort of the 2008 to 2012, 2014 period, that was an opening up of platforms. And then as the consolidation happened, you know, distribution closed down, which sort of spurred, you know, this move over to B to B.”
Garry Tan Nov 28, 2025 ▶ 3:02 The Best Consumer Startup Ideas Were Impossible Until Now · Y Combinator
Jun 25, 2026 negative
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pincus: Y Combinator probably has very few consumer startups currently
“You probably don't have a whole lot of consumer companies coming through right now.”
Mark Pincus Jun 25, 2026 ▶ 14:29 Zynga Founder: Consumer Is Not Investible Right Now - Thats Why You Should Build It · Y Combinator
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