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United States

also referred to as: the us · u s · us

38 statements across 30 episodes · 13 bullish · 4 bearish · 30 people on the record · first statement Jun 16, 2017 by Tim Hwang · said 416 times in 125 episodes since 2013 · across every show →

Mentions by year

brought up most by Craig Cannon (39), Geoff Ralston (17), Blake Scholl (14), Derek Thompson (12), Aadit Palicha (11), Jon Levy (10), Qi Lu (9), Samantha Bradshaw (8)

tap a year for its mentions
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0204020132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodes it came up in
0042084020132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 40 mentions in 13 episodes 3 per episode
2025 69 mentions in 21 episodes 3 per episode
2024 6 mentions in 4 episodes 2 per episode
2023 6 mentions in 3 episodes 2 per episode
2022 6 mentions in 5 episodes 1 per episode
2020 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
2019 83 mentions in 19 episodes 4 per episode
2018 151 mentions in 40 episodes 4 per episode
2017 43 mentions in 16 episodes 3 per episode
2016 1 mention in 1 episode
2013 7 mentions in 1 episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about United States, oldest first

Jun 16, 2017 neutral
Opinion
Hwang: Demographic shifts impact the economy as much as AI breakthroughs
“Like what's it mean that we have an aging workforce, right? Or like, what's it mean that we have like falling workforce participation in the United States, right? Like those are actually trends that like, That are almost as large as, like, what someone comes u…”
Tim Hwang Jun 16, 2017 ▶ 16:51 At the Intersection of AI, Governments, and Google - Tim Hwang · Y Combinator
Jun 23, 2017 neutral
Insight
Alströmer: Only 5 to 10 countries are dramatically different from the US
“There are not that many countries in my experience that are dramatically different. There are maybe five or 10 that are quite different than the US, but most countries are not that different.”
Gustaf Alströmer Jun 23, 2017 ▶ 23:48 Scaling Growth | Gustaf Alstromer, YC Partner (formerly Airbnb) & Ed Baker (formerly Uber) · Y Combinator
Jul 26, 2017
Disclosure
Emily Weiss: Glossier has hundreds of thousands of US customers purely D2C
“We are purely direct to consumer, so all sold through Glossier.com and have many hundreds of thousands of customers now in, in the United States.”
Emily Weiss Jul 26, 2017 ▶ 12:02 Emily Weiss on the Insights That Grew Glossier - With Amy Buechler at the Female Founders Conference · Y Combinator
Sep 25, 2017 neutral
Disclosure
Allen: About 60% of Indie Hackers traffic is outside the US
“If I look at the IndieHackers traffic stats, something like 60% of the traffic is from not in the United States, let alone in Silicon Valley.”
Courtland Allen Sep 25, 2017 ▶ 11:36 Your Whole Goal Is to Not Quit - Courtland Allen of Indie Hackers · Y Combinator
Sep 27, 2017 negative
Opinion
Mr. Money Mustache: US car usage should be cut by 90%
“You know, in my personal views, for example, I've become more hardcore over the last year that cars are just like the biggest stupid inefficiency that we have in the United States, and we need to just cut that whole shit down by at least 90%.”
Mr. Money Mustache Sep 27, 2017 ▶ 3:47 Don't Start a Blog, Start a Cult - Mr. Money Mustache · Y Combinator
Sep 27, 2017
Disclosure
Mr. Money Mustache: Used Craigslist roommates despite earning modern $100k equivalent
“When I moved to the US, even back at the time, I was probably making, in today's dollars, like close to a 100,000 dollars, I still went straight to Craigslist and got a roommate situation. For the first year, because I had to save up a down payment”
Mr. Money Mustache Sep 27, 2017 ▶ 8:45 Don't Start a Blog, Start a Cult - Mr. Money Mustache · Y Combinator
Oct 4, 2017 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hoover: Over half of Product Hunt's community is outside the US
“More than half the product and community is actually outside the U S”
Ryan Hoover Oct 4, 2017 ▶ 18:54 Communicate with Users, Build Something They Want - Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt · Y Combinator
Dec 6, 2017 bearish
Assertion Supported
Slavin: Roughly 15 US Universities Go Bankrupt Each Year
“We talked about this a little bit earlier, but there, it's basically 15 universities a year that go bankrupt in the United States.”
