welcome back</a> to Visiting Group Partners JJ Fliegelman, Liz Wessel, Pete Koomen, Puneet Kumar, Rich Aberman, and Tom Blomfield.</p><h3 id=\"group-partner\">Group Partner</h3><p>After three batches as a Visiting Group Partner, Diana Hu is joining YC as a Group Partner.</p><p><strong>Diana Hu</strong><br>Diana was co-founder and CTO of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/escher-reality/">Escher Reality</a> (YC S17), an Augmented Reality Backend company that was acquired by Niantic (makers of Pokémon Go). At Niantic, she was the head of the AR platform. Previously, she led data science at OnCue TV that was sold to Verizon. Originally from Chile, Diana graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BS and MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a focus in computer vision and machine learning.</p><h3 id=\"visiting-group-partners\">Visiting Group Partners<br></h3><p><strong>Dave Lieb</strong><br>Dave was co-founder and CEO of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/bump/">Bump (S09), the mobile app used by more than 150M people to share photos and contact info by bumping phones together. After pivoting to photo sharing, Bump was acquired by Google in 2013, and its unreleased Photoroll app formed the basis for Google Photos, which Dave co-founded and led from inception to more than 1B users. Before Bump, Dave was a researcher in the Stanford AI Lab and a software engineer at Texas Instruments. He holds EE/CS degrees from Princeton and Stanford and finished ½ an MBA at Chicago Booth before dropping out to start Bump. Dave lives with his family in San Francisco and enjoys skiing, cycling, and reading tweets.</p><p><strong>Edrizio Delacruz</strong><br>Edrizio was the co-founder and CEO of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/arcus/">Arcus (S13), a Latin America payments platform. The company grew to serve over 200 clients and process billions of dollars annually. In 2021, the company was sold to Mastercard. Edrizio holds an MBA from The Wharton School. He was born in the Dominican Republic, grew up in Harlem, and now resides in Miami. He loves comedy, hiking, writing, and his one-year-old baby girl.</p><p><strong>Umur Cubukcu</strong><br>Umur was the co-founder and CEO of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/citus-data/">Citus Data</a> (S11), the creators of Citus, the distributed PostgreSQL database, and the first company in the world to donate equity to open source foundations. With millions of downloads and powering database infrastructure across Fortune 500 and SaaS companies, Citus Data was acquired by Microsoft in 2019; and Umur has since led the PostgreSQL product team at Azure. Umur received his MS from Stanford University, and lives with his wife and son in San Francisco, visiting Turkey every summer.</p>","comment_id":"6361a7d8b221a60001ccd254","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/11/BlogTwitter-Image-Template.jpeg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2022-11-01T16:12:24.000-07:00","updated_at":"2022-11-02T08:57:19.000-07:00","published_at":"2022-11-02T08:55:00.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"Today, we’re excited to welcome Diana Hu as our newest Group Partner and Dave Lieb, Edrizio Delacruz, and Umur Cubukcu, as our newest Visiting Group Partners.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71070","name":"Aaron Epstein","slug":"aaron-epstein","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Aaron-E-2.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Aaron is a Group Partner at YC. 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We've funded over 75 OSS companies to date and we’re especially excited about them.</p><p>If you’re interested in maybe starting an open source company someday, this is a good opportunity to get to know some of the top founders in this area and hear the latest best practices.</p><p>We’ll host a panel with:<br>• <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.linkedin.com/in/solomonhykes//">Solomon Hykes</strong></a>, co-founder of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/docker/">Docker and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/dagger/">Dagger
• <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. 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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":"61fe29f1c7139e0001a71c04","uuid":"137bef50-c46e-42ab-9496-bd321c54e3fa","title":"Does co-founder matching work? It did for these YC companies.","slug":"does-co-founder-matching-work","html":"<p>We launched the co-founder matching platform earlier this year to help founders find their co-founders. When you sign up, you tell us about yourself and what you’re looking for, and we show you profiles that most closely match your ideal co-founder. If you message a candidate and they accept, we match the two of you.</p><p>Co-founder matching has also seen success with brand-new companies. Two pairs of co-founders met through the platform earlier this year, worked together on trial projects, became fully committed co-founders, applied to YC, and were accepted into the Summer 2021 batch!</p><p><strong><strong><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.sequincard.com//">Sequin (YC S21) is one of these companies. Vrinda Gupta had left her job after launching credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve at Visa to work on a product to help women build credit. She spent a year working as a solo founder, and, in that time, raised a pre-seed and built an MVP. She knew she needed a technical co-founder who was mission driven, had fintech expertise, and was in it for the long haul.</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption\"><img src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://blog.ycombinator.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Sequin.jpeg/" class=\"kg-image\" alt loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption>Sequin (YC S21) co-founders, Vrinda Gupta and Mark Thomas.</figcaption></figure><p>That person was Mark Thomas. He had ten years of engineering experience at Paypal, cared deeply about gender equity, and spent six years as CTO of family-oriented startups. They had an instant connection and arranged to meet in person soon after. Vrinda recalls, “We met the day after we matched, and the day after, and then the day after that.”</p><p>Together, they went through YC’s batch this summer and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.forbes.com/sites/geristengel/2021/09/15/debit-card-startup-builds-credit-for-women/?sh=6283b60b3c67\%22>raised $5.7M</a>.</p><p><strong><strong><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.kiwibiosciences.com//">Kiwi Biosciences</a></strong></strong> (YC S21) has a similar story. Anjie Liu started the company to solve her own pains with irritable bowel syndrome. She had a founding scientist to tackle R&amp;D, but wanted a co-founder to help her build a consumer brand and commercialize the product.</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption\"><img src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://blog.ycombinator.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/kiwi.jpeg/" class=\"kg-image\" alt loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption>Anjie Liu and David Hachuel, co-founders of Kiwi Biosciences (YC S21).</figcaption></figure><p>When Anjie saw David Hachuel’s profile on YC co-founder matching, she knew that he was “exactly what [she] was looking for.” David had previously sold a startup in the same space, and was immediately interested in her idea.</p><p>They took a very structured approach to co-founder matching. Both founders answered all 50 questions posed in <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://proof-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/firstround/50 Questions for Co-Founders.pdf/">First Round’s co-founder questionnaire</a>. They found deep alignment on “all the important things” (conflict resolution, vision for culture, etc.). When their month-long trial ended and it came time to say go or no-go, the decision was easy.</p><p>Anjie and David worked remotely for four months and finally met in person after getting into YC. They went through YC and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/14/kiwi-bio-aims-to-free-irritable-bowel-syndrome-sufferers-from-restrictive-diets//">raised $1.5M</a>.</p><p>We’re ecstatic about the companies who met through our co-founder matching and we’re excited to see the platform continue to grow and support more awesome founders in the future!</p><p>Looking for a co-founder? Check out the platform at <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://blog.ycombinator.com/does-co-founder-matching-work/www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching/">www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching.

