Rephonic
Artwork for Y Combinator Startup Podcast

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

Y Combinator
Artificial Intelligence
Y Combinator
Startups
Openai
Software Engineering
Cursor
Entrepreneurship
Artificial General Intelligence
Openclaw
Airbnb
Design
Claude Code
Nothing
Cloud Computing
Natural Language Processing
Chatgpt
AGI
Apple
Perplexity
Consumer Marketing

We help founders make something people want. The Y Combinator Podcast is where builders talk about building. From the earliest days of an idea to scaling a company that changes the world, YC partners and founders share real stories, lessons, and tactics from the frontlines.

PublishesDailyEpisodes341Founded9 years ago
Number of ListenersCategory
Technology

Listen to this Podcast

Artwork for Y Combinator Startup Podcast

Latest Episodes

YC works with thousands of founders every year, which gives us an early look at how startups are changing. Right now, the shift is striking: startups are moving from bits to atoms, nearly one in five YC companies has a solo founder, and companies are... more

The best outbound starts before you automate anything. Founders need to learn who actually has the problem, what gets their attention, and what makes them reply. YC Visiting Partner Christina Gilbert recommends doing at least your first 100 outreache... more

Ollama (YC W21) is used by 9 million developers and 85% of the Fortune 500, giving co-founder and CEO Jeffrey Morgan a unique view into which AI models people are actually using and how that’s changing.Right now, the biggest shift he sees is toward o... more

YC Visiting Partner Vivian Shen sits down with Paul Graham at the original YC office in Mountain View to talk about startups, AI, ambition, and what makes great founders.

Key Facts

Accepts Guests
Contact Information
Podcast Host
Number of Listeners
Find out how many people listen to this podcast per episode and each month.

Similar Podcasts

Recent Guests

Jeffrey Morgan
Co-founder and CEO of Ollama
Ollama
Episode: Open Models Change The Economics of AI
Anders Forslund
CEO of Heart Aerospace
Heart Aerospace
Episode: The World’s Largest Electric Aircraft Just Flew
Max Junestrand
Founder/CEO of Legora (formerly Leja), legal AI entrepreneur
Legora
Episode: Max Junestrand: You Need The Willingness To Learn Faster Than Anyone Else
Susan Kare
Iconographer and designer who worked on the original Macintosh at Apple
Independent designer / former Apple Macintosh team
Episode: Susan Kare: Designing Icons & Graphics For the Original Mac
Chelsea Finn
AI/robotics researcher and speaker
Not explicitly stated in transcript
Episode: Chelsea Finn: This is the State of the Art in Robotics
Peter Steinberger
Open-source software developer and creator of OpenClaw/Claude/related tooling; founder involved in early AI agent workflows and security-conscious open-source governance.
OpenClaw / related projects
Episode: Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"
Stephen Haney
Founder of Paper, an AI-native design tool
Paper
Episode: How To Design In The Agent Era
Philip Johnston
Co-founder and CEO of Starcloud
Starcloud
Episode: Building the First Data Centers in Space
Dmitri Dolgov
Waymo Co-CEO
Waymo
Episode: Waymo Co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov: "Move Fast And Ship Safely"

Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars from 1.3k ratings
  • It’s ok

    Some episodes are interesting, but the podcast overall just seems like a bunch of ads for their companies

    Apple Podcasts
    3
    Murphycj
    United States8 months ago
  • Everyone is yc

    Thanks yc i always believe the future is bright, everytime hearing or reading about startups

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Goldenretrieverr
    Indonesiaa year ago
  • Eh

    YC used to be run by actual builders and founders

    Now it’s run by PM’s who got lucky at some tech startup and write substack articles for a living

    Not much to learn from this podcast

    Apple Podcasts
    1
    JJkollins
    United Statesa year ago
  • Huge ground-based knowledge

