• <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.linkedin.com/in/debergalis//">Matt DeBergalis</strong></a>, co-founder of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/apollo/">Apollo GraphQL</a> (valued over $1B)<br>• <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.linkedin.com/in/umurc//">Umur Cubukcu</strong></a>, co-founder of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/citus-data/">Citus Data</a> (acquired by Microsoft) and now Visiting Group Partner at Y Combinator<br>• <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.linkedin.com/in/reshmakhilnani//">Reshma Khilnani</strong></a>, co-founder of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/medplum/">MedPlum and former Visiting Group Partner at Y Combinator</p><p>and also a short talk from Daniel Gackle who runs <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://news.ycombinator.com//">Hacker News</a>.</p><p>After the panel, we’ll have a cocktail reception. We’ve invited many other founders of YC Open Source Software companies so you can get to know them 1-1. YC Group Partners will be around if you want to bounce around ideas about possible startups.</p><p>We have limited space and expect the event to be over-subscribed. Please complete the form below, and we’ll reach out if we can offer you a spot at the event.</p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><center>\n<a class=\"ycdc-retro-btn ycdc-retro-btn-gold mt-[-10px] ml-[13px]\" href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/346/" style=\"text-decoration: none;\" title=\"title for your link\" target=\"_blank\">Apply to attend</a>\n</center><!--kg-card-end: html-->","comment_id":"6413474fc1abdc000107c9f8","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/03/asdfads.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2023-03-16T09:43:59.000-07:00","updated_at":"2023-03-20T07:06:10.000-07:00","published_at":"2023-03-16T14:47:26.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"We're hosting a meetup for Open Source Software startups! YC has funded over 75 OSS companies to date and we’re especially excited about them. If you’re interested in starting one someday, join us to connect & learn with other founders in the space.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a7106f","name":"Y Combinator","slug":"yc","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/yc.png","cover_image":null,"bio":null,"website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/yc/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71173","name":"YC News","slug":"yc-news","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-news/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71179","name":"YC Events","slug":"yc-events","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-events/"},{"id":"64134aebc1abdc000107ca3b","name":"#198","slug":"hash-198","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"64134aebc1abdc000107ca3c","name":"#12093","slug":"hash-12093","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"64134aebc1abdc000107ca3d","name":"#72","slug":"hash-72","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"64134aebc1abdc000107ca3e","name":"#89","slug":"hash-89","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"6312238da32f070001d502c1","name":"#26413","slug":"hash-26413","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a7106f","name":"Y Combinator","slug":"yc","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/yc.png","cover_image":null,"bio":null,"website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/yc/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71173","name":"YC News","slug":"yc-news","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-news/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/yc-meetup-on-building-open-source-software-startups/","excerpt":"We're hosting a small reception at our office in San Francisco, on April 11th at 5pm PT, for people who are interested in the growing trend of Open Source Software startups. We've funded over 75 OSS companies to date and we’re especially excited about them.","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"6335a9276c330f000113fa77","uuid":"b5d30051-751f-4231-bac3-84aa004a3e80","title":"Women Engineers in Startups: Tess's Story","slug":"women-engineers-in-startups-tess","html":"<p>Last year we launched the first *<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/events/yc-women-eng-in-startups-2022/">Women Engineers in Startups</a> series, and our goal was to encourage more women to consider working at high-growth startups.</p><p>Why?</p><p>At YC, most of us have worked at or started startups, and they’ve changed our lives for the better. We’ve seen, firsthand, the impact they can have on one’s life and career. The amount you learn is immense, and a lot of early startup employees go on to start their own companies. </p><p>We believe the opportunity should be explored by every hard working, ambitious person.