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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>

Welcome Diana, Dave, Edrizio, and Umur

by Aaron Epstein11/2/2022

Every batch, we invite founders and executives to advise YC companies as Visiting Group Partners. These advisors bring valuable insights and recent operational experience to YC’s early-stage companies. Throughout the batch, they take on a variety of responsibilities, including application reading, interviews, group and individual office hours, Demo Day prep, and more.

As YC grows, some of our Visiting Group Partners join us full time as Group Partners to continue supporting YC companies and build out new programs and initiatives to better support our community.

Today, we’re excited to welcome Diana Hu as our newest Group Partner and Dave Lieb, Edrizio Delacruz, and Umur Cubukcu, as our newest Visiting Group Partners. And welcome back to Visiting Group Partners JJ Fliegelman, Liz Wessel, Pete Koomen, Puneet Kumar, Rich Aberman, and Tom Blomfield.

Group Partner

After three batches as a Visiting Group Partner, Diana Hu is joining YC as a Group Partner.

Diana Hu
Diana was co-founder and CTO of Escher Reality (YC S17), an Augmented Reality Backend company that was acquired by Niantic (makers of Pokémon Go). At Niantic, she was the head of the AR platform. Previously, she led data science at OnCue TV that was sold to Verizon. Originally from Chile, Diana graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BS and MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a focus in computer vision and machine learning.

Visiting Group Partners

Dave Lieb
Dave was co-founder and CEO of Bump (S09), the mobile app used by more than 150M people to share photos and contact info by bumping phones together. After pivoting to photo sharing, Bump was acquired by Google in 2013, and its unreleased Photoroll app formed the basis for Google Photos, which Dave co-founded and led from inception to more than 1B users. Before Bump, Dave was a researcher in the Stanford AI Lab and a software engineer at Texas Instruments. He holds EE/CS degrees from Princeton and Stanford and finished ½ an MBA at Chicago Booth before dropping out to start Bump. Dave lives with his family in San Francisco and enjoys skiing, cycling, and reading tweets.

Edrizio Delacruz
Edrizio was the co-founder and CEO of Arcus (S13), a Latin America payments platform. The company grew to serve over 200 clients and process billions of dollars annually. In 2021, the company was sold to Mastercard. Edrizio holds an MBA from The Wharton School. He was born in the Dominican Republic, grew up in Harlem, and now resides in Miami. He loves comedy, hiking, writing, and his one-year-old baby girl.

Umur Cubukcu
Umur was the co-founder and CEO of Citus Data (S11), the creators of Citus, the distributed PostgreSQL database, and the first company in the world to donate equity to open source foundations. With millions of downloads and powering database infrastructure across Fortune 500 and SaaS companies, Citus Data was acquired by Microsoft in 2019; and Umur has since led the PostgreSQL product team at Azure. Umur received his MS from Stanford University, and lives with his wife and son in San Francisco, visiting Turkey every summer.

Author

  • Aaron Epstein

    Aaron is a Group Partner at YC. He was the co-founder and CEO of Creative Market (YC W10), a marketplace for graphic design assets, which was acquired by Autodesk in 2014.