Latest Interviews

Counter-Swarm Defense

An incident involving Iranian drone swarms exposing the cost asymmetry and fragmentation of current defense systems has prompted Y Combinator to solicit counter-swarm stack solutions. These new initiatives aim to replace traditional interceptor models with software-driven, non-kinetic technologies capable of neutralizing thousands of coordinated units through sensor fusion and autonomy targeting. The resulting infrastructure is expected to function more like scalable cloud networks than conventional weaponry, fundamentally shifting the defense paradigm from weapon operation to distributed system management.

Company Brain

Enterprise AI automation is currently bottlenecked by the fragmentation of proprietary domain knowledge siloed within human memory and legacy systems, creating an urgent need for a "company brain" that extracts, structures, and converts this data into executable skills files. This dynamic infrastructure serves as a critical intermediate layer between raw enterprise data and reliable AI agents, moving beyond simple document chatbots to map specific operational workflows like refund handling and incident response. The speaker predicts universal global adoption of this technology for safe, efficient automation and invites startups to apply to Y Combinator to build this essential primitive.

Big Tech Opportunity

Lee Coppersmith, Mike Washington

Following a two-week ceasefire that triggered a rapid 2.5–3% market rally, institutional investors are shifting from defensive shorting strategies to re-entering secular winners, particularly within the artificial intelligence theme. While broad index volatility has reset, significant dislocation remains in mega-cap tech, where low valuations and suppressed positioning mirror conditions seen during the March 2020 crash, creating a specific opportunity for call option exposure. With earnings reports serving as the upcoming catalyst, client sentiment is pivoting toward resilience and upside potential as geopolitical risks recede into the background.

Tech Comeback Ahead?

Peter Callahan, Mike Washington

In 2026, the technology sector is experiencing a 3% to 4% year-to-date decline and lagging the broader market for the first time in 15 years as investor focus shifts from generative AI infrastructure builds to commercial implementation and revenue verification. Despite "best-in-class" earnings growth across the Mag Seven cohort, equity valuations remain suppressed because companies face intense pressure to convert massive capital expenditures into immediate top-line growth within the next 6 to 24 months. Analysts maintain a constructive outlook on clean tech valuations but anticipate high volatility in the coming weeks as the market transitions from sector-wide moves to stock-specific differentiation.

AI for Government

Despite the private sector's rapid adoption of AI for form processing, government agencies still rely on manual systems, creating a critical need for automated solutions to manage surging application volumes. This event addresses the unique challenges and high-value rewards of penetrating the public sector, where successful vendors gain sticky long-term contracts that can expand significantly after initial acquisition. The speaker specifically invites skilled developers to join the effort of building specialized AI tools that bridge this digital divide and replicate global efficiency benchmarks within government operations.

Which Equity Markets Will Outperform?

Kunal Shah, Chris Hussey

Goldman Sachs Co-CEO Kunal Shah outlined a robust 2026 U.S. economic outlook featuring 2.8% GDP growth driven by AI-fueled capex and easing financial conditions, while warning of elevated leverage and political risks to central bank independence. The firm forecasts balanced returns across U.S., European, and Asian markets despite divergent drivers, noting that excess savings in non-U.S. regions are shifting toward domestic spending rather than external deficits. In strategic asset allocation, the firm highlights Treasury bonds for diversification if labor markets weaken and recommends gold as a hedge against de-dollarization, though it cautions against shorting credit spreads due to their historically tight levels.

Four stories to watch out for in 2026

In 2026, the United States will deepen its military competition by deploying the "Golden Dome" defense shield and relying on SpaceX's Starship to maintain orbital dominance amid rising tensions with Russia and China. Domestically, President Trump will challenge central bank independence by nominating a successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell who supports lower interest rates, echoing global political pressures on monetary policy. Simultaneously, the nation will grapple with ideological division over its semi-quincentennial as rival commissions organize conflicting celebrations that juxtapose official historical archives with a politicized "America First" agenda, while Las Vegas hosts the controversial Enhanced Games to normalize human performance enhancement.

What are we scaling?

Toby Ord, Beren Millidge

Baron Millage argues that current Reinforcement Learning strategies rely on inefficiently pre-baking skills into models due to a fundamental misunderstanding of their ability to learn like humans, which keeps AI revenue far below the potential of knowledge work automation. While the industry anticipates a 2030 surge in continual learning revenue reaching the hundreds of billions, the lack of generalizable on-the-job capabilities and the immense compute requirements for RL scaling suggest AGI remains distant despite incremental progress. This perspective challenges the "superhuman researcher" narrative by emphasizing that solving the core learning problem requires a shift from specialized training loops to systems capable of semantic, self-directed adaptation.

