Tim Brady</a> and I go back a long way. Tim was already at Yahoo! when my company was acquired in 1997. Of course, Tim was there. In fact, he was Yahoo!’s first employee and ran a group called “production” until he eventually became Chief Product Officer. Tim was, in many ways, the conscience of Yahoo! He kept us focused on the customer experience in an era when it was too easy to toss that aside in a search for revenue. My connection to Tim and what he meant to Yahoo! grew when I succeeded him as CPO in 2002, as he left in search of new adventures.</p><p>And what adventures! Tim first studied history with an eye to perhaps earning a PhD and then teaching. Subsequently, he became an excellent chef by taking an intense course from San Francisco’s Tante Marie's cooking school, and then returned to his operator roots and took on the CEO role at QuestBridge, an educational non-profit helping connect low-income students with elite colleges around the country.</p><p>We stayed in contact over the years and when I began thinking of starting something in the educational technology space in 2010, it was natural for us to begin batting ideas around. When we started toying with the idea of an edtech version of Y Combinator we naturally checked in with our former Yahoo! colleague Paul Graham and he not only thought it was a great idea, he offered to help! That launched Tim and me on our amazing Imagine K12 adventure together where we funded over 80 great edtech companies over five years. </p><p>PG, in his seminal essay “<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html/">How to Start a Startup</a>”, said you should always look to find “animals” as your co-founders, and Tim is an animal in the best of all possible ways. He is the kind of guy who solves problems and gets things done. When we realized that the two of us were going to need to write a whole bunch of infrastructure software in order to support our new accelerator, Tim didn’t hesitate. He leapt in with PHP and MySQL and in short order, we were up and running. Together we ran Imagine K12, funded all the companies, and wrote all the code we needed to accept applications, create a community, and run Imagine K12. He never let a problem go unsolved, was always kind, optimistic, and super thoughtful. He was the best possible choice as a cofounder. Our time together at IK12 ranks as one of the highlights of my career, with memories of amazing companies, epic IK12 poker tournaments - which became a much-anticipated annual event - and memorable end-of-batch events where Tim would often cook up an amazing paella.</p><p>In 2016, when we merged with YC, Tim joined me as a YC Group Partner and scarcely missed a beat in helping many hundreds more companies grow and thrive. He has remained passionate about making the world a better place, by helping YC companies make things people want, and by being the main person who worked with the non-profits YC occasionally funds. His affability, his integrity, his positivity, and his deep commitment to adding value will be sorely missed. It has been my great, great pleasure to have Tim as a colleague and a friend, and wish him only the best in whatever adventures lie ahead in his, always epic, journey.</p>","comment_id":"625dd04854a948000183a422","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/04/2018-0313-YC-Event_104-1.jpg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2022-04-18T13:55:36.000-07:00","updated_at":"2022-04-19T08:57:38.000-07:00","published_at":"2022-04-19T08:55:00.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"It has been our pleasure to have Tim as a colleague and a friend, and wish him only the best in whatever adventures lie ahead in his, always epic, journey.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71092","name":"Geoff Ralston","slug":"geoff-ralston","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/geoff.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Geoff Ralston is the former President of Y Combinator and has been with YC since 2011. 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You can read more about some of the Breakthrough Companies <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/featured/">here, and congrats to <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/breadfast/">Breadfast, the newest Breakthrough addition.</p><p>Here are some stats about the August 2022 YC Top Companies list:</p><ul><li>There are now 15 <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/public/">public YC companies, 316 private YC companies that are valued at over $150M, and over 80 are valued at over $1B.</li><li>63 companies have been added to the list since our last update in February 2022.</li><li>76% of the companies consider themselves remote or remote friendly. 59% have an HQ located in the Bay Area.</li><li>YC W16 has the largest percentage of companies from their batch on the YC Top Companies list. See the YC W16 companies <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=W16&amp;top_company=true\%22>here.

Here%e2%80%99s a sector breakdown of our Top Companies:</p><!--kg-card-begin: markdown--><p>B2B Software and Services: 43.3%<br>\nHealthcare: 11.5%<br>\nEducation: 2.7%<br>\nConsumer: 13.3%<br>\nFinancial Technology: 18.8%<br>\nReal Estate and Construction: 3.0%<br>\nIndustrials: 7.0%<br>\nGovernment: .3%</p>\n<!--kg-card-end: markdown--><p>Congrats to all of the YC founders who are building these amazing companies! <br><br>Meet some of the <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/featured/">featured companies</a> on the list and learn more about the founders, their missions, and the predictions they have for the future. To see a full list of YC companies, visit the <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/">YC Startup Directory</a>.</p>","comment_id":"630443393abd0500014104a3","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/08/BlogTwitter-Image-Template.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2022-08-22T20:02:17.000-07:00","updated_at":"2022-08-23T09:32:07.000-07:00","published_at":"2022-08-23T08:55:00.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"Today we’re excited to release an update to the YC Top Companies list. 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At each location, we will host talks with YC group partners and YC alumni, who will discuss their founder journey, the YC experience and myths around starting startups.</p><p>We will also be hosting two virtual admissions sessions to chat about the YC application process, give application tips and answer your questions about the batch program.</p><p>This year, we’re working with AWS Activate to provide $1,000 in AWS credits to spend on AWS services, and $350 in Developer Support plan credits to attendees. This is on top of any AWS credits you may have received from AWS Activate previously. To learn more about AWS Activate, please visit <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"http://www.aws.com/activate/" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">www.aws.com/activate</a>.</p><p>Interested in applying to YC? <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"http://ycombinator.com/apply/">Applications for YC Summer 2022 are now open</a>.</p><p><strong>We hope you’ll join us (virtually) at these locations:</strong></p><p><strong>January 31</strong> - Mexico: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/309/">YC @ Orchata</a><br><strong>February 1</strong> - Canada: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/316/">YC @ University of Toronto</a><br><strong>February 4</strong> - France: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/318/">YC @ Station F</a><br><strong>February 9</strong> - United States: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/328/">YC @ HBCUs</a><br><strong>February 10</strong> - Russia: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/323/">YC @ ITMO University</a><br><strong>February 11</strong> - Spain: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/317/">YC @ Lanzadera</a><br><strong>February 16</strong> - United Kingdom: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/325/">YC @ Cambridge</a><br><strong>February 17</strong> - Indonesia &amp; Singapore: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/313/">YC @ Payfazz &amp; Xfers</a><br><strong>February 23</strong> - Europe: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/321/">YC @ Start Global</a><br><strong>February 25</strong> - Colombia: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/312/">YC @ Platzi</a><br><strong>February 25</strong> - United States: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/314/">YC @ Stanford</a><br><strong>February 25</strong> - United States: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/315/">YC @ UC Berkeley</a><br><strong>March 4</strong> - United States: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/324/">YC @ University of Washington</a><br><strong>March 4</strong> - United States: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/326/">YC @ Harvard</a><br><strong>March 11</strong> - United States: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/320/">YC @ MIT</a><br><strong>March 11</strong> - Canada: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/322/">YC @ University of Waterloo</a><br><strong>March 14</strong> - India: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/327/">YC @ IIT Bombay</a><br><strong>March 18</strong> - <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/319/">AMA w/ Michael Seibel</a><br><strong>March 21</strong> - <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/310/">YC Admissions</a><br><strong>March 21</strong> - <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/311/">YC Admissions</a><br><strong>March 25 </strong>- Ireland: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://apply.ycombinator.com/events/330/">YC @ University of Limerick</a></p><p>If you are starting a startup or have questions about YC, we want to meet you. 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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>