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YC Partner Kirsty Nathoo gives the lowdown on several different ways to capitalize your company and how those impact founder equity and cap tables overall. Transcript and lecture slides here: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6m-understanding-safes-and-priced-equity-rounds This lecture is part of YC's Startup School, a free online program and ...

Download the spreadsheet to analyze startup dilution from multiple convertible notes and SAFEs at:. http://www.startupsos.com/dilution Convertible securities, including the convertible note and the SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) are popular startup funding mechanisms that entrepreneurs use particularly for angel funding, but they do ...

It's important for founders to understand what the dilution impact will be of their convertible notes and/or Y-Combinator SAFEs. You can use the share dilution spreadsheet (see link below), a share dilution calculator, to understand founder share dilution from convertible securities. It applies to convertible notes and the original pre-money ...

YC Partner Dalton Caldwell gives insight into how YC admissions works and what makes for a successful YC experience. Transcript and lecture slides here: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6t-how-to-apply-and-succeed-at-y-combinator This lecture is part of YC's Startup School, a free online program and global community of founders. Register and ...

Discover how to secure your startup's financial future post-investment with our definitive safe calculator guide. Essential reading for founders.

How to START a STARTUP with Michael Seibel (Reddit, YC, Twitch) Interested in starting a startup? In this video, YC's Michael Seibel shares valuable insights on how to start a successful business from scratch. Welcome to our channel! In this video, Michael Seibel, CEO of Y Combinator, provides a comprehensive guide on how to start a startup in ...

How much startup share dilution will your Y Combinator SAFE result in when you do a priced round that converts the SAFEs to stock? This video walks through a share dilution spreadsheet that allows you to analyze the dilution of the post-money SAFE. The SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) is a popular startup funding mechanism that ...

There are 3 common mistakes startup founders make in raising money with convertible notes and/or the Y Combinator SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) that increase startup share dilution, resulting in a cap table (capitalization table) that has a lot less ownership for the founders than it should. One is to not keep careful track of how ...

YC Partner Geoff Ralston gives an introduction to the key concepts to keep in mind once you enter a fundraising process. Learn more at https://www.startupschool.org/

YC Group Partner Brad Flora has seen startup fundraising from every angle: as a founder, as one of the most prolific angel investors in Silicon Valley, and now as a YC Group Partner. Brad has coached hundreds of companies on fundraising. In this talk, he shares stories and advice on how modern startup fundraising works. Paul Graham Fundraising ...

In order to get your startup off the ground it's critical to keep your co-founders motivated. One of the best ways to do that is to figure out a fair co-founder equity split. In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Michael Seibel explains the ins and outs of co-founder equity, why it's important to be generous with that equity, and ...

YC Group Partner Aaron Epstein talks about different startup business models, how to monetize, and how to price your product. Pricing and monetization is one of the most common questions from founders, and this talk outlines 9 business models as well as highlighting business model lessons from the top YC companies. Business Model Guide: https ...

Learn the difference between pre-money and post-money SAFEs (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) and how each can impact your equity ownership.

Unlike the original pre-money SAFE - Simple Agreement for Future Equity - the 2018 post-money SAFE uses a post-money valuation cap. The SAFE is a very popular startup funding vehicle. Both versions can (but don't always) result in the SAFE investor receiving SAFE Preferred shares upon the equity conversion. These are very similar to standard ...

Apply to AI Startup School in SF: https://events.ycombinator.com/ai-sus There’s never been a better time to launch an AI startup, but many prospective founders find themselves stuck when it comes to thinking of a good idea. In this episode, the Lightcone hosts look at different ways breakthroughs can be discovered. Apply to Y Combinator ...

The biggest companies in the world all had to start somewhere. In this episode of Office Hours, the Group Partners explore the humble origins of several top YC companies to try and identify common traits of the most successful founders. They’ll explore what it takes to keep your company alive in the early days, where to focus your energy and ...

The SAFE is a very popular startup funding vehicle. It can (but doesn't always) result in the SAFE investor receiving SAFE Preferred shares upon the equity conversion. These are very similar to standard preferred shares, but with differences in liquidation preference (we show a simple liquidation preference example using a 1x participating ...

Topic: How discounts and valuation caps determine how much stock a convertible note or SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) investor will receive for their investment. Both pre-money SAFEs and post-money SAFEs are discussed, with examples of how both pre-money valuation caps and post-money valuation caps work.

