thousands of times</a>. That’s why we built <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.startupschool.org//">Startup School</a>, a free online course where YC Group Partners help you answer these questions and many more while teaching you to build the foundation of a billion dollar company.</p><p>Throughout the <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/announcing-startup-school-2022/">latest Startup School session</a>, YC’s Group Partners hosted live talks for 10,000+ students tuned in over Zoom. Each talk focused on one of those topics that the Group Partners were asked about again and again— from how to evaluate an idea, to finding the right co-founder, to getting your MVP out into the world.</p><p>The recordings of these talks were initially available only to Startup School students. After those students told us how helpful the videos were for them, we decided to make them available to everyone. We’ve been gradually releasing the talks over the last few months, and we’ve now released the final video from that set: <em><strong>How to Apply And Succeed at Y Combinator</strong></em> featuring Dalton Caldwell.</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/B5tU2447OK8?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen title=\"How to Apply And Succeed at Y Combinator | Startup School\"></iframe></figure><p>When it comes to applying and interviewing for Y Combinator, there aren’t many people on the planet with more insight than Dalton. As a Group Partner and a Managing Director at YC, he’s been at the core of that process for over ten years now — reviewing applications, interviewing teams, and advising YC companies like <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/brex/">Brex, <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/whatnot/">Whatnot, and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/retool/">Retool on how to succeed once they got in.</p><p>Dalton packs a ton of information into just 24 minutes, like why you should apply, the weird reasons that people talk themselves out of applying (like “I'm too early”), his tips on how to improve your application, and — because founders tend to be the type of people who like to know how things work — key insights on how YC actually reads applications. He somehow sneaks some good life advice (on “creating luck”) in there while he’s at it.</p><p>If you're considering applying — or, crucially, if you keep talking yourself out of it — Dalton's talk is absolutely worth the watch. (And while you're here, I'll share a little kinda-sorta-secret: though applications for the Summer 2023 batch technically closed a few weeks ago, YC reviews <em>all</em> applications — even those that come in late. Plenty of great companies have been accepted with late applications. But don't tell anyone I told you that. <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">Apply here</a>.)</p><hr><h2 id=\"startup-school-2022-videos\">Startup School 2022 Videos</h2><p></p><p>You can find the rest of the recently released Startup School videos below, or bookmark <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ-uHSnFig5M9fW16o2l35jrfdsxGknNB\%22>the entire playlist here</a>. Each video is 15-30 minutes long, and each was designed to pack as much info and insight into that time as possible.</p><ul><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUE-icVYRFU&amp;list=PLQ-uHSnFig5M9fW16o2l35jrfdsxGknNB&amp;index=2\%22>Should You Start A Startup?</strong></a><strong> </strong>with Harj Taggar</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBUhQPPS9AY&amp;list=PLQ-uHSnFig5M9fW16o2l35jrfdsxGknNB&amp;index=10\%22>How Startup Fundraising Works</strong></a><strong> </strong>with Brad Flora</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th8JoIan4dg&amp;list=PLQ-uHSnFig5M9fW16o2l35jrfdsxGknNB&amp;index=4\%22>How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas</strong></a><strong> </strong>with Jared Friedman</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4SLDQDXdp0&amp;list=PLQ-uHSnFig5M9fW16o2l35jrfdsxGknNB&amp;index=3\%22>Keys To Successful Co-Founder Relationships</strong></a> with Catheryn Li and Divya Bhat</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1iF1c8w5Lg&amp;list=PLQ-uHSnFig5M9fW16o2l35jrfdsxGknNB&amp;index=4\%22>How To Talk To Users</strong></a><strong> </strong>with Gustaf Alströmer</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWZbWzAyHAE&amp;list=PLQ-uHSnFig5M9fW16o2l35jrfdsxGknNB&amp;index=5\%22>Startup Business Models and Pricing</strong></a> with Aaron Epstein</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyYCn_kAngI&amp;list=PLQ-uHSnFig5M9fW16o2l35jrfdsxGknNB&amp;index=6\%22>How to Get Your First Customers</strong></a><strong> </strong>with Gustaf Alströmer</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRZ_l7cVzzU&amp;list=PLQ-uHSnFig5M9fW16o2l35jrfdsxGknNB&amp;index=7\%22>How to Build a \"Minimum Viable Product\"</strong></a><strong> </strong>with Michael Seibel</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u36A-YTxiOw&amp;list=PLQ-uHSnFig5M9fW16o2l35jrfdsxGknNB&amp;index=8\%22>The Best Way To Launch Your Startup</strong></a><strong> </strong>with Kat Mañalac</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP7bpYsfa6Q&amp;list=PLQ-uHSnFig5M9fW16o2l35jrfdsxGknNB&amp;index=9\%22>Tips For Technical Startup Founders</strong></a> with Diana Hu </li></ul>","comment_id":"646fa41cbd93340001aed3be","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/05/Startup-School-title-card-2.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2023-05-25T11:08:28.000-07:00","updated_at":"2023-07-21T10:37:06.000-07:00","published_at":"2023-05-30T11:10:00.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"The recordings of these talks were initially available only to Startup School students. 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Meet them below:</p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLQ-uHSnFig5P_7Vrgb-hrPRnA6tqyX233\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>\n<p>About each company:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/directory/1884/">Curebase is a CRO and software platform for distributed clinical trials. <em>Hiring: Software Engineer, Trial Manager and Product Manager.