If you build something because you need it, chances are good others need it too. RevenueCat (YC S18) is an excellent example of this. While adding in-app subscriptions to an iOS application, RevenueCat’s co-founders realized they were spending a ton of time building out the behind-the-scenes plumbing. It was necessary work, but it meant way less time for the features they actually wanted to create. So they built a better…
For most of this century, Big Tech has been allowed to operate with little scrutiny or oversight — to disastrous effects, in the form of social media harms, anti competitive practices, and more. Despite recent efforts to rein them in, a small handful of mega companies continue to wield enormous power in our economy and in Washington — and now, Washington is at risk of repeating the mistakes of the…
It was a historic moment for humanity. It was also an emotional moment for us at YC because we’ve been hoping this day would come since Blake was in the W16 batch, walking around with a plastic model of the plane he hoped to build. 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…
“Pivot” isn’t the bad word some people make it out to be. Many of the greatest companies in YC’s history pivoted along the way. One example: Clipboard Health. Today Clipboard is built around the idea of connecting independent healthcare professionals — think nurses, medical assistants, or phlebotomists — with healthcare facilities to let them pick up shifts that work with their schedule. It means more flexibility for the nurses, and…
Much of that list is made up of companies that have been up and running for a decade or more. That makes sense, of course — the longer a company has thrived, the more time it has had to nurture what works and build up that momentum. Even so, a handful of relatively new companies (including one that went through YC just three years ago!) managed to break onto the…