In the first episode of the Lightcone Podcast, YC Group Partners dig into everything they have learned working with the top founders building AI startups today. They share the ideas that are working particularly well, mistakes to avoid, and take a look at the competitive landscape among the current AI giants. Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly ...

When a major new technology comes out, huge new opportunities open up for founders that get in on the ground floor. Fortunes were made when the app store came out, when online payments became easy, and when the web itself was brand new. In this episode of Dalton and Michael we’ll talk about why this is that moment for AI, who will find those ...

AI is dramatically changing the way we interact with software. So for this episode of Design Review, YC General Partner Aaron Epstein sat down with Raphael Schaad, the founder and designer of Cron (now Notion Calendar), to critique some groundbreaking AI user interfaces. Together they’ll review a wide variety of examples, from agents and ...

Model your SAFE funding round with our free calculator: http://safes.carta.com Watch episode 1, the difference between SAFEs and Convertible Notes: https://youtu.be/PtTDmeU-Kok Watch episode 3, the difference between a pre-money and post-money SAFEs: https://youtu.be/Mj0LxtaLQIk Automate your cap table with Carta: https://www.carta.com ...

Watch episode 2: What's a valuation cap? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcrsoartpFU Watch episode 3: The difference between pre-money and post-money SAFEs: https://youtu.be/Mj0LxtaLQIk Model your SAFE funding round with our free calculator: https://www.safes.carta.com Automate your cap table with Carta: https://www.carta.com Everything you ...

SAFEs (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) have become a popular funding vehicle for startup fundraising. When Y Combinator updated the SAFE template in September 2018, they changed the dilution calculation from a pre-money to a post-money basis. This major change increases the dilution for the founders and employees. Learn how employee ...

Y Combinator CEO and Partner Michael Seibel on splitting equity between cofounders. https://twitter.com/mwseibel Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly ...

Y Combinator CEO and Partner Michael Seibel on the biggest mistakes first-time founders make. https://twitter.com/mwseibel Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ *** Chapters (Powered by ...

In recent months, AI agents have gone from experimental to increasingly useful, with platforms like DeepSeek and OpenAI's Deep Research redefining what’s possible. Now, a new contender has entered the field—Manus, a general purpose AI agent that’s managed to capture global attention. In this episode of YC Decoded, President and CEO Garry ...

A little over ten years ago Paul Graham published the essay "Do Things That Don't Scale." At the time, it was highly controversial advice that spoke to the drastically different needs of an early startup versus the needs of a much larger, more established company. YC Partners discuss PG's essay, its influence on Silicon Valley, and some prime ...

When it comes to building a successful startup, focus is critical. But how do you know if you’re spending time on the right things? In this episode, Dalton and Michael share advice for how to break through the noise and zero in on solving the problems that matter most for your business. Apply to Y Combinator: https://ycombinator.com/apply ...

Thanks to advances in AI, we're currently living through one of the biggest technological shifts in a generation. And things aren't slowing down anytime soon. So now the question is, what should you do about it? In this episode, Dalton and Michael break down several steps you can take right now to leverage the latest tools and set yourself up ...

Uncovering trends, patterns and insights from startups that got accepted at YCombinator. Data (USD): https://ideaisalluneed.gumroad.com/l/yc_data_jan25 Data (INR): https://ideaisalluneed.gumroad.com/l/inr_yc_data_25 Full Analysis: https://highsignalai.substack.com/p/what-400-yc-backed-startups-reveal Social Media & Discord Server Invitation ...

Y Combinator Group Partner, Pete Koomen, led his startup, Optimizely, to $100M ARR. In this video, Pete breaks down the enterprise sales funnel and shares his top tips on how a technical founder can start closing real deals for their startup. Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/SUS-apply Work at a startup: https://yc.link/SUS-jobs Chapters ...

Model your SAFE funding round with our free calculator: http://safes.carta.com Watch episode 1: How do SAFEs and convertible notes work? https://youtu.be/PtTDmeU-Kok Watch episode 2: What's a valuation cap? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcrsoartpFU Automate your cap table with Carta: https://www.carta.com Everything you need to know about ...

With the YC S22 batch coming to a close, Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel reflect on the recent batch and their experience fundraising. The two group partners also clear up some misconceptions about Y Combinator based on feedback from founders. Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs ...