Kevin Slavin Dec 6, 2017 ▶ 0:56 There's an Art to Getting Brilliant People to Surprise Themselves - Kevin Slavin of The Shed · Y Combinator
Dec 6, 2017 bullish
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Slavin Predicts 98% of Americans Will Own Smartphones by 2019
“And by 2019, that's 98%. 98% of the United States will have smartphones, you know, even Obama phones or smartphones. You won't be able to buy a non-smartphone in 2019.”
Kevin Slavin Dec 6, 2017 ▶ 51:15 There's an Art to Getting Brilliant People to Surprise Themselves - Kevin Slavin of The Shed · Y Combinator
Feb 23, 2018 bullish
Prediction Not publicly verifiable
Altman: YC Will Soon Receive More Applications From Outside US Than Inside
“It won't be too much longer until we have more companies applying from outside the U.S. Than inside the U.S.”
Sam Altman Feb 23, 2018 ▶ 26:27 Uncut Interview with Sam Altman on Masters of Scale [Audio] · Y Combinator
Mar 2, 2018 bullish
Opinion
Thompson: In 2011 Shanghai, 40% corporate growth felt like sandbagging
“You start working there and 40% growth rates feel like sandbagging. And if you can imagine something like that, and we're coming from the U S where one to two percent is like, cool, we're growing. 40% is sandbagging.”
Avni Patel Thompson Mar 2, 2018 ▶ 13:05 The Number One Goal is Getting Started - Avni Patel Thompson of Poppy · Y Combinator
Mar 9, 2018 neutral
Assertion Supported
Bromberg: European ICOs have raised as much capital as US ICOs
“Right now, it is a very global phenomenon, so about as much money has been raised by ICOs based in Europe as based in the United States”
Andy Bromberg Mar 9, 2018 ▶ 45:01 Andy Bromberg - Startup Investor School Day 4 · Y Combinator
Apr 6, 2018 positive
Assertion Supported
Ralston: Almost all US schools now have adequate broadband connectivity
“In 20 11, when you wrote that post, the fact is that most schools were not connected with reasonable internet access. Today, almost all of them in the United States are Connected with, you know, enough bandwidth for more than one person could run YouTube at th…”
Geoff Ralston Apr 6, 2018 ▶ 14:45 Cost vs Quality in Edtech – Keith Schacht, Avichal Garg, and Geoff Ralston · Y Combinator
Apr 25, 2018 neutral
Opinion
Brundage: China will not slow AI deployment over interpretability concerns
“In China, there's, like, much let, or I haven't seen as much concern about interpretability, though there are some, like, good papers coming out of China, but in terms of, like, governance, I haven't gotten the sense that they're gonna, like, hold back the dep…”
Miles Brundage Apr 25, 2018 ▶ 17:48 A.I. Policy and Public Perception - Miles Brundage and Tim Hwang · Y Combinator
Apr 25, 2018 neutral
Insight
Hwang: US AI regulation is domain-specific while Europe uses broad horizontal rules
“I would say in general, I think the US moves on a very case-by-case basis. So the regulatory mode is basically to say, look, in medical, that seems to be a situation where, like, there's, like, particularly high risks. And like, we want to create a bunch of re…”
Tim Hwang Apr 25, 2018 ▶ 20:06 A.I. Policy and Public Perception - Miles Brundage and Tim Hwang · Y Combinator
May 2, 2018 neutral
Opinion
Xie: Overly restrictive US crypto regulation will drive developers abroad
“So right now I think the US is being smart and not trying to be overly restrictive because they'll know that it'll push out a lot of the development, especially let's say if you were to just really be harsh on people that were developing on these projects. And…”
Linda Xie May 2, 2018 ▶ 16:07 Crypto Investors - Linda Xie and Avichal Garg · Y Combinator
Oct 3, 2018 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Collison in 2018: Over 80% of US adults bought from Stripe merchants
“So in the last 12 months more than 80% of American adults have bought something from a Stripe business. At least one thing from a Stripe business. Which is cool, and you know, it's not just the case in the US, like in Singapore, where it was last week, you kno…”
Patrick Collison Oct 3, 2018 ▶ 55:43 Running Your Company by Patrick Collison · Y Combinator
Oct 11, 2018
Assertion Partly supported
Ning: 80% of US cannabis historically came from California
“A couple years ago including the black market, 80% of the cannabis in the United States came out of California”
Vincent Ning Oct 11, 2018 ▶ 24:05 Cannabis Startup Founders David Hua and Vincent Ning on Legalization, Banking, and Industry Trends · Y Combinator
Oct 11, 2018 bullish
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Ning: Well-capitalized Canadian public companies will drive US cannabis consolidation
“I think part of the whole like consolidation pattern that will Come just because the market's so fragmented right now will be heavily pressurized by Canadian like publicly traded, heavily capitalized companies. Just because they're coming in and they're buying…”
Vincent Ning Oct 11, 2018 ▶ 30:16 Cannabis Startup Founders David Hua and Vincent Ning on Legalization, Banking, and Industry Trends · Y Combinator
Oct 16, 2018 bullish
Prediction Didn’t hold up
Akinlade in 2018: Nigeria's population will exceed the US in five years
“Like in the next five years, I think Nigeria is going to be even more than the US.”
