Latest Interviews
Showing 241–255 of 338 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- Y Combinator26 min
Announcing Work at a Startup
Jared Friedman, Matt Long, Craig Cannon
Scheduled for July, the Work at a Startup conference reunites Y Combinator partners Justin Kahn and Sam Altman with over 80% of the accelerator's hiring companies for a scaled event featuring 35 pitches across software, robotics, and deep tech. Attendees will engage directly with startups ranging from unicorns like Instacart to early-stage hardware firms offering roles in AI, DevOps, and co-founder positions, while also viewing live hardware demonstrations from entities such as Starsky Robotics. The gathering addresses critical market trends including remote work expansion, equity transparency, and the shifting definition of startup engineering to counter traditional compensation gaps.
- Y Combinator48 min
Advice for Students and Recent Graduates on Finding Jobs – Liz Wessel of WayUp
WayUp co-founders and former Google associate product marketing manager and his partner Joel Flegelman launched their job platform after validating a user base of tens of thousands during their senior year at the University of Pennsylvania. Leveraging insights from mentor Roloff Botha and a strategic stint at Google, the duo differentiated the service from general job boards by utilizing rich, 360-degree candidate profiles to achieve a one-in-three hire rate. Today, the company operates under a distinct management philosophy that prioritizes personality alignment and skill-based hiring to help students navigate the transition into their careers.
- Y Combinator1h 19m
Simon Benjamin on Architectures for Quantum Computing
Simon Benjamin, John Preskill, Craig Cannon
Driven by experimental progress surpassing the 99% fault-tolerance threshold, Oxford University's ion trap systems now achieve 99.9% gate fidelity, enabling the first viable implementations of quantum error correction. The research team proposes a modular networking architecture that links high-fidelity units via optical fibers and entanglement purification to scale toward useful applications like molecular simulation while avoiding the engineering bottlenecks of monolithic designs. By addressing hardware limitations through this approach, the project aims to demonstrate a fully linked two-module system within a year, bridging the gap between current quantum supremacy demonstrations and future large-scale computational utility.
- Y Combinator1h 33m
John Preskill on Quantum Computing
John Preskill, Steven Hawking, Kip Thorne, Craig Cannon
Established by Richard Feynman's early theoretical work, the field of quantum computing has evolved from theoretical challenges in the 1970s to a practical reality enabled by mid-1990s error correction and recent hardware advancements in superconducting and trapped-ion systems. As current devices approach 100 qubits, they are poised to disrupt public-key cryptography through Shor's algorithm while simultaneously offering transformative capabilities in quantum chemistry simulation and materials science. The industry now focuses on bridging these applications through hybrid classical-quantum systems and developing post-quantum security measures to address the imminent threat to existing encryption standards.
- Y Combinator42 min
Mathematical Approaches to Image Processing with Carola Schönlieb
Carola Schönlieb, Craig Cannon
A researcher specializing in inverse imaging problems and partial differential equations is advancing techniques to reconstruct high-resolution medical, environmental, and historical data from severely limited measurements. By developing bi-level optimization strategies that integrate machine learning with interpretable, handcrafted mathematical models, this work addresses critical challenges in noise reduction and adversarial robustness for applications ranging from dynamic MRI imaging to the virtual restoration of illuminated manuscripts. The research successfully bridges theoretical stability guarantees with practical data-driven performance, enabling safer radiation exposure in CT scans and accurate 3D modeling of forest structures from airborne sensor data.
- Y Combinator1h 3m
Helping Landlords Find Tenants – Sean Mitchell of Rezi
Resi operates a full-risk leasing marketplace in New York and the Bay Area that transfers vacancy and tenant performance risks from landlords to itself while enabling apartment lease-ups in under ten minutes. The company funds these guaranteed upfront rent payments through a debt securitization model targeting mid-teens to 20% returns, preserving equity capital while utilizing automated underwriting to minimize discrimination. Early growth was driven by high-volume direct outreach to individual landlords, and the firm now leverages proprietary pricing algorithms to optimize unit rents ranging from $2,000 to $6,000 monthly.
- Y Combinator50 min
Crypto Investors - Linda Xie and Avichal Garg
Linda Xie, Avichal Garg, Craig Cannon, Avicil
Industry experts Avicil and Linda project that blockchain adoption will initially prioritize decentralized exchanges and digital collectibles over complex distributed applications due to current scaling limitations. The discussion highlights a trajectory where underserved regions with inflationary currencies lead mainstream integration while technical development remains concentrated in traditional hubs like Silicon Valley and Berlin. To ensure long-term viability, the speakers advocate for mandatory default privacy, rigorous investor protection mechanisms, and a shift away from public token sales toward milestone-based venture funding structures.
- Y Combinator56 min
Gaming Studio Founders - Patrick Moberg and Holly Liu
Patrick Moberg, Holly Liu, Craig Cannon
The Betaworks-founded studio Dots evolved from a minimalist art project inspired by Yayoi Kusama into a full-service game developer known for *Two Dots*, shifting its design philosophy from pure minimalism to narrative-driven Game as a Service models. The company's growth trajectory was marked by a viral Facebook ad error that drove massive initial user acquisition, followed by a strategic pivot to longer development cycles and live operations to manage rising customer acquisition costs and sustain high lifetime value. Today, the studio navigates the complexities of mobile market saturation by balancing indie innovation with specialized talent for mid-core genres, while exploring emerging technologies like AR and leveraging IP licensing to mitigate the challenges of clone competition and inflated marketing budgets.
