Ginkgo Bioworks</a> was the first bio company YC funded, back in summer 2014, which makes us especially delighted to <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/2019/09/16/building-a-platform-for-startups//">announce a new partnership between YC and Ginkgo.</p>\n<p>Ginkgo Bioworks programs cells. They program them to produce flavors, fragrances, cannabinoids, food proteins, and more. To do that, they have built the world’s most advanced compiler and debugger of genetic code for the rapid engineering of new organisms.</p>\n<p>Today, Ginkgo’s core business is programming cells for large companies like Bayer and Roche. But these are multi-million dollar deals that are out of the reach of startups. Ginkgo’s new deal will make it possible for startups to access the same platform.</p>\n<p>Ginkgo Bioworks will offer to program cells for YC companies doing qualifying synthetic biology projects on a $0 down basis. Instead of charging, Ginkgo will get equity. Their equity ownership will be based on achieving technical milestones, so it’s essentially a risk free deal for the companies. Ginkgo will effectively be making a big in-kind R&amp;D investment in these companies. Before engaging with YC companies, Ginkgo will need to vet the projects for technical feasibility and IP conflicts. But a broad range of projects will qualify, and I expect that the right companies can save years and millions of dollars by taking advantage of this deal.</p>\n<p>YC has funded many synthetic biology companies, working on products from industrial chemicals to food ingredients to cosmetics to therapeutics. In the past, companies like this had to make major investments upfront in organism engineering before they could manufacture anything. With this deal from Ginkgo, the next generation of synthetic biology companies will have the option to start by leveraging Ginkgo rather than building lab infrastructure in-house.</p>\n<p>Ginkgo providing startups access to their platform is a big step in the shift that we see towards the AWSification of biology. Ginkgo now joins YC companies like <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.culturebiosciences.com//">Culture Biosciences</a>, <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.atomwise.com//">Atomwise, and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://excepgen.com//">Excepgen that are making it possible for bio companies to use existing building blocks rather than doing everything from scratch. As this trend accelerates, it will become faster and cheaper for new bio companies to get started.</p>\n<!--kg-card-end: html-->","comment_id":"1103931","feature_image":null,"featured":false,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2019-09-15T23:00:00.000-07:00","updated_at":"2021-10-20T10:53:35.000-07:00","published_at":"2019-09-15T23:00:00.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71097","name":"Jared Friedman","slug":"jared-friedman","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Jared.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Jared is Managing Director, Software and Group Partner at YC. He was cofounder of Scribd, which was funded by Y Combinator in 2006 and grew to be one of the top 100 sites on the web.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/jared-friedman/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7117e","name":"Biotech","slug":"biotech","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/biotech/"},{"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/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71097","name":"Jared Friedman","slug":"jared-friedman","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Jared.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Jared is Managing Director, Software and Group Partner at YC. He was cofounder of Scribd, which was funded by Y Combinator in 2006 and grew to be one of the top 100 sites on the web.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/jared-friedman/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7117e","name":"Biotech","slug":"biotech","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/biotech/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/yc-and-ginkgo-bioworks-announce-new-partnership-for-synthetic-biology-startups/","excerpt":"Ginkgo Bioworks [https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/] was the first bio company YC\nfunded, back in summer 2014, which makes us especially delighted to announce\n[https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/2019/09/16/building-a-platform-for-startups/] a\nnew partnership between YC and Ginkgo.\n\nGinkgo Bioworks programs cells. They program them to produce flavors,\nfragrances, cannabinoids, food proteins, and more. To do that, they have built\nthe world’s most advanced compiler and debugger of genetic code for the rap","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},"mentions":[],"related_posts":[{"id":"63f91878d2b0220001e8d6e9","uuid":"a99f2458-1bdd-4a40-81e6-36ee441b133c","title":"Congratulations to the 2023 YC Top Companies!","slug":"yc-top-companies-feb-2023","html":"<p>We’re excited to present the 2023 YC Top Companies!</p><p>The startups are separated into 3 lists: YC’s top <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">private</a>, <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/public/" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">public</a>, and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/exits/" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">exited</a>. Private companies and exits are sorted by the company's valuation from their latest funding round, and all are valued at over $150M. Public companies are listed in alphabetical order.</p><p>The Breakthrough Companies list highlights the fast-growing companies we’ve doubled down on – which means they’ve all received significant additional investment from YC in their post-Demo Day rounds. </p><p><strong>Here are stats about the companies on this year’s list:</strong></p><p><strong>&gt;</strong> More than 290 private YC companies and 33 exits are valued at over $150M, over 90 are worth more than $1B, and 16 are public. </p><p><strong>&gt;</strong> 58% of the companies have HQs in the Bay Area. 27% of the companies are fully remote, and 55% list themselves as partially remote.</p><p><strong>&gt;</strong> YC Top Companies have HQs in 40 countries including: United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Spain, Israel, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Germany, Egypt, Ireland, South Korea, Peru, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Bolivia, Switzerland, Algeria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Romania, Sweden, Senegal, Uganda, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam</p><p><strong>&gt;</strong> YC W16 is the most represented batch (by percentage). 23% of the companies from W16 are on the YC Top Companies list. </p><p><strong>&gt;</strong> Here’s a sector breakdown of the top companies:</p><ul><li>B2B Software and Services: 43%</li><li>Financial Technology and Services: 19%</li><li>Consumer: 13%</li><li>Healthcare: 12%</li><li>Industrials: 7%</li><li>Real Estate and Construction: 3%</li><li>Education and Government: 3%</li></ul><p><strong>&gt;</strong> 10 new companies joined the lists since August 2022:</p><p>Private:</p><ul><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/treasury-prime/">Treasury Prime</a> (YC W18) - Embedded banking software platform and marketplace</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