Shola Akinlade Oct 16, 2018 ▶ 40:15 Helping African Businesses Get Paid, Shola Akinlade of Paystack · Y Combinator
Jan 16, 2019 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Qi Lu: Learning sixth-grade fractions is the top indicator of intellectual development
“A sixth grade in United States learning fraction mathematics is actually the defining moment. That would be the most sort of leading indicators on this kid's intellectual development.”
Qi Lu Jan 16, 2019 ▶ 50:04 Cindy Mi and Qi Lu Share Advice for Entrepreneurs Building Global Companies · Y Combinator
Jan 16, 2019
Assertion Partly supported
Chinese families spend 15% of income on supplemental education versus US's 2%
“The market size is about fifteen billion US dollars parents spending every year. And then Chinese parents value education as investments. So from around 15% of our household income goes to supplemental education. Compared to two percent in the US.”
Cindy Mi Jan 16, 2019 ▶ 8:21 Cindy Mi and Qi Lu Share Advice for Entrepreneurs Building Global Companies · Y Combinator
Jan 23, 2019 negative
Assertion Supported
US users share vastly more junk news than European democracies
“During the UK elections, and Germany, and France, and Sweden, Mexico, all of those countries have much lower levels of junk news to professionally produced news shares than the US.”
Samantha Bradshaw Jan 23, 2019 ▶ 28:17 Tracking Political Manipulation Through Social Media - Samantha Bradshaw · Y Combinator
Feb 27, 2019 positive
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Saroya: Cover reached #1 Canadian insurance app on day two
“You know, we ended up being the number one ranked insurance app in Canada the second day. And during YC, we were actually, like, two weeks into launch, like, we were featured for, like, under the best new apps in the United States, right?”
Karn Saroya Feb 27, 2019 ▶ 12:02 Karn Saroya on the Capital-Light Way to Start an Insurance Business · Y Combinator
Dec 11, 2019 positive
Assertion Supported
Srini: Zenefits bypassed US immigration by locating global engineers in Vancouver
“So one of the ways we grew really quickly at Zenefits in terms of hiring was we were able to tap talent all over the world. It was just easier to bring them To Vancouver in terms of immigration than like the US.”
Laks Srini Dec 11, 2019 ▶ 18:53 Laks Srini on Making Homeownership in Reach with ZeroDown · Y Combinator
Jan 28, 2020 neutral
Assertion Partly supported
Saez-Gil: Fewer than 50 certified forest carbon projects exist in US
“In the US there are less than 50 projects that got certification for carbon credits, and in South America there's less.”
Diego Saez-Gil Jan 28, 2020 ▶ 9:15 Diego Saez Gil - How Pachama Uses Tech to Solve Climate Change · Y Combinator
Jan 28, 2020 positive
Disclosure
Pachama onboarded 10+ projects and closed 10+ customers in year one
“We onboarded over 10 forest projects in the US and Brazil into our platform that we analyzed, validated, and, you know, listed on our platform. We have closed over 10 customers.”
Diego Saez-Gil Jan 28, 2020 ▶ 29:42 Diego Saez Gil - How Pachama Uses Tech to Solve Climate Change · Y Combinator
Mar 13, 2025
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Field: Over 80% of Figma users are outside the United States
“So even from the start, over 80% of our weekly active users were outside the United States.”