</p><p>Yet, when we spoke to our founders, we learned that very few women engineers apply for jobs at YC companies. We wondered whether there were misconceptions about startups that we could help clear up, or whether there were resources we could build to connect more women to startup opportunities. </p><p>So, we brought together a cohort of women engineers and introduced them to YC founders, engineering managers, recruiters and women who had joined YC startups as early engineers. They came together for three weeks, learned about what startups are looking for, what the work/life balance was like at various companies, and what they should think about and ask when considering companies and roles. </p><p>At the end of the first session, we were delighted to see a few women from that first cohort accept roles at YC companies. </p><p>One participant in that first cohort, Tess Huelskamp, accepted a role at <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/middesk/">Middesk (YC W19), a fast-growing company that helps b2b financial services companies verify business customers. She shared her experience and advice for thinking about joining a startup here: </p><blockquote><em>Prior to working at my startup Middesk, I worked for a few years on Dropbox's Sharing team on a lot of backend changes to make it easier to share files and folders within Dropbox. </em><br><br><em>After a few years at Dropbox, I had learned a lot about how to build and ship code, but my learning was slowing. I always knew that I wanted to work at a startup before I moved home to the Midwest, and I figured this was the time to do it.</em><br><br><em>Before participating in the YC Women Eng in Startup series I didn't know a lot about the startup lifecycle. I didn't know what \"pre-\" vs. \"post-seed\" meant and I didn't know what type of work startups do as they move from trying to find product-market fit to scaling up their company. It helped me better identify the stage and type of company I wanted to work at.</em><br><br><em>When I started my job search, I knew I wanted to work at a post-Series A company that had a great culture, healthy work-life balance, and an interesting product. I found Middesk through the </em><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.workatastartup.com//">Work at a Startup</em></a><em> job board and took an informational call to learn more. As I was interviewing, I got a great vibe from the team at Middesk and respected all of the people I talked to.</em><br><br><em>I've been happily surprised with the breadth of work I've been able to do at an earlier stage company.</em><br><br><em>Established companies already have a lot of key features built, so the impact you can have is limited to improving an already existing feature. At an earlier stage company, I've been able to have a huge impact on my company by scaling, improving core business flows and also building multiple features from the ground up.</em><br><br><em>Earlier in my career, I was scared to move to a startup because I didn't think that I knew enough about engineering to be able to contribute to a startup. If I were to do my career over again, I would've left a larger company as soon as I felt my growth stalling out, because I could've easily handled working at a startup once I had learned how to ship projects at a larger company.</em></blockquote><p><strong>We’re hosting the second Women Engineers in Startups series this fall. Learn more about it </strong><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/women-engineers-in-startups/">here.
Apply to participate by October 7</strong></a><strong>. </strong></p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><center>\n<a class=\"ycdc-retro-btn ycdc-retro-btn-gold mt-[-10px] ml-[13px]\" href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/events/yc-women-eng-in-startups-2022/?utm_source=ycblog\%22 style=\"text-decoration: none;\" title=\"Women Engineers in Startups\" target=\"_blank\">Apply Now</a>\n</center><!--kg-card-end: html--><p>* <em>We use an inclusive definition of “women” and welcome trans women as well as genderqueer and non-binary people who identify as women or femme in any way to attend this event.</em></p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/events/yc-women-eng-in-startups-2022/?utm_source=ycblog\%22>
![](https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/09/6.jpg/")
new standard deal</a> of $500,000 gives you some slack, you will likely have to develop very smart habits around spending because fundraising is harder. Learning how to <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"http://www.paulgraham.com/aord.html/">stay alive</a> is arguably the most important skill you can have as a founder.</p><p>I don’t think it’s a coincidence that two of the top YC companies, Airbnb and Stripe, were started in the depths of the last recession (2009).* They learned how important it is to build something people want and not assume investors will be there to save them early on.</p><p>None of this is new. It’s common knowledge, especially in the tech community, that many successful startups were created during recessions (just search “startups + recession” and you’ll find a bunch of articles), which may be one reason we’ve seen high numbers of applications from founders leaving their big tech company jobs, especially in the last couple of months.</p><p>If running a startup is like commanding an army, then YC is elite basic training. You’ll learn how to navigate the challenges (or realize you’re not up for it) when your company is small and with the support of advisors and YC batchmates. You’ll build a solid foundation of learning how to build something people want and staying alive. </p><p>The YC training prepares you by default for succeeding through recessions. And it’s easier to internalize that training today when the macroenvironment supports it. The alternative is learning it on the battlefield when the stakes are way higher — when you’ve already raised money and have employees who depend on you. </p><p>As YC founder Paul Graham <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html/">wrote, “Bad shit is coming. It always is in a startup.” If you’re interested in starting a startup, we’re entering a counterintuitively good time to do it. It won’t be easy, but if you get through the early days, you’ll be better prepared than most. And if the challenge excites you, you probably have the right personality for it.