    Podcast Addict
    5
    OSCAR ORO
    2 years ago
  • Audio

    Guys your audio sucks. Get new equipment

    Apple Podcasts
    3
    Mavrik19
    Canada2 years ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Listeners praise the actionable founder-focused insights and high-caliber guests.
Many appreciate practical frameworks and real-world examples that can be applied to startups.
Some reviews call audio quality inconsistent and episodes feel promotional at times.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Paul Graham On Startups, Ambition, and Great Founders
Q: How did YC start, and why a batch-based model?
The idea evolved from an angel-investing concept to funding many startups at once to create a practical, repeatable system; this batch approach became core to YC as a way to build a community of founders and early adopters who learn from each other.
Max Junestrand: You Need The Willingness To Learn Faster Than Anyone Else
Q: What gave you the confidence to build a legal AI product on a model that wasn't good enough?
The strategy was to bet on model improvements over time while delivering immediate value by focusing on private European data hosting and compliant solutions, and to build for the near term with a plan to evolve as models improve.
Max Junestrand: You Need The Willingness To Learn Faster Than Anyone Else
Q: Does domain expertise not matter that much anymore?
The guest argues that domain expertise is not strictly necessary; a willingness to learn the market and spend time with customers can compensate, especially with a focus on speed of learning and customer engagement.
Chelsea Finn: This is the State of the Art in Robotics
Q: When should a small team switch from site-specific models to a generalist policy, and what signals indicate timing?
Start with a generalist policy early, since open-source options like Pi0 and Pi0.5 are available, and use them as a baseline before considering constrained environments that may require local inference.
Chelsea Finn: This is the State of the Art in Robotics
Q: How far away are we from a chat GBT moment for robotics, and what will that look like?
The speaker expects a slower distribution for robotics moments due to the need for physical robots, but believes the capabilities of such models are rapidly approaching real-world usefulness in the coming years, even if the distribution is slower than software-only AI.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

Listeners per Episode
Gender Skew
Location
Interests
Professions
Age Range
Household Income
Social Media Reach

Frequently Asked Questions About Y Combinator Startup Podcast

What is Y Combinator Startup Podcast about and what kind of topics does it cover?

A practical, founder-focused show featuring builders and operators from YC-backed and tech-enabled startups. Episodes span AI-first strategies, startup ideation, governance and long-term company health, and design/product thinking, often with real-world demos or frameworks founders can apply right away. Notable this sample includes deep dives into AI-native organizations, AI governance, and front-line tactics for building scalable startups, making it valuable for founders, investors, and engineers seeking actionable insights and vivid industry case studies.

Where can I find podcast stats for Y Combinator Startup Podcast?

Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for Y Combinator Startup Podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to Y Combinator Startup Podcast and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.

How many listeners does Y Combinator Startup Podcast get?

Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for four million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for Y Combinator Startup Podcast, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.

What are the audience demographics for Y Combinator Startup Podcast?

Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for Y Combinator Startup Podcast, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.

How many subscribers and views does Y Combinator Startup Podcast have?

To see how many followers or subscribers Y Combinator Startup Podcast has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.

Which podcasts are similar to Y Combinator Startup Podcast?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Y Combinator Startup Podcast:

1. The a16z Show
2. AI + a16z
3. Training Data
4. No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups
5. The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

How many episodes of Y Combinator Startup Podcast are there?

Y Combinator Startup Podcast launched 9 years ago and published 341 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact Y Combinator Startup Podcast?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

Where can I see ratings and reviews for Y Combinator Startup Podcast?

Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for Y Combinator Startup Podcast from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.

View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.

How do I access podcast episode transcripts for Y Combinator Startup Podcast?

Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of Y Combinator Startup Podcast. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.

What guests have appeared on Y Combinator Startup Podcast?

Recent guests on Y Combinator Startup Podcast include:

1. Jeffrey Morgan
2. Anders Forslund
3. Max Junestrand
4. Susan Kare
5. Chelsea Finn
6. Peter Steinberger
7. Stephen Haney
8. Philip Johnston

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

Find and pitch the right podcasts

We help savvy brands, marketers and PR professionals to find the right podcasts for any topic or niche. Get the data and contacts you need to pitch podcasts at scale and turn listeners into customers.
Try it free for 7 days