Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator
March 19, 2026
The early growth of Y Combinator was largely organic, driven by word-of-mouth from successful alumni and Paul Graham's essays, rather than conscious marketing efforts.
Peter Reinhardt, CEO & co-founder, Charm Industrial; CEO & co-founder, Segment
March 3, 2026
The initial idea for Segment, Classmetric, failed because professors and students did not adopt the technology as theorized, illustrating the pitfall of building something that seems right in theory but lacks actual user demand.
Tom Blomfield, Partner, Y Combinator; Co-Founder, Monzo
February 17, 2026
Tom Blomfield's early startup journey was characterized by a willingness to pivot drastically, moving from a student marketplace to GoCardless (payments API) and then to Monzo (consumer banking), often driven by external feedback or necessity.
Spenser Skates, Founder & CEO, Amplitude
February 3, 2026
The decision to pivot from the technically challenging voice recognition product (Sonalite) to building an internal analytics tool that customers immediately wanted to pay for was the genesis of Amplitude.
Christina Cacioppo, Founder & CEO, Vanta
January 20, 2026
A key lesson learned by Christina Cacioppo at Union Square Ventures was that there are many valid paths to becoming a successful founder, breaking the mold of the typical Silicon Valley narrative.
David Kirtley, Founder & CEO of Helion Energy
January 7, 2026
Helion Energy's fusion approach aims to generate low-cost, safe, baseload electricity by harnessing the process that powers stars, fusing deuterium and helium-3, which is fundamentally different from nuclear fission.
Jared Friedman, Partner, Y Combinator; Co-founder, Scribd
December 30, 2025
Jared Friedman's early awareness of Y Combinator stemmed from reading Paul Graham's Lisp book in ninth grade and subsequently following his essays, making him one of YC's original early adopters.
Jessica & Carolynn Announce Season 5!
December 23, 2025
The Social Radars is launching Season 5 with a new look, moving to Substack, and releasing full episodes on YouTube.
Blake Scholl, Founder & CEO of Boom Supersonic
December 8, 2025
Blake Scholl's core insight for Boom Supersonic was realizing the market sweet spot was an all-business class supersonic airliner, as shorter flight times negate the need for expensive sleeping accommodations, allowing for better economics.
Founder Mode: Sajith Wickramasekara, Founder & CEO, Benchling
October 17, 2025
For Sajith Wickramasekara, Founder & CEO of Benchling, 'founder mode' is synonymous with an ownership mentality, requiring comfort operating at all business levels and feeling personal care over every detail, no matter how small.
Founder Mode: Jen Herbach, Founder & CEO, Adventris Pharmaceuticals
October 7, 2025
Adventris Pharmaceuticals is developing cancer vaccines targeting the KRAS mutation, which drives over 30% of cancers (lung, colon, and pancreatic), with a long-term vision of moving into cancer prevention.
Founder Mode: Andy Lapsa, Founder & CEO, Stoke Space
September 29, 2025
Stoke Space is developing fully rapidly reusable rockets with the goal of making space transportation as accessible and routine as other global mobility solutions.
Founder Mode: Emmett Shear, Founder, Softmax & Twitch
September 23, 2025
Emmett Shear's company, Softmax, is focused on building AI systems that can understand and align with human concepts of 'we,' drawing parallels to raising children and fostering purpose and belonging.