- Y Combinator46 min
A.I. Policy and Public Perception - Miles Brundage and Tim Hwang
Miles Brundage, Tim Hwang, Craig Cannon
Researchers from the Future of Humanity Institute and Oxford University analyze the dual-use nature of artificial intelligence, categorizing risks ranging from near-term digital threats like deepfakes and adversarial attacks to long-term existential concerns. They advocate for a shift in policy from reactive measures to proactive frameworks that incorporate responsible disclosure norms, interpretability standards, and structured international cooperation to address geopolitical competition and regulatory divergence. By extrapolating technical trends rather than waiting for incidents, these experts aim to establish rigorous governance models that balance rapid deployment in fields like healthcare with the critical need for safety and value alignment.
- Y Combinator45 min
Claire McDonnell and Jennifer Kim on Building an Inclusive Company Culture
Claire McDonnell, Jennifer Kim, Kat Manalac
Founders Jennifer Kim and TruLink CEO Isaac demonstrate that treating culture and Diversity & Inclusion as survival mechanisms drives superior long-term performance and retention compared to relying on tangible perks. Implementing specific tactics such as TruLink's "no blame" protocols and Lever's diverse interview panels allows early-stage companies to mitigate bias while fostering psychological safety. These strategies are supported by resources from organizations like Project Include and Capra Capital, emphasizing that intentional cultural design is a critical competitive advantage for sustainable growth.
- Y Combinator28 min
Anne Wojcicki : How to Build the Future
Anne Wojcicki, William Brangham, Dr. Kathleen King
Anne Wojcijk founded 23andMe to democratize genomic data by shifting healthcare incentives from illness monetization to preventative health, despite initial skepticism from medical professionals regarding direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Overcoming early market volatility and a regulatory transition, the company now boasts a community of over five million customers and has secured FDA approvals to leverage its massive dataset for drug discovery and large-scale intervention studies. This persistent execution of a decade-long vision aims to eventually enable personalized longevity strategies by linking genetic profiles with environmental factors like diet and exercise.
- Y Combinator55 min
Cost vs Quality in Edtech – Keith Schacht, Avichal Garg, and Geoff Ralston
Keith Schacht, Avichal Garg, Geoff Ralston
Avicii and Keith Peltz examine the evolution of EdTech since 2011, analyzing how the industry's historical struggle with the "cost versus quality" trade-off and misaligned venture capital expectations for growth curves have shaped current market dynamics. They identify a pivotal structural shift where high-speed internet access and teacher-led adoption are dismantling the "free school" barrier, enabling companies like Mystery Science to prove that superior digital products can succeed in the mass market. The founders conclude that future innovation will likely bypass traditional public systems to focus on "learning companies" addressing individual outcomes, job training, and adult self-directed education rather than relying on institutional bureaucracy.
- Y Combinator54 min
Breaking Down HackerRank's Survey of 40,000 Developers with Vivek Ravisankar
Vivek Ravisankar, Hari, Paul Bouquet, PG, Sam, Jessica, Akshay, Shiv, Nicola, Ritika, Mark Mandelbaum Kosinskiy
HackerRank co-founder Vivek Desai recounts the company's evolution from a failed educational venture to a global platform that connects over 3.4 million developers with employers through verified coding assessments rather than traditional resumes. As the first Indian-based Y Combinator company, the team overcame logistical hurdles to establish a market shift toward skill-based hiring, effectively reducing bias and replacing abstract brain teasers with practical problem-solving challenges. Recent data from their community highlights key industry trends, including a surge in self-taught programmers, the rising demand for Python and Go skills, and a corporate move toward prioritizing work-life balance and remote talent acquisition.
- Y Combinator50 min
Funding Is an Outcome of Building a Good Business - Porter Braswell of Jopwell
Jopwell, a for-profit career advancement platform founded in 2014 by a former Goldman Sachs trader, connects Black, Latino, Hispanic, and Native American professionals with 44 million qualified underrepresented workers to resolve corporate recruitment pipeline challenges. Leveraging a $12 million funding raise including a Y Combinator investment, the company utilizes a "referral at scale" model that verifies diverse applicant funnels while rejecting non-profit status to operate as a scalable business. Founded on the premise that diversity is a demographic and financial imperative rather than a vague mandate, Jopwell has grown to 35 employees and serves as a data-driven bridge between underrepresented talent and companies explicitly seeking verified, diverse hiring solutions.
- Y Combinator53 min
Researching Psilocybin's Effects on Depression - Dr. Rosalind Watts
Dr. Rosalind Watts, Craig Cannon
Led by Professors Robin Carhart-Harris and David Nutt, a pioneering research initiative successfully demonstrated that high-dose psilocybin can deactivate brain regions linked to negative rumination and offer a "reset" for patients with severe, treatment-resistant depression. Although the study achieved a 100% preference rate for psilocybin over prior treatments among its 20 participants, long-term efficacy remains limited by the absence of formal integration therapy, prompting calls for structured follow-up sessions to sustain behavioral changes. Currently constrained by reliance on single-source funding, the researchers are prioritizing comparative trials against antidepressants while advocating for a holistic therapeutic model that combines preparation, ego-dissolving experiences, and sustained support to address the growing crisis of ineffective psychiatric medication.