Latest Interviews

How Gaming is Changing the Media Landscape

John Riccitiello, Andrew Chen

This event analyzes the transformative growth of the global games industry, which now surpasses traditional media in revenue and audience size by leveraging real-time 3D rendering and a shift toward "Games as a Service" business models. It details how major technology firms like Unity and Tencent are driving vertical integration in esports and expanding into non-gaming sectors such as automotive and architecture through photorealistic digital twins. The discussion further addresses critical technical challenges in cloud gaming latency and forecasts a future where AI, 5G, and cross-platform ecosystems create persistent virtual economies accessible to billions of users worldwide.

Rahm Emanuel, Former Chicago Mayor and Author of "The Nation City"

Rahm Emanuel, Jake Seward

Political leader Rahm Emanuel argues that global power has permanently shifted from dysfunctional national institutions to local governments, where 75% public confidence drives mayors to assume federal responsibilities in climate action, education, and economic growth. Citing Chicago's transformation of its school system and energy grid, Emanuel demonstrates how local leadership can achieve measurable outcomes, such as raising high school graduation rates from 56% to nearly 80%, while overcoming federal gridlock. He asserts that this structural realignment is irreversible and calls for a political strategy focused on execution and enabling policy rather than broad, unfulfillable campaign promises.

Mangroves: how they help the ocean

Lillian, Mark Huxham

Global mangrove ecosystems face imminent collapse due to industrial expansion, prompting the launch of Mikoko Pomoja in Kenya's Ghazi Bay as the world's first community-led project funded by carbon credits. This initiative has successfully generated over $60,000 for local communities while sequestering significant carbon in sediment, effectively incentivizing conservation over resource extraction. Although experts caution that such offsets cannot replace broader policy reforms, the model is gaining traction as a replicable strategy for marine protection and economic stability across the region.

Gamers are Entering a New Era of Monetization

Kevin Chou, Marshmallo

Addressing the severe economic barriers within the $150 billion global gaming industry, Forte is deploying blockchain infrastructure to democratize participation for the 2.4 billion existing gamers. This ecosystem facilitates true digital ownership, peer-to-peer asset trading, and creator monetization through smart contracts that secure royalties for developers. By transforming passive consumers into active entrepreneurs and service providers, the platform aims to bypass the elite-only models of traditional game development, esports, and streaming.

Election 2020: How do America's presidential primaries work?

John Prideaux

Presidential candidates navigate a fluid nomination landscape defined by primaries and a declining number of caucuses to secure delegates for the summer national convention. The 2020 cycle highlighted the volatility of this process, marked by administrative failures in Iowa and the strategic consolidation of delegate allocation on Super Tuesday, where over one-third of Democratic delegates are now distributed. While conventions typically ratify predetermined outcomes, contested scenarios remain possible through unbound delegate voting, after which the focus shifts immediately to securing the general election.

YC SUS: Eric Migicovsky & Dalton Caldwell discuss pivoting & pitching

Eric Migicovsky, Dalton Caldwell, Eric Majerjkowski, Rick Viscomi

This discussion outlines critical strategies for startup founders, emphasizing that pivots should be driven by a complete lack of traction and validated through concrete customer payments rather than theoretical debates. It further details how to effectively apply to Y Combinator by prioritizing clarity, avoid common pitfalls like over-relying on patents, and ensure sustainable unit economics by focusing on retention and revenue. Ultimately, the guidance stresses that success relies on building genuine product-market fit and maintaining financial flexibility to adapt quickly to external shocks.

The 5 Revolutions in Cancer Treatment

Jonathan Lim, Patrick, Jimmy Carter

Drawing on personal loss and a career launching seven approved oncology products, the speaker argues that eradicating cancer requires integrating five distinct revolutions: surgery and radiation, genomically targeted therapy, immunotherapy, the targeting of extra-chromosomal DNA, and metabolic interventions. While highlighting breakthroughs such as the recovery of metastatic patients via drugs like Entrectinib and Keytruda, the presentation emphasizes that current single-modality approaches fail to address the complexity of advanced disease or the role of factors like ecDNA and nutrition. Ultimately, the event advocates for a personalized, multimodal strategy that combines these scientific advances to improve long-term survival rates beyond the current limits of one-third of patients.

Election 2020: What could Super Tuesday mean for the future of the Democratic Party?

John Prideaux, Jon Priddow, Charlotte Howard, Jon Fassman

Bernie Sanders' insurgent campaign has capitalized on the collapse of traditional Democratic establishment structures to challenge a fragmented moderate field, effectively reversing the 2008 consensus that party endorsement guarantees delegate success. Despite Joe Biden's decisive South Carolina victory creating a potential two-horse race, a dominant performance by Sanders on Super Tuesday—particularly in California and Texas—could secure an uncatchable delegate lead that forces the party toward a contested convention in Milwaukee. While some donors remain ideologically opposed to the progressive nominee, the shared imperative to defeat Donald Trump is increasingly driving financial support toward Sanders despite the absence of a unified moderate alternative.

