Latest Interviews
Showing 1–8 of 8 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Y Combinator1 min
Startup School 2026
Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Alexandr Wang, Jeff Dean
On July 25th and 26th, 2026, Y Combinator will host a two-day Startup School in San Francisco for hand-selected undergraduate and graduate technical builders. The event features confirmed keynote addresses from industry leaders Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Alexander Wang, and Jeff Dean alongside exclusive access to YC partners and alumni. Given that over 100 attendees from the previous cohort founded YC-backed companies, this limited-capacity gathering serves as a critical accelerator for the next generation of industry-defining enterprises.
- Y Combinator1 min
Small Teams Will Build the Future
The speaker forecasts a fundamental decade-long shift in productivity driven by significantly reduced coordination costs that will empower individuals and small groups. This structural change is expected to trigger a step change in output, moving beyond incremental gains to enable single actors to accomplish substantially more work. The anticipated outcome includes higher personal satisfaction from high-impact execution and a marked improvement in the quality of goods and services exchanged globally.
- Y Combinator1 min
AI for Scientific Discovery
The speaker forecasts the emergence of unimaginable super intelligence within a 10-to-20-year horizon, positioning artificial intelligence for science as the primary catalyst for this trajectory. This technological acceleration is expected to fundamentally drive long-term economic growth and human well-being by rapidly increasing the rate of new scientific discovery. Such breakthroughs, combined with reasonably effective global governance, will compound to produce incredible increases and wonders for the world's population.
- Y Combinator1 min
Vertical AI Agents
Vertical AI agents, which are specialized software applications built on large language models to automate specific workflows, are emerging as a primary pathway to building billion-dollar startups across dozens of distinct market sectors. Industry experts highlight high-potential use cases ranging from automated tax accountants and medical billers to dedicated phone support agents and quality assurance testers. This strategy has received strong validation from Sam Altman, who explicitly stated he would focus on building vertical AI agents if he were to restart his career at age 24.
- Y Combinator4 min
Mark Zuckerberg On Yahoo's Billion Dollar Offer
In mid-2006, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook rejected a $1 billion acquisition offer from Yahoo, a high-stakes decision that triggered an immediate exodus of the early management team due to misaligned visions. This pivot toward a global mission was rapidly validated by the launch of the News Feed and the opening of the platform to the general public within weeks. Consequently, Zuckerberg cemented a long-term hiring strategy to support this independence, asserting that no future acquisition offers would be entertained despite the increasing complexity of modern technology bets.
- Y Combinator5 min
Mark Zuckerberg on Taking Risks and Finding Talented People
Peter Thiel's investment catalyzed Facebook's incorporation and eventual abandonment of the founders' initial plan to return to Harvard, establishing a culture where the risk of inaction is deemed greater than strategic failure. The company distinguishes its hiring and promotion practices by prioritizing raw talent and side-project initiative over prior domain experience, evidenced by the CFO's background in production and the fact that eleven of twelve product leaders were promoted internally. This approach ensures that no product heads reported directly to Mark Zuckerberg at the start, fostering organic growth and leadership development while retaining top talent through clear pathways to ownership.
- Y Combinator2 min
Elon Musk On Fear
The speaker asserts that fear is a necessary and normal reaction, arguing that significant ideas must be pursued "in spite of fear" rather than from a place of fearlessness. This mindset drove the founding of SpaceX and Tesla, where the speaker accepted near-certain personal financial ruin and odds of success below 10% based on the fatalistic belief that any progress would advance the broader goals of space travel and electric vehicles. Ultimately, the speaker justified these high-stakes risks by reasoning that even total failure would yield valuable knowledge for future competitors to achieve the same critical outcomes.
- Y Combinator2 min
How To Be The Next Elon Musk According To Elon Musk
Aiming to maximize practical utility, the speaker abandoned a Stanford energy storage degree in 1995 to launch an internet company, believing that technological adoption accelerates at critical inflection points. This strategic pivot away from immediate academic credentials allowed the entrepreneur to eventually diversify across five major sectors: making life multi-planetary, sustainable energy, the internet, genetics, and artificial intelligence. The decision, made twenty-five years ago to avoid missing a technological window, established a philosophy prioritizing real-world impact over specialized degrees in fields lacking immediate bearing.