Y Combinator Startup Podcast

Y Combinator

We help founders make something people want.

  • 19 minutes 11 seconds
    How AI Coding Agents Will Change Your Job

    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.

    9 May 2025, 2:00 pm
  • 16 minutes 39 seconds
    How To Get The Most Out Of Vibe Coding | Startup School

    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.

    25 April 2025, 2:00 pm
  • 38 minutes 23 seconds
    How Zepto Became India’s Fastest Growing Startup

    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.

    18 April 2025, 3:58 pm
  • 34 minutes 12 seconds
    Why America Stopped Innovating - And How We Can Start Again

    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.

    4 April 2025, 1:45 pm
  • 20 minutes 43 seconds
    What Founders Can Do To Improve Their Design Game

    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.

    28 March 2025, 1:59 pm
  • 31 minutes 32 seconds
    How to Build the Future: Tony Xu

    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.

    26 March 2025, 1:45 pm
  • 24 minutes 58 seconds
    Customer Obsession Made Gusto A $9.6 Billion Company

    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.

    18 March 2025, 1:45 pm
  • 37 minutes 41 seconds
    The Future Of Design With Figma's Dylan Field

    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.

    13 March 2025, 1:45 pm
  • 34 minutes 38 seconds
    How To Build The Future: Aravind Srinivas

    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

    21 February 2025, 2:45 pm
  • 13 minutes 45 seconds
    Building A Supersonic Plane Company From The Ground Up

    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.

    14 February 2025, 3:06 pm
  • 29 minutes 6 seconds
    The Right (And Wrong) Way To Spend Money At Your Startup

    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

    12 February 2025, 2:30 pm
  • More Episodes? Get the App