Y Combinator's primary activity is investing in and supporting early-stage startups. Each year, they select hundreds of startups from thousands of applications and provide them with initial investment, mentoring, networking opportunities, and more. Y Combinator's main activities include investment, mentoring and consulting, and community building, all guided by their motto, "Make something people want."
- Key Activities of Y Combinator:
- Investment: They invest in early-stage startups to provide them with initial funding to start their businesses and develop their products.
- Mentoring and Consulting: Y Combinator helps founders develop their products, teams, and markets, refine their business models, achieve product-market fit, and scale for high growth through mentoring, consulting, and hosting events like office hours and guest lectures.
- Community Building: Y Combinator fosters a community where founders can communicate and collaborate with each other.
- Process and Criteria for Selecting Founders:
- Application Review: Founders submit applications and introductory videos detailing their ideas, business models, team compositions, market sizes, and more.
- Interview Evaluation: Founders who pass the initial review undergo interviews where their ideas, strategies, market understanding, and more are assessed.
- Intuition and Expertise: Y Combinator values founders' intuition and expertise, especially in their respective fields. Founders with deep understanding and experience in a specific domain are trusted to follow their instincts, while those with less experience are encouraged to rely on simple solutions and learn on the fly.
- Making What People Want: Y Combinator's motto, "Make something people want," underscores the importance of focusing on creating products or services that address real needs.
Y Combinator has a close relationship with OpenAI. OpenAI, founded in 2015 by Elon Musk and Y Combinator CEO Sam Altman, initially started as a nonprofit research organization with the goal of developing AI beneficial to humanity. OpenAI was part of Y Combinator Research's first group, highlighting the significant role Y Combinator played in OpenAI's growth and development.