How can the Democrats beat Trump?

Trump

Donald Trump leverages his incumbent status and base mobilization strategies to secure a competitive 2020 reelection bid, while Democrats prioritize reassembling the 2008 Obama coalition to regain the Electoral College path through the critical Midwest states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The party's nomination process reflects a strategic divergence between moderate candidates like Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar, who target swing voters, and progressive figures such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who advocate for a high-risk economic populism platform. Ultimately, the election outcome hinges on whether the Democratic nominee can successfully unify this fractured coalition against Trump's referendum-style campaign without alienating key demographic groups in swing states.

YC SUS: Eric Migicovsky hosts founder office hours

Eric Migicovsky, Eric Michakowski, JC, Mary, John, Jake, Nate, Chefy, Wee Susu, Armin, Amy, Lindy

Startup School facilitator Eric Michakowski leads concentrated office hour sessions where founders receive targeted strategic guidance from YC partners to solve specific scaling, product, and go-to-market challenges. Participants from diverse sectors including hardware, fintech, and biotech present their current bottlenecks to receive actionable advice on metrics, user acquisition, and regulatory compliance. The sessions are publicly recorded to foster peer support and provide a resource library of problem-solving strategies for the broader founder community.

The Future Will Be Genetically Engineered

Alec Nielsen

Asimov, a Cambridge-based company founded by Alec, is redefining biotechnology by merging software engineering with biology to create living systems that function as advanced molecular nanotechnology. Building on a history of genetic milestones ranging from insulin production to CRISPR-like therapies, the firm utilizes machine learning and computer-aided design to develop next-generation therapeutics, such as personalized cancer vaccines, and future applications including sustainable manufacturing and space exploration. This shift from manual genetic manipulation to computational genome design aims to overcome biological complexity, positioning engineered biology as a ubiquitous infrastructure comparable to integrated circuits.

The Latest in Cyber Attacks

Martin Casado

A strategic shift in the cybersecurity landscape has redirected attacker focus from costly corporate systems to individuals, driven by the economic disparity where compromising an account costs $100 versus millions for device exploits. This pivot has enabled a $26 billion Business Email Compromise industry relying on social engineering and physical access vectors like SIM porting, which recently compromised high-profile targets such as Jack Dorsey. To counter these threats, experts advocate a defense stack combining hardware-stored security keys, password managers, and physical security measures like smart surveillance to restore organizational herd immunity.

Afghanistan: why the Taliban can't be defeated

Marking the longest war in American history, the nearly two-decade conflict in Afghanistan has left the nation in ruin with the Taliban controlling significant territory despite decades of US military intervention and diplomatic efforts. While previous administrations deployed varying troop levels and fostered temporary democratic gains, the insurgency remains resilient, fueled by local grievances, Pakistani support, and a booming opium trade that funds 90% of the world's heroin. Ultimately, the transcript concludes that sustainable peace requires a genuine power-sharing agreement among Afghan factions rather than rushed withdrawals or fragile deals, as the international community must prioritize patient diplomacy to prevent a Taliban takeover.

YC SUS: Eric Migicovsky hosts founder office hours

Eric Migicovsky, Eric Mijakovsky, Helen, Drow, Philippe, Diana, Bill, Jason Hirschhornbecker

Five software founders presenting Jovial, Cognitive, Match Hotels, DreamList, and Burlocks received targeted strategic advice to refine their business models and overcome specific operational hurdles such as low conversion rates and scalability challenges. The session emphasized executing concrete two-week action plans, including manual outreach to secure annual subscriptions, niche market testing, and pivoting from manual services to scalable software products. By defining clear success metrics and shifting revenue strategies from one-time fees or unreliable affiliate tracking toward recurring revenue, these entrepreneurs aim to validate their product-market fit and drive sustainable growth.

Matt Might: The Algorithm for Precision Medicine

Matt Might, Matt Mite

Matt Mite, director of the Hugh Call Precision Medicine Institute at UAB, leverages computational optimization and a knowledge graph of 30 million abstracts to derive actionable precision medicine strategies for patients with undiagnosed genetic disorders. His approach, exemplified by the successful treatment of his son Bertrand's NGLY1 deficiency and the identification of Prevacid for ion channel epilepsies, prioritizes logical mechanism proofs to overcome physician skepticism and legal liability. Through an undergraduate-led workflow and the "All of Us" initiative, Mite's institute continues to transform complex genomic data into targeted interventions, from drug repurposing to novel metabolic pathways, asserting that scientific experimentation always yields actionable solutions.