Year One
Year OneEvery billion-dollar YC company survived a brutal first year after Demo Day. Year One captures those twelve months as they happen, tracking one founder's make-or-break decision per episode: the pivot that saved the company, the co-founder fight that almost killed it, the fundraising round that closed at 2am on a Thursday. Two hosts (one former YC founder, one startup reporter) sit down with recent... more
| Publishes | Twice weekly | Episodes | 11 | Founded | a month ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Category | Business | |||
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Latest Episodes
A founder inside YC's Summer 2026 batch describes day one of S26 — not the pitch, not the Demo Day narrative, the unedited version. The room was quieter than expected, and before office hours existed, real decisions were already being made: who to tr... more
Jorge B. Macías had to figure out how to sell an AI product to medical offices from Puerto Rico, scale it to millions in ARR, and do it as the first founder from the island to take a company through YC—without a traditional sales background. The stak... more
Sam Altman walked into a YC event and offered every startup in the current batch $2 million in API tokens for an uncapped equity stake — and founders had to decide on the spot whether that was a gift or a trap. In this Year One episode, we get inside... more
Two founders applied to YC S26. One got in. One didn't. In this episode of Year One, Miles and Grant sit with both of them inside the moment the decision email arrived — and what happened next reveals more about each founder than the application itse... more
Alex Benz is applying to YC Summer 2026 while already sitting on $10k MRR, four enterprise customers, and a live AI podcast platform that actually works in production—and he has to decide whether to double down now or wait for more signal. The stakes... more
Fourteen companies in the YC W26 batch hit a million in ARR before Demo Day ended — three times more than the previous winter batch and the highest count in YC history. The question Miles and Grant press on in this episode of Year One isn't whether t... more
Two founders applied to YC S26 in the same window. One got the interview invite. One hit June 2 in silence. This Year One episode follows both through the moment the decision became real — and what each story reveals about how YC partners actually fi... more
A founder walks into an all-hands meeting running the best quarter of her company's life, and realizes mid-sentence she has nothing left. Not tired. Empty. In this episode of Year One, Miles and Grant trace her burnout from month four to month nine, ... more
Key Facts
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Chart Rankings
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #200 |  United States/Business |
Apple Podcasts | #95 |  United Kingdom/Business |
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Talking Points
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Audience Metrics
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Year One
What is Year One about and what kind of topics does it cover?
Focusing on the high-stakes, no-nonsense realities of early-stage startups, this show chronicles the first year after a Demo Day through conversations with founders, investors, and YC partners. Across recent episodes, listeners hear about the precision and signals that separate successful applications from rejections, the practical realities of rapid growth (including multi-million-dollar traction in short timeframes), and the human side of entrepreneurship—from co-founder tensions and equity pitfalls to burnout and personal resilience. Notable throughlines include the critical role of credible traction, the impact of batch dynamics on signal strength, and the dangers of over-reliance on narrative over measurable progress. The format consis... more
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How many listeners does Year One get?
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What are the audience demographics for Year One?
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How many subscribers and views does Year One have?
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How many episodes of Year One are there?
Year One launched a month ago and published 11 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 Year One?
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What guests have appeared on Year One?
Recent guests on Year One include:
1. Alexander Benz
2. Huzaifa Ahmad Khan
3. Prama Yudhistira
4. Jon Yoo
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.