</em> </li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/directory/1276/">Curtsy makes it easy for women to buy and sell clothes from their phone. <em>Hiring: Product Design and Software Engineer.</em> </li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/directory/76/">OneSignal creates developer APIs for push notifications, in-app messaging, and 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href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/directory/13146/">Eternal is a rewards program for gamers. <em>Hiring: Product Design and Front-end Engineer.</em> </li>\n</ul>\n<p>And if you&#8217;re looking for a new job, apply with a single profile to over 400 YC startups on <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com/">Work at a Startup</a>.</p>\n<!--kg-card-end: 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Choi","slug":"rchoi","profile_image":"//www.gravatar.com/avatar/36ba914c5f191f813e96db0296154469?s=250&d=mm&r=x","cover_image":null,"bio":"Ryan works with YC companies to find great engineers — from 2-person startups to larger ones like Airbnb, Stripe and Instacart.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/rchoi/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71170","name":"Startups","slug":"startups","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/startups/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/meet-8-yc-startups-that-are-hiring-right-now/","excerpt":"Many YC startups 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Meet them below:","reading_time":1,"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":"Photo by <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://unsplash.com/@campaign_creators?utm_source=ghost&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=api-credit\%22>Campaign Creators</a> / <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=ghost&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=api-credit\%22>Unsplash%22},{%22id%22:%2263ed7c5ebb97530001aa5cd2%22,%22uuid%22:%22c2766136-77ff-4a0c-9a1f-9d50f593e6b9%22,%22title%22:%22Why would you start a startup in an economic downturn?","slug":"why-would-you-start-a-startup-in-an-economic-downturn","html":"<p>There will likely be a recession in 2023, and the major downsides to starting a startup are obvious: There is less money in the system so selling and fundraising are harder; investors have less money to invest and companies have less money to spend on products.</p><p>But these are also reasons it’s an especially good time to start a startup, especially with YC.</p><p>Cost-sensitive customers can be helpful in the early days of your company. If they pay you in this tough environment, it's a stronger signal. There’s a higher likelihood you’re building something they really want.</p><p>And though our <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/deal/">new standard deal</a> of $500,000 gives you some slack, you will likely have to develop very smart habits around spending because fundraising is harder. Learning how to <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"http://www.paulgraham.com/aord.html/">stay alive</a> is arguably the most important skill you can have as a founder.</p><p>I don’t think it’s a coincidence that two of the top YC companies, Airbnb and Stripe, were started in the depths of the last recession (2009).* They learned how important it is to build something people want and not assume investors will be there to save them early on.</p><p>None of this is new. It’s common knowledge, especially in the tech community, that many successful startups were created during recessions (just search “startups + recession” and you’ll find a bunch of articles), which may be one reason we’ve seen high numbers of applications from founders leaving their big tech company jobs, especially in the last couple of months.</p><p>If running a startup is like commanding an army, then YC is elite basic training. You’ll learn how to navigate the challenges (or realize you’re not up for it) when your company is small and with the support of advisors and YC batchmates. You’ll build a solid foundation of learning how to build something people want and staying alive. </p><p>The YC training prepares you by default for succeeding through recessions. And it’s easier to internalize that training today when the macroenvironment supports it. The alternative is learning it on the battlefield when the stakes are way higher — when you’ve already raised money and have employees who depend on you. </p><p>As YC founder Paul Graham <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html/">wrote, “Bad shit is coming. It always is in a startup.” If you’re interested in starting a startup, we’re entering a counterintuitively good time to do it. It won’t be easy, but if you get through the early days, you’ll be better prepared than most. And if the challenge excites you, you probably have the right personality for it.</p><p>*Their products were also tailored to a cost-sensitive environment. Stripe made it easier for brick-and-mortar businesses to cut costs by selling online and Airbnb created a new income stream for hosts and lower-priced accommodations for travelers.</p>","comment_id":"63ed7c5ebb97530001aa5cd2","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/02/stephblog.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2023-02-15T16:44:14.000-08:00","updated_at":"2023-02-21T08:30:00.000-08:00","published_at":"2023-02-21T08:30:00.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"In an economic downturn, there are obvious downsides of starting a startup — but there are also powerful upsides; because to survive, you have to *actually* build something people want.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710c8","name":"Stephanie Simon","slug":"stephanie","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/steph-af6b11e61b7a3c55b099c780fe0a359236ceaab496850b530d178aedb8cefb2c.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Stephanie Simon is the Head of Admissions at Y Combinator. \n\nPrior to YC, she was a software engineer at Earnest and co-founded Murmur, a venture-backed local search startup.