Dylan Field Mar 13, 2025 ▶ 1:58 Figma's Dylan Field: Exploring the idea maze, vibe coding, and the power of “locking in” · Y Combinator
Mar 18, 2025 neutral
Assertion Supported
Reeves: There are about six million US employers across industries
“There's about six million employers in the U.S., and so, you know, if you're going to get to real, real volume in the space, you have to go into many, many industries.”
Josh Reeves Mar 18, 2025 ▶ 10:45 From A Pivot To Building A $9.6 Billion Payroll Company · Y Combinator
Mar 18, 2025
Assertion Supported
Reeves: ~550k US Employers Form Yearly; 52% Reach Year Five
“There's about 550,000 new employers each year in the U.S., and the historical stat is that about 52% make it to year five.”
Josh Reeves Mar 18, 2025 ▶ 24:07 From A Pivot To Building A $9.6 Billion Payroll Company · Y Combinator
Mar 26, 2025 positive
Assertion Supported
Tan: DoorDash holds mid-sixty percent of US food delivery market
“Today's guest, Tony Hsu, who created DoorDash, which now has mid-sixty percent of all food delivery in the United States.”
Garry Tan Mar 26, 2025 ▶ 0:50 DoorDash CEO: Customer Obsession, Surviving Startup Death & Creating A New Market · Y Combinator
Apr 4, 2025 positive
Assertion Supported
Thompson: Penicillin was barely used until US WWII industrial scaling
“Like five people have been delivered penicillin in all of human history, 13 years after it was discovered, and the two of them have died. Penicillin has done nothing, and it took a very concerted U.S. Effort to implement penicillin, to grow it in large vats, t…”
Derek Thompson Apr 4, 2025 ▶ 15:41 How To Build A Truly Abundant Future · Y Combinator
Apr 18, 2025
Assertion Partly supported
Palicha: Indian grocery purchase frequency is four times higher than in US
“The overwhelming majority of consumption actually happens within four kilometers from your house, which is very different from the US, right? Like, the frequency of purchase in India is four times more for grocery than it is in, in the US, and so people actual…”
Aadit Palicha Apr 18, 2025 ▶ 6:28 How Zepto Became India’s Fastest Growing Startup · Y Combinator
Jun 19, 2025 neutral
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Musk: There will be 5 to 10 frontier AI models globally
“I do think there will be several deep intelligences, maybe at least five maybe as much as 10. I'm not sure that there's going to be hundreds, but it's probably close, like maybe there'll be like 10 or something like that of which maybe four will be in the US.”
Elon Musk Jun 19, 2025 ▶ 40:58 Elon Musk: Digital Superintelligence, Multiplanetary Life, How to Be Useful · Y Combinator
Aug 26, 2025
Assertion Supported
Legora entered 15 international markets before expanding into the United States
“And at that point, we had always, you know, we had already done 15 new market entries. The algorithm or the method was already kind of established.”
Max Junestrand Aug 26, 2025 ▶ 40:21 How This 25-Year-Old Built A $675M Legal AI Startup (With No Legal Experience) · Y Combinator
Aug 26, 2025 negative
Opinion
Launching in the competitive US market pushes startups to become narrower
“The reason why we stayed in Stockholm was we needed a market to grow in, and if you go to the US, it's not only more competitive, but I think it kind of pushes you into becoming a more narrow company.”
Max Junestrand Aug 26, 2025 ▶ 39:48 How This 25-Year-Old Built A $675M Legal AI Startup (With No Legal Experience) · Y Combinator
Nov 28, 2025 neutral
Opinion
Tan: US lost consumer distribution art; top growth talent is in Eastern Europe
“You can't hire them in the United States anymore, or in the West. Like, they're all in Eastern Europe. Which is interesting. It became like a lost art. Like, we forgot how to do, ah, consumer distribution”
Garry Tan Nov 28, 2025 ▶ 11:07 The Best Consumer Startup Ideas Were Impossible Until Now · Y Combinator
Jul 28, 2026 positive
Assertion Partly supported
Scholl: US legalized supersonic flight 115 days after XB-1 broke sound barrier
“And so it was about 24 hours from breaking the sound barrier to be invited to the West Wing, and a 115 days from breaking the sound barrier to an executive order making supersonic flight legal again in the U.S.”
Blake Scholl Jul 28, 2026 ▶ 10:29 Blake Scholl: Breaking the Supersonic Ban · Y Combinator
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