</p><p>*Their products were also tailored to a cost-sensitive environment. Stripe made it easier for brick-and-mortar businesses to cut costs by selling online and Airbnb created a new income stream for hosts and lower-priced accommodations for travelers.</p>","comment_id":"63ed7c5ebb97530001aa5cd2","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/02/stephblog.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2023-02-15T16:44:14.000-08:00","updated_at":"2023-02-21T08:30:00.000-08:00","published_at":"2023-02-21T08:30:00.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"In an economic downturn, there are obvious downsides of starting a startup — but there are also powerful upsides; because to survive, you have to *actually* build something people want.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710c8","name":"Stephanie Simon","slug":"stephanie","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/steph-af6b11e61b7a3c55b099c780fe0a359236ceaab496850b530d178aedb8cefb2c.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Stephanie Simon is the Head of Admissions at Y Combinator. \n\nPrior to YC, she was a software engineer at Earnest and co-founded Murmur, a venture-backed local search startup.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/stephanie/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71173","name":"YC News","slug":"yc-news","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-news/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7116d","name":"Essay","slug":"essay","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/essay/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7117d","name":"Admissions","slug":"admissions","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/admissions/"},{"id":"63ed8ba5bb97530001aa5ced","name":"#271","slug":"hash-271","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"63ed8ba5bb97530001aa5cee","name":"#240","slug":"hash-240","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710c8","name":"Stephanie Simon","slug":"stephanie","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/steph-af6b11e61b7a3c55b099c780fe0a359236ceaab496850b530d178aedb8cefb2c.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Stephanie Simon is the Head of Admissions at Y Combinator. \n\nPrior to YC, she was a software engineer at Earnest and co-founded Murmur, a venture-backed local search startup.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/stephanie/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71173","name":"YC News","slug":"yc-news","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-news/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/why-would-you-start-a-startup-in-an-economic-downturn/","excerpt":"There will likely be a recession in 2023, and the major downsides to starting a startup are obvious: There is less money in the system so selling and fundraising are harder; investors have less money to invest and companies have less money to spend on products.","reading_time":2,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null}]},"url":"/blog/the-yc-directory","version":"a2ce9abc7c2080e819915df4aacfcc5c01cd09b5","encryptHistory":false,"clearHistory":false,"rails_context":{"railsEnv":"production","inMailer":false,"i18nLocale":"en","i18nDefaultLocale":"en","href":"https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/the-yc-directory","location":"/blog/the-yc-directory","scheme":"https","host":"www.ycombinator.com","port":null,"pathname":"/blog/the-yc-directory","search":null,"httpAcceptLanguage":"en, *","applyBatchLong":"Summer 2025","applyBatchShort":"S2025","applyDeadlineShort":"May 13","ycdcRetroMode":true,"currentUser":null,"serverSide":true},"id":"ycdc_new/pages/BlogPage-react-component-bfd35324-ce2c-4fff-ae2a-cd68d4273438","server_side":true}" data-reactroot="">The YC Directory
by Geoff Ralston9/21/2020
We recently launched the YC Directory. The directory lists 2,000+ publicly launched YC companies and makes it simple to filter by batch, industry, status, region, and company size. Potential investors and partners can use the directory to easily find and contact the companies with whom they’d like to work. The directory also has a filter for discovering YC companies that are hiring. We hope this tool helps job seekers find their next role.
Today, we’re launching three new directory sections. In the aftermath of the recent Black Lives Matter protests, we’ve had many discussions within our community about how we can better support historically underrepresented founders. Several asked that we create pages that highlight the Black, Latinx, and women founders in our community. We loved the idea and therefore built a section of the directory dedicated to highlighting companies started by these founders.
These pages will be updated on an ongoing basis, as founders can opt into be included once they are part of the batch. We’re also releasing new data, including the combined valuation of these YC companies and the total amount they have raised. These numbers will be refreshed annually.
We hope this new directory becomes a resource for investors and customers who are actively seeking out Black, Latinx, and women founders to support. For prospective founders who are looking for inspiring leaders, here is a way to discover successful founders who may have had experiences that reflect your own.
We have the strongest community of founders in the world. That strength comes not only from the success of their companies — but from the diverse experiences and backgrounds they bring to the YC community. We’re proud to share them with you.
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Geoff Ralston
Geoff Ralston is the former President of Y Combinator and has been with YC since 2011. Prior to YC, he built one of the first web mail services, RocketMail which became Yahoo Mail in 1997.