How To Use AI In Your Startup

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

#Future Trends #Kevin Hale #Tech #YC Content

33:19

What’s the secret to lasting friendships? How does queer community show up through the ebbs and flows of life? And what’s the REAL story behind the “YMCA” song? In the first episode of Silver Linings, The Old Gays dive into an essential part of queer life: chosen family. They discuss the vital love, support, and sense of belonging that community provides, especially during life's toughest moments. They open up about what “queer” means to them, how chosen family has impacted their lives, and how to maintain close bonds over time–including their love for each other! “We’ve come a long way, baby.” Family isn’t just what you’re born with; it’s the people who show up, shape you, and stick around. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

about a year ago 14:02

MP3•Episode home

AI continues to improve at an exponential pace. So what can you do as a founder to take advantage of it?

In this episode of Office Hours, YC Partners discuss what you should consider if you’re thinking about pivoting to or incorporating AI as part of your startup.

260 episodes

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

How To Use AI In Your Startup

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

425 subscribers

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

AI continues to improve at an exponential pace. So what can you do as a founder to take advantage of it?

In this episode of Office Hours, YC Partners discuss what you should consider if you’re thinking about pivoting to or incorporating AI as part of your startup.

260 episodes

#Future Trends #Kevin Hale #Tech #YC Content

All episodes

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
Fusion Energy Is Tech's Next Big Unlock 8:07

2 hours ago8:07

8:07

Fusion may still sound like science fiction— but it might not be for much longer. With AI pushing demand for clean power to new highs, a breakthrough may finally be close. For Decoded, YC General Partner Gustaf Alstromer traces the history of fusion, the physics behind it, and the engineering challenges that stalled it for nearly a century. He also looks at how Helion is approaching the problem differently, as they develop a new fusion system expected to deliver power to Microsoft by 2028.…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
AI Apps Are Broken — Here's How To Fix Them 30:07

14 days ago30:07

30:07

In this episode of The Breakdown, Tom and Dave are joined by fellow YC General Partner Pete Koomen to lay out a new vision for how AI should actually work: not as a chatbot bolted onto legacy software, but as a customizable tool that helps people offload the work they don't want to do. From editable system prompts to agents that act more like collaborators, they dig into what it means to build AI-native software—and why the future belongs to products that let users teach machines how to think.…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
How AI Coding Agents Will Change Your Job 19:11

28 days ago19:11

19:11

Coding agents are no longer a distant idea—they're already starting to reshape how we work. YC's Tom Blomfield and David Lieb discuss how AI coding tools are transforming software development, why small, high-agency teams will be able to do what once took armies of engineers, and why there's never been a better time to start something new. They explore the bigger picture too: a future where there's abundance, knowledge work becomes more accessible, and founders have more leverage than ever before. If you're thinking about building, there's no better moment than right now.…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
How To Get The Most Out Of Vibe Coding | Startup School 16:39

6 weeks ago16:39

16:39

AI can't yet one-shot an entire product—but with the rise of vibe coding, it's getting close. YC's Tom Blomfield has spent the last month building side projects with tools like Claude Code, Windsurf, and Aqua, seeing just how far you can push modern LLMs. From writing full-stack apps to debugging with a single paste of an error message, AI is becoming a legit collaborator in the dev process. This is a playbook for anyone who wants to get the most out of vibe coding and build faster.…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
How Zepto Became India’s Fastest Growing Startup 38:23

7 weeks ago38:23

38:23

Imagine ordering groceries and having them show up at your doorstep in just 10 minutes. That’s the promise of Zepto, the fastest-growing e-commerce company in India. In this episode of How To Build The Future, Garry sits down with Aadit Palicha, the co-founder and CEO of Zepto, to discuss how they got started in a Whatsapp group, what it’s like going up against incumbents like Amazon and Zomato and how the future of e-commerce is changing in the age of intelligence.…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
Why America Stopped Innovating - And How We Can Start Again 34:12

9 weeks ago34:12

34:12

Not long ago, America led the world in building and innovation. But over the past 50 years, bureaucracy and red tape have made it nearly impossible to get big things done. Still, there’s a growing movement to turn that around — to build faster, smarter, and better than ever before. In this episode of The Main Function, Garry sits down with Atlantic staff writer and Plain English podcast host Derek Thompson to discuss his new book Abundance (co-authored with Ezra Klein). They discuss how we got here, what needs fixing, and what a bold, more prosperous 2050 could look like.…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
What Founders Can Do To Improve Their Design Game 20:43

10 weeks ago20:43

20:43

In this special episode of Design Review, Aaron sits down with Raphael Schaad, the Head of Calendar at Notion to discuss his leap from designer to founder, why illustration is an important first step when building a new product, and what ultimately makes designers uniquely qualified to start a company today.…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
How to Build the Future: Tony Xu 31:32

10 weeks ago31:32

31:32

12 years after starting DoorDash, co-founder & CEO Tony Xu and his employees still do deliveries every year, staying true to their core value: customer obsession. Today, DoorDash is the largest food delivery platform in the US. In this episode of How to Build the Future, Tony explains how their unwavering long-term vision won — helping create a new market while surviving near death and a global pandemic along the way.…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
Customer Obsession Made Gusto A $9.6 Billion Company 24:58

11 weeks ago24:58

24:58

Gusto (https://gusto.com) made payroll and HR painless for small businesses, growing into a $9.6B company along the way. Co-founder & CEO Josh Reeves joined YC's Harj Taggar to share how they built a payroll company from scratch and their customer-first approach to product design and culture.

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
The Future Of Design With Figma's Dylan Field 37:41

12 weeks ago37:41

37:41

Design isn’t just about making things work—it’s about how they work, says Dylan Field, the co-founder & CEO of Figma. As AI transforms tech, he believes a designer's judgment, taste, and agency will matter more than ever. Dylan sat down with YC's Garry Tan to discuss the evolving world of design in the age of AI, the challenging early days at Figma, and how his team forever changed the way designers and engineers collaborate.…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
How To Build The Future: Aravind Srinivas 34:38

15 weeks ago34:38

34:38

YC General Partner David Lieb sits down with Aravind Srinivas, the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity, to discuss his origins in Silicon Valley, what it's like to compete with Google, and what the future of search could look like. Apply to Y Combinator: https://ycombinator.com/apply

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
Building A Supersonic Plane Company From The Ground Up 13:45

16 weeks ago13:45

13:45

Imagine flying from NY to London in just a few hours. That’s the future that Blake Scholl and his team at Boom Supersonic are working towards. Blake started as a software engineer and pivoted mid-career to aviation. Now, he’s at the forefront of trying to bring back supersonic travel for all of us. In this episode of Hard Tech, YC’s Jared Friedman visited Blake in the Mojave desert to find out how someone who didn’t have a background in aerospace engineering was able to build the first-ever independently developed supersonic plane.…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
The Right (And Wrong) Way To Spend Money At Your Startup 29:06

16 weeks ago29:06

29:06

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 invest in marketing and what spending mistakes to avoid. Apply to Y Combinator: https://ycombinator.com/apply…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
How To Build The AGI Future: Bob McGrew 30:44

18 weeks ago30:44

30:44

According to OpenAI's former Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew, reasoning and test-time compute will unlock more reliable and capable AI agents— and a path to scale to AGI. In this episode of How to Build the Future, YC's @garrytan sits down with Bob to discuss the lessons learned from his time at OpenAI, scaling laws, his advice for startups, and what all of this means for the jobs of the future.…

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

1
How To Use AI In Your Startup 14:02

20 weeks ago14:02