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/stephanie/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71173","name":"YC News","slug":"yc-news","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/yc-news/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7116d","name":"Essay","slug":"essay","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/essay/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7117d","name":"Admissions","slug":"admissions","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/admissions/"},{"id":"63ed8ba5bb97530001aa5ced","name":"#271","slug":"hash-271","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","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/404/"},{"id":"63ed8ba5bb97530001aa5cee","name":"#240","slug":"hash-240","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","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/404/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710c8","name":"Stephanie Simon","slug":"stephanie","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/steph-af6b11e61b7a3c55b099c780fe0a359236ceaab496850b530d178aedb8cefb2c.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Stephanie Simon is the Head of Admissions at Y Combinator. \n\nPrior to YC, she was a software engineer at Earnest and co-founded Murmur, a venture-backed local search startup.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/stephanie/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71173","name":"YC News","slug":"yc-news","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/yc-news/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/why-would-you-start-a-startup-in-an-economic-downturn/","excerpt":"There will likely be a recession in 2023, and the major downsides to starting a startup are obvious: There is less money in the system so selling and fundraising are harder; investors have less money to invest and companies have less money to spend on products.","reading_time":2,"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},{"id":"63f91878d2b0220001e8d6e9","uuid":"a99f2458-1bdd-4a40-81e6-36ee441b133c","title":"Congratulations to the 2023 YC Top Companies!","slug":"yc-top-companies-feb-2023","html":"<p>We’re excited to present the 2023 YC Top Companies!</p><p>The startups are separated into 3 lists: YC’s top <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">private</a>, <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/public/" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">public</a>, and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/exits/" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">exited</a>. Private companies and exits are sorted by the company's valuation from their latest funding round, and all are valued at over $150M. Public companies are listed in alphabetical order.</p><p>The Breakthrough Companies list highlights the fast-growing companies we’ve doubled down on – which means they’ve all received significant additional investment from YC in their post-Demo Day rounds. </p><p><strong>Here are stats about the companies on this year’s list:</strong></p><p><strong>&gt;</strong> More than 290 private YC companies and 33 exits are valued at over $150M, over 90 are worth more than $1B, and 16 are public. </p><p><strong>&gt;</strong> 58% of the companies have HQs in the Bay Area. 27% of the companies are fully remote, and 55% list themselves as partially remote.</p><p><strong>&gt;</strong> YC Top Companies have HQs in 40 countries including: United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Spain, Israel, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Germany, Egypt, Ireland, South Korea, Peru, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Bolivia, Switzerland, Algeria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Romania, Sweden, Senegal, Uganda, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam</p><p><strong>&gt;</strong> YC W16 is the most represented batch (by percentage). 23% of the companies from W16 are on the YC Top Companies list. </p><p><strong>&gt;</strong> Here’s a sector breakdown of the top companies:</p><ul><li>B2B Software and Services: 43%</li><li>Financial Technology and Services: 19%</li><li>Consumer: 13%</li><li>Healthcare: 12%</li><li>Industrials: 7%</li><li>Real Estate and Construction: 3%</li><li>Education and Government: 3%</li></ul><p><strong>&gt;</strong> 10 new companies joined the lists since August 2022:</p><p>Private:</p><ul><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/treasury-prime/">Treasury Prime</a> (YC W18) - Embedded banking software platform and marketplace</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/onesignal/">OneSignal (YC S11) - Engage customers through personalized omni-channel messaging</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/skill-lync/">Skill-lync (YC W19) - Online engineering college for India</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/tigereye/">TigerEye (YC S22) - Modern enterprise software for sales leaders</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/zeitview/">Zeitview (YC W15) - Inspection software for renewable energy &amp; sustainable infrastructure</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/ontop/">OnTop (YC W21) - A bank for remote workers connected to payroll</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/obie/">Obie (YC S19) - Insurance and risk management for landlords</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/nabis/">Nabis (YC W19) - The largest licensed cannabis wholesale platform</li></ul><p>Public:</p><ul><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/presto/">Presto (YC S10) - Digital meets physical for big chain restaurants</li></ul><p>Exits:</p><ul><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/nurx/">NURX (YC W16) - Medicine or testing kit, prescribed online, and delivered to your door </li></ul><p>One thing to note is that this is not an exhaustive list of YC’s top companies. We allowed founders to opt out of being listed for any reason. 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The latest Startup School talks are now available to all