Leading the Next Era of Health | Future of Health Summit 2025

Bertha Coombs, Joe Daly, Jeremy David, Shane Jacobson, Sarah London, Baligh Yehia, Esther Krofa

Hosted by the Milken Institute in Washington, the 2025 Future of Health Summit convened over 200 speakers to address urgent systemic challenges including rising costs, stagnant life expectancy, and a 10-point decline in public trust. The event highlighted critical interventions such as Dr. Jill Biden's new Women's Health Network, Centene's food-as-medicine data initiatives, and Jefferson Health's AI-driven physician support programs, while launching nine strategic publications on biomedical research. Key participants navigated complex tensions regarding AI's role in workflows, the need for new financing models for expensive therapies, and the precarious status of Affordable Care Act tax credits, ultimately urging leaders to leverage micro-level patient-clinician trust for future reform.

How will Japan's prime minister change her country?

Noah Sneider, Rosie Blau, Rosie Bloor

Sanae Takaichi has become Japan's first female Prime Minister, marking a strategic rightward pivot for the Liberal Democratic Party that has already fractured its long-standing coalition with Komeito. Her agenda combines aggressive defense spending, a revival of "Abenomics," and strict social conservatism, while navigating delicate tensions with the United States and historical disputes with Asian neighbors. Although her administration aims to address domestic inflation, the survival of her government faces significant uncertainty due to internal party fractures and public skepticism regarding her right-wing populist appeal.

Reinventing Delivery with Instant Drone Transport ft Zipline's Keller Cliffton -

Keller Cliffton, Roelof Botha, Keenan Wyrobek, Ryan Oxenhorn, Maggie Jim, Alfred Lin

Zipline CEO Keller Clifton transformed his company from a failed consumer robotics venture into the world's largest autonomous logistics network by pivoting to medical supply delivery in Rwanda, where a partnership with the government addressed critical health crises caused by poor infrastructure. After securing NASA collaboration and achieving a historic U.S. regulatory milestone for nationwide Beyond Visual Line of Sight flights, the organization scaled to serve over 5,000 facilities globally while introducing a novel string-based urban delivery system. This evolution, driven by the founders' persistence through early investor skepticism and technical failures, established a resilient infrastructure that now connects remote hospitals and urban centers alike.

A Keynote with Richard Rizk, & IRobert Rizk, BLACKBOX.AI

Richard Rizk, IRobert Rizk

Co-founded by Robert and Richard Co, Blackbox has scaled its autonomous coding agent platform to over 20 million users, securing the top rank among code-related AI startups on Andreessen Horowitz's 2024 adoption list. The system distinguishes itself through features like Figma-to-code conversion, voice-enabled remote execution, and a "Robocoder" module that resolves GitHub issues asynchronously within isolated secure environments. While integrating with over 35 IDEs and offering unified model access, the company emphasizes a human-in-the-loop philosophy to augment developer productivity rather than replace engineers.

A Keynote with Guillaume Bonneton, GP Bullhound & Carlos de la Esperanza, Bullhound Capital

Guillaume Bonneton, Carlos de la Esperanza, Carlos Franza

GP Bullhound's 11th annual "Titans of Tech" report defines Europe's current technological renaissance, noting that the continent's unicorn count has nearly tripled since 2020 while total venture capital funding has recovered to $15 billion annually. Despite a stagnation in initial public offerings, the ecosystem is scaling through a surge in larger deals and strategic secondary liquidity rounds, with AI-native companies and dual-use technologies driving the majority of new capital allocation. Looking ahead, the firm projects 50 new unicorns within 24 months, a wave dominated by aggressive hiring and the development of sovereign hardware infrastructure rather than consumer applications.

A Contrarian Call on Europe

Mark Wilson, Chris Hussey

Despite a historic six-month equity rally, professional investors maintain a constructive stance with deployed capital levels indicating the market remains unsretched. The event highlights a divergence where European value stocks and small caps outperform US large-cap growth, while specific opportunities arise in Chinese AI and German domestic beneficiaries driven by defense spending. Participants further examine strategies to capitalize on compressed index volatility and persistent single-stock dispersion amidst upcoming inflation data and month-end rebalancing pressures.

Early Decision for Students

Y Combinator is launching an "Early Decision" track specifically for graduating seniors to apply during their final year of study, securing guaranteed funding and a spot in the Summer 2026 batch. This program eliminates the immediate pressure to interview for traditional employment by providing financial support and a committed place in a future cohort before graduation. By allowing founders to receive capital and enrollment immediately, the initiative enables students to focus entirely on building their startups while completing their degrees.