Latest Interviews

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Although a prevailing public perception suggests Y Combinator prioritizes AI startups through a dedicated investment thesis, YC partners clarify that selection criteria actually center on founder intelligence rather than specific subject matter. This reality explains why approximately 50% of the Summer 2023 batch focuses on large language models, a trend partners characterize as an emergent phenomenon driven by the interests of the most qualified applicants rather than institutional bias. Consequently, the high concentration of AI ventures reflects the specific capabilities and ambitions of the founders who applied, not a strategic shift in funding priorities.

Demis Hassabis — Scaling, superhuman AIs, AlphaZero atop LLMs, AlphaFold

Demis Hassabis

DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis projects that artificial general intelligence will emerge within a decade through the convergence of large multimodal world models and AlphaZero-style planning, moving beyond current text-based limitations. To ensure safety in this accelerated timeline, he advocates for a "bold and responsible" industry shift toward international collaboration, public safety policies, and the strategic use of synthetic data rather than uncontrolled open-sourcing of foundational models. This unified approach underpins the recent integration of Google Brain and DeepMind, which has already produced the Gemini system while establishing rigorous safeguards against misuse by bad actors and nation-states.

Future of Crypto, Blockchain & Web3 w/ Chris Dixon

Chris Dixon, Ben Horowitz, Marc Andreessen

A strategic discourse outlines the transition from the centralized control of the Write Era to the decentralized "Own Era" of blockchain, where creators retain data ownership and near-total revenue through low take rates. This framework positions blockchain as an essential counterbalance to the inherent centralization of artificial intelligence, offering immutable identity verification and fair incentive structures for the creative economy. Proponents argue that establishing clear regulatory clarity and avoiding state-controlled CBDCs is critical to preserving entrepreneurial innovation and ensuring the United States maintains global leadership in digital infrastructure.

Sami Inkinen: "Why the Two Weeks Following Our IPO Were the Worst of my Life" | E1120

Sami Inkinen, Harry Stebbings

Finland-born entrepreneur and Virta Health co-founder, who transitioned from a manual labor farm to reversing Type 2 diabetes through lifestyle changes, reflects on the psychological challenges of sudden wealth following his Trulia exit. He details a management philosophy rooted in balancing relentless ambition with mental stability, utilizing physical endurance and meditation to manage the "addictive" nature of founding while maintaining authentic leadership. Ultimately, his strategy emphasizes long-term ecosystem building over quick exits, advising founders to prioritize deep relationship-building with investors and to diversify personal identities to prevent professional collapse.

Nubank’s David Vélez: Entrepreneurs can help solve Brazil’s biggest challenges

David Vélez, John Waldron

David Velez and Nubank's co-founders built the region's largest bank by value by targeting structural inefficiencies in Latin America's unbanked markets, transforming a decade of macroeconomic volatility into a growth advantage. The company scaled across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia by embedding a culture of user fanaticism and deploying product-led financial literacy tools that achieved industry-leading NPS scores surpassing global tech giants. Following a $30 billion pre-IPO valuation and backing from Berkshire Hathaway, Velez has now committed the majority of personal wealth to the Giving Pledge to further expand educational leadership and private-sector impact in the region.

Tucker Carlson: Putin, Navalny, Trump, CIA, NSA, War, Politics & Freedom | Lex Fridman Podcast #414

Tucker Carlson, Putin, Navalny, Trump, Lex Fridman

Tucker Carlson traveled to Moscow for a lengthy interview with Vladimir Putin, asserting that the meeting provided unmediated insights into the Kremlin's peace intentions while exposing what he characterized as the U.S. media establishment's role as a state propaganda arm. During the event, Carlson detailed his observations of Russian society's order and economic resilience against sanctions, while simultaneously launching a fierce critique of American leadership, media figures, and geopolitical strategies that he claims have prolonged the conflict. The interview concluded with Carlson's warnings regarding the impending decline of the U.S. dollar and his call for a societal shift away from technological interference toward traditional family values.

Fielding Exceptional Fan Experiences: Holly O’Neill & Dallas Cowboys EVP Charlotte Jones

Holly O’Neill, Charlotte Jones

Entering the Dallas Cowboys in 1989 during a financial crisis, Charlotte Jones leveraged her fashion background and a family mandate to transform the franchise into a $9 billion enterprise over three decades. As the first female chairman of the NFL Foundation, she prioritized a 355-day engagement strategy and gender-inclusive leadership to compete with home streaming and cultivate deep fan affinity through initiatives like the "The Star" headquarters. Jones continues to drive the organization's digital evolution by integrating AI and player-centric data, ensuring the team remains relevant as the industry pivots toward immersive streaming experiences.

Justin Ishbia: The Three Traits Required to Succeed in Private Equity | E1119

Justin Ishbia, Harry Stebbings

Short Capital operates as a buy-and-build private equity firm targeting "healthcare light" sectors with $1M to $10M EBITDA, leveraging scale-driven supply chain savings and a "Life-Flip" strategy to instantly increase acquired companies' profitability. The firm distinguishes itself by recruiting first-time CEOs, utilizing a rigorous talent review system known as the "Nine-Box," and maintaining strict operational controls to avoid underperforming assets in favor of immediate value creation. Having learned from past pricing and regulatory missteps, the leadership now prioritizes disciplined deal vetting and transparent data analytics to manage risk while fostering a retention-focused culture that integrates personal family dynamics into professional incentives.