by Greg Kumparak5/30/2023

An orange and white title card reading "Startup School"

When you’re building a startup, you’ve got a lot to figure out.

How do you know if an idea is a good one? Do you need a co-founder? How do you get your first customers? How much should you charge? How (and when) do you launch?

All of these are questions that every founder asks at some point, and they’re the kinds of questions that Y Combinator’s Group Partners have helped to answer thousands of times. That’s why we built Startup School, a free online course where YC Group Partners help you answer these questions and many more while teaching you to build the foundation of a billion dollar company.

Throughout the latest Startup School session, YC’s Group Partners hosted live talks for 10,000+ students tuned in over Zoom. Each talk focused on one of those topics that the Group Partners were asked about again and again— from how to evaluate an idea, to finding the right co-founder, to getting your MVP out into the world.

The recordings of these talks were initially available only to Startup School students. After those students told us how helpful the videos were for them, we decided to make them available to everyone. We’ve been gradually releasing the talks over the last few months, and we’ve now released the final video from that set: How to Apply And Succeed at Y Combinator featuring Dalton Caldwell.

When it comes to applying and interviewing for Y Combinator, there aren’t many people on the planet with more insight than Dalton. As a Group Partner and a Managing Director at YC, he’s been at the core of that process for over ten years now — reviewing applications, interviewing teams, and advising YC companies like Brex, Whatnot, and Retool on how to succeed once they got in.

Dalton packs a ton of information into just 24 minutes, like why you should apply, the weird reasons that people talk themselves out of applying (like “I'm too early”), his tips on how to improve your application, and — because founders tend to be the type of people who like to know how things work — key insights on how YC actually reads applications. He somehow sneaks some good life advice (on “creating luck”) in there while he’s at it.

If you're considering applying — or, crucially, if you keep talking yourself out of it — Dalton's talk is absolutely worth the watch. (And while you're here, I'll share a little kinda-sorta-secret: though applications for the Summer 2023 batch technically closed a few weeks ago, YC reviews all applications — even those that come in late. Plenty of great companies have been accepted with late applications. But don't tell anyone I told you that. Apply here.)

Startup School 2022 Videos

You can find the rest of the recently released Startup School videos below, or bookmark the entire playlist here. Each video is 15-30 minutes long, and each was designed to pack as much info and insight into that time as possible.

Author

  • Greg Kumparak

    Greg oversees editorial content at Y Combinator. He was previously an editor at TechCrunch for nearly 15 years.