Hard Tech Companies, Then and Now

Lightcone, Garry, Diana, Harj and I talk about a number of YC’s hard tech companies and just how far they’ve come since Day 1. Below are just some of them - we cover these, and more, in the episode above.<figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><img src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"/blog/content/images/2024/04/boom-then-now.png/" class=\"kg-image\" alt loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1537\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"/blog/content/images/size/w600/2024/04/boom-then-now.png 600w, /blog/content/images/size/w1000/2024/04/boom-then-now.png 1000w, /blog/content/images/2024/04/boom-then-now.png 1537w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\"></figure>Boom Supersonic: Bringing supersonic passenger flights back to humanity. At left, the scale model they had before Demo Day; at right, their prototype jet taking its first flight in March of 2024.<figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><img src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"/blog/content/images/2024/04/Relativity-then-now.png/" class=\"kg-image\" alt loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1537\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"/blog/content/images/size/w600/2024/04/Relativity-then-now.png 600w, /blog/content/images/size/w1000/2024/04/Relativity-then-now.png 1000w, /blog/content/images/2024/04/Relativity-then-now.png 1537w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\"></figure>Relativity Space: 3D printed rockets. For Demo Day in the Winter 2016 batch, they managed to print a rocket engine — a small one, but one that could be fired up and produce thrust. In March of 2023, they launched the world’s first 3D printed rocket into space.<figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><img src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"/blog/content/images/2024/04/Cruise-then-now-2.png/" class=\"kg-image\" alt loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1537\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"/blog/content/images/size/w600/2024/04/Cruise-then-now-2.png 600w, /blog/content/images/size/w1000/2024/04/Cruise-then-now-2.png 1000w, /blog/content/images/2024/04/Cruise-then-now-2.png 1537w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\"></figure>Cruise: When Cruise applied to YC in 2014, Kyle Vogt’s goal of making a self-driving car seemed impossible for a startup. It would take billions of dollars — more than any startup can raise — and Google was already way ahead. By Demo Day, Cruise had a basic car able to drive itself down highways. In 2016, Cruise was acquired by GM for around $1B. GM then did in fact invest billions of dollars into the project, and Kyle brought it all the way to the streets of San Francisco. After knowing the full history, getting to ride to work in a Cruise car was a surreal experience.<figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><img src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"/blog/content/images/2024/04/astranis-then-now.png/" class=\"kg-image\" alt loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1537\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"/blog/content/images/size/w600/2024/04/astranis-then-now.png 600w, /blog/content/images/size/w1000/2024/04/astranis-then-now.png 1000w, /blog/content/images/2024/04/astranis-then-now.png 1537w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\"></figure>Astranis: Building smaller, cheaper telecommunications satellites. They set out to build a functional prototype in time for Demo Day W16 — they pulled it off. By 2018, they had prototypes in space. Now they’ve got a massive satellite-building factory right across the street from YC’s SF HQ, and have multiple satellites in orbit.<figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><img src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"/blog/content/images/2024/04/remora-then-now-1.png/" class=\"kg-image\" alt loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1537\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"/blog/content/images/size/w600/2024/04/remora-then-now-1.png 600w, /blog/content/images/size/w1000/2024/04/remora-then-now-1.png 1000w, /blog/content/images/2024/04/remora-then-now-1.png 1537w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\"></figure>Remora: Retrofitting semi-trucks to capture the CO2 emissions that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. One of our favorite stories about this one: the founders met after one of them came across the other’s PhD dissertation (“Mobile carbon capture from heavy-duty vehicles”) and convinced them to start a company.<figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><img src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"/blog/content/images/2024/04/Seabound-then-now-1.png/" class=\"kg-image\" alt loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1537\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"/blog/content/images/size/w600/2024/04/Seabound-then-now-1.png 600w, /blog/content/images/size/w1000/2024/04/Seabound-then-now-1.png 1000w, /blog/content/images/2024/04/Seabound-then-now-1.png 1537w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\"></figure>Seabound: Also capturing carbon emissions, but for cargo ships. During the batch they were able to get ship owners — many of whom are facing increasingly strict emissions regulations — to sign key LOIs; shortly thereafter, they ran their first pilot program on an actual ship.<figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><img src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"/blog/content/images/2024/04/solugen-then-now-2.png/" class=\"kg-image\" alt loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1537\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"/blog/content/images/size/w600/2024/04/solugen-then-now-2.png 600w, /blog/content/images/size/w1000/2024/04/solugen-then-now-2.png 1000w, /blog/content/images/2024/04/solugen-then-now-2.png 1537w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 720px) 720px\"></figure>Solugen: Producing chemicals like hydrogen peroxide with a new process that’s based on synthetic biology. When they applied to YC, they’d managed to produce one small beaker of hydrogen peroxide just to prove they could. By Demo Day, they were making gallons in a garage. Now they produce it in industrial quantities from a full-scale plant in Houston.","comment_id":"66180712eba13d0001fb30bd","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/04/HT.jpg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-04-11T08:51:46.000-07:00","updated_at":"2024-04-11T10:16:18.000-07:00","published_at":"2024-04-11T10:16:18.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"Most people know YC for funding software companies. But some of our most successful companies are the ones doing incredible things in the real world — the hard tech companies. ","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71097","name":"Jared Friedman","slug":"jared-friedman","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Jared.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Jared is Managing Director, Software and Group Partner at YC. He was cofounder of Scribd, which was funded by Y Combinator in 2006 and grew to be one of the top 100 sites on the web.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/jared-friedman/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71097","name":"Jared Friedman","slug":"jared-friedman","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Jared.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Jared is Managing Director, Software and Group Partner at YC. He was cofounder of Scribd, which was funded by Y Combinator in 2006 and grew to be one of the top 100 sites on the web.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/jared-friedman/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/hard-tech-companies-then-and-now/","excerpt":"Most people know YC for funding software companies. But some of our most successful companies are the ones doing incredible things in the real world — the hard tech companies. ","reading_time":3,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},"mentions":[],"related_posts":[{"id":"61fe29f1c7139e0001a71b4d","uuid":"8a0f88a3-2b5d-464c-8f92-b65351647ba5","title":"Updates for Startup School 2019 and Office Hours with Kevin Hale","slug":"updates-for-startup-school-2019-and-office-hours-with-kevin-hale","html":"<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/ilikevests/">Kevin Hale</a> is a Partner at YC. Before working at YC he cofounded Wufoo.\nKevin’s on the podcast today to do some Office Hours and talk about this year’s edition of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.startupschool.org/">Startup School</a>.\nIf you’d like to sign up or learn more, check out <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.startupschool.org/">StartupSchool.org.

00:25 – Stats from Startup School 2018\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=1m45s\%22>1:45 – Updates for Startup School 2019\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=8m15s\%22>8:15 – Sign up at StartupSchool.org\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=8m50s\%22>8:50 – Sean Maina asks – In the early days of Wufoo, how did you give a great customer experience?\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=11m30s\%22>11:30 – Design affordances\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=13m45s\%22>13:45 – Sunil Tej asks – How was Wufoo 10x better than the market when they just got started?\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=17m45s\%22>17:45 – Building an audience before a product\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=20m15s\%22>20:15 – Wufoo’s growth\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=23m30s\%22>23:30 – Coming up with the idea for Wufoo\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=27m30s\%22>27:30 – Companies pivoting during YC\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=29m\%22>29:00 – Building a product in an unsexy space\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=32m30s\%22>32:30 – Sivaraj Ghanesh asks – How do you know if you’ve achieved product market fit? Or if your product just isn’t noticed yet?\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=43m30s\%22>43:30 – Sivaraj Ghanesh asks – How do you gauge the size of a market?\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=46m\%22>46:00 – Tips for Startup School success\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=50m15s\%22>50:15 – Advice on vetting cofounders\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/kyYHUXxyjvI?t=53m45s\%22>53:45 – Sign up at StartupSchool.org\n<hr />\n<div id=\"backtracks-player\" data-bt-embed=\"https://player.backtracks.fm/ycombinator/ycombinator/m/133-updates-for-startup-school-2019-and-office-hours-with-kevin-hale\" data-bt-theme=\"orange\" data-bt-show-art-cover=\"true\" data-bt-show-comments=\"true\">\n</div>\n<script>(function(p,l,a,y,e,r,s){if(p[y]) return;if(p[e]) return p[e]();s=l.createElement(a);l.head.appendChild((s.async=p[y]=true,s.src=r,s))}(window,document,\"script\",\"__btL\",\"__btR\",\"https://player.backtracks.fm/embedder.js\"))</script> <script> \n(function(p,l,a,y,e,r,s){if(p[y]) return; \nif(p[e]) return p[e]();s=l.createElement(a); \nl.head.appendChild((s.async=p[y]=true,s.src=r,s)) \n}(window,document,'script','__btL','__btR', \n'https://player.backtracks.fm/embedder.js')) \n</script> <script> \n!function(n,i,s,c){n[s]||(n[s]=function(i){n[s].q.push(i)}),n[s].q||(n[s].q=[]), \nc=i.createElement(\"script\"), \nc.async=1, \nc.src=\"https://c.bktrks.com/utils-1.0.0.all.min.js\", \ni.head.appendChild(c)}(window,document,\"BTUtils\"); \nBTUtils(function(use) { \n var options = { \n autoplayLinks: false \n }; \n use('backtracks-autolink', options).init(); \n}); \n</script>\n<hr />\n<h1>Subscribe</h1>\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/y-combinator/id1236907421/">iTunes
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Jared Friedman