It’s easy to analyze your way out of taking the first step. It’s something we see a lot, particularly when founders try to choose what to build based on what they think VCs and investors will like. In this episode of Dalton & Michael, we’ll talk about the risks of “thinking like an investor”, how to know when you’re stuck in this ...

If you read articles about companies like OpenAI and Anthropic training foundation models, it would be natural to assume that if you don’t have a billion dollars or the resources of a large company, you can’t train your own foundational models. But the opposite is true. In this episode of the Lightcone Podcast, we discuss the strategies to ...

YC Partner Jared Friedman covers hard-tech companies and why founders should consider starting one. He also covers a couple of the most common problems hard-tech companies face and how to solve them, with examples from seven YC companies. You can find the lecture slides and transcript here: https://www.startupschool.org/videos/78 Find more ...

There's been a lot of news lately about the updates to some of the largest foundational AI models. But what does this mean for startups? How will future product releases from the AI giants effect the companies built on top of them? The hosts of Lightcone discuss how founders can take advantage of these developments and avoid being steamrolled ...

In this episode of the Lightcone Podcast, YC Group Partners chart the evolution of San Francisco as the center of the startup world and how AI has brought everyone back to the city. They also talk about why YC chose to open our new HQ in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco and share their advice for new founders moving to the city for ...

The long awaited follow-up to their original tarpit ideas video, Dalton and Michael dispel some misconceptions about what a tarpit idea actually is and how it applies to current technology trends like artificial intelligence. Don't get stuck! Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) - 00:00 - Intro 00:29 - Tarpit 2.0 02:47 - Key ...

YC has become a surprising force in the hard tech world, funding startups building physical products from satellites to rockets to electric planes. In this episode of Lightcone, we go behind the scenes to explore how YC advises founders on their ambitious startups. We also take a look at a number of YC's hard tech companies and how they got ...

Many startups fail because they run out of money. So how should you think about how to spend the money you raise? In this episode of Office Hours, YC General Partners Brad Flora, Pete Koomen, Nicolas Dessaigne, and Gustaf Alströmer discuss how to spend responsibly at each stage of a startup— including advice on when to hire, whether to ...

When someone visits your website you only have a few seconds to convince them it’s worth their time. So how do you do that? In this episode of Design Review, Aaron Epstein is joined by Zack Onisko, the former CEO of Dribbble, to review user submitted websites in under 10 seconds and give their first impression feedback. They’ll provide ...

With the advent of AI and agents, it seems like it's a good idea to build software and services where agents as customers are actively supported and documented rather than an edge case.

In previous videos, we discussed SAFEs, which mention “pre-money” and “post-money” valuations. In this lesson, we’ll discuss their meaning, how to calculate them, and their importance in startup fundraising. Free video courses for founders: Equity 101: https://carta.com/equity-101 Cap Table 101: https://carta.com/learn/cap-table-101 ...

In this episode, Chilean startup attorney Matias Vukusic tears down the Y Combinator SAFE Agreement, or Simple Agreement for Future Equity. Matias talks about identifying impostor SAFE agreements, determining “reasonableness” when advising a very young company, and shares an exciting announcement about the future of the Contract Teardown ...

Sometimes a Convertible Note is the right answer, but overall the SAFE is more favorable to the entrepreneur than the Convertible Note. The two have much in common: both are convertible securities, both can have (but don't have to have) a discount and/or a valuation cap. Both present challenges in terms of understanding the resulting founder ...

Stripe, Airbnb and Lyft are a few of the most successful companies of the past decade. And there are at least two things they all have in common - great design, and Katie Dill. Katie was Head of Experience Design at Airbnb, led the design team at Lyft and is now Head of Design at Stripe. We spoke with Katie about her design philosophy, what ...

What is Y Combinator? The Story Of The Startup Accelerator. What is YCombinator? Who is Paul Graham? What is YCombinator Demo Day? What are YCombinator Office Hours? How to get into y combinator? In this video, we explore Y Combinator, the startup accelerator providing startup funding and entrepreneur advice to future successful businesses in ...

If you’re thinking about applying to Y Combinator in 2025, this guide is for you. In this video, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know as a complete beginner, including how to craft a successful Y Combinator application video, the importance of product-market fit, and how to leverage growth hacking to stand out. Whether you’re ...