The Muscle Growth Doctor: Exercise At Night Is A Terrible Idea! Grip Strength = Disease! Andy Galpin

Andy Galpin

Dr. Galpin presents evidence establishing grip strength, leg strength, and VO2 max as superior predictors of longevity compared to traditional clinical markers, while identifying hidden physiological stressors like undiagnosed sleep apnea as critical performance limitations. He argues that standardized blood work and sleep protocols often mask suboptimal health, advocating instead for personalized interventions that prioritize consistency in training volume and sleep timing to counteract age-related decline. The discussion concludes by emphasizing that despite emerging AI and digital twin technologies, human coaching remains essential for interpreting complex data and guiding effective, individualized health strategies.

E167: Google's Woke AI disaster, Nvidia smashes earnings (again), Groq's LPU breakthrough & more

Jason, Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya

NVIDIA reported record Q4 revenue of $22.1 billion and a historic single-day market cap gain of $247 billion as the company executes a $25 billion buyback plan driven by surging demand for generative AI infrastructure. While competitors like the newly founded Grok challenge the hardware monopoly with faster inference chips, analysts remain divided on whether the current valuation reflects sustainable profits or a cyclical infrastructure build-out similar to the late 1990s. Simultaneously, Google faces a PR crisis regarding its Gemini AI's refusal to generate images of white people, prompting host discussions on the conflict between corporate safety filters and factual accuracy in large language models.

David Booth on being an index pioneer, working with Nobel laureates, & investing through uncertainty

David Booth, Raj Mahajan

Founded by David Booth in 1981, Dimensional Fund Advisors has grown to manage $680 billion by applying science-based strategies rooted in theories from Nobel laureates like Eugene Fama and Robert Merton. The firm distinguishes itself as the industry's largest active ETF issuer by prioritizing the management of uncertainty over market forecasting and lowering transaction costs through disciplined trading execution. Beyond its financial operations, Booth's governance integrates rigorous academic oversight, and his historic philanthropy has significantly elevated the University of Chicago Booth School of Business while preserving key historical artifacts like the original rules of basketball.

The Money Making Expert: The Exact Formula For Turning $100 into $100k Per Month! - Daniel Priestley

Daniel Priestley

Entrepreneur Daniel Priestley outlines a predictable, four-stage framework for scaling ventures from concept to ten-million-dollar revenue, emphasizing that success stems from treating ideas as cheap experiments rather than gambling on chaos. He details practical validation tactics like pre-launch waiting lists to secure funding without code, while asserting that sustainable growth requires building "life force" assets and hiring teams of overlings rather than solopreneurs. The discussion concludes that in an AI-driven economy, founders must shift from performing functional tasks to providing human context and emotional connection to create irreplaceable value and long-term equity.

Apple Vision Pro: Startup Platform Of The Future?

Diana, Jared

At the event, YC's Diana analyzed the Apple Vision Pro's transition to high-resolution video see-through technology and spatial computation, positioning it as a productivity-first platform with a hardware architecture comparable to self-driving cars. She contrasted this with Meta's game-focused approach, emphasizing that successful adoption requires founders to build deep, irrational commitment to overcome early "iPhone moment" limitations regarding app ecosystems and user experience. Drawing parallels to the five-year trajectory of mobile computing, the discussion advised investors to fund developers addressing high-density workflows now, predicting a similar evolution from niche tools to mass-market transformative startups.

Shifting supply and demand dynamics buffer oil market

Daan Struyven, Alison Nathan, Don Stryven

Brent crude currently trades near $80 per barrel with a modest geopolitical risk premium, supported by U.S. supply dominance and OPEC+ strategies to avoid extreme price spikes that could hinder Saudi Vision 2030. While global demand faces downside risks from China, growth in India and the United States keeps prices range-bound, with refined products and gasoline expected to hit summer peaks of $3.70 per gallon due to refining tightness. Simultaneously, the market anticipates a structural shift toward critical minerals like copper as EV penetration rises, while European natural gas markets face potential oversupply by 2026 and gold prices rise on expectations of lower U.S. interest rates.

Scott Williamson: Hiring the Best Product People in Five Steps, Why the Best PMs are Writers | E1118

Scott Williamson, Harry Stebbings

Scott outlines the Product Manager role as a dual "science and art" discipline that must pivot from intuition in startups to data-driven rigor in mature companies, ideally splitting time 50/50 between customer validation and engineering execution. The framework details a structured hiring pipeline involving non-domain case studies and a four-bucket competency model, alongside governance tools like the "Six-Pager" strategy and "Opportunity Canvas" to align teams with specific business KPIs. Leaders are urged to prioritize systematic thinking over pedigree and to leverage AI for synthesizing data, ensuring PMs maintain a strong customer-centric point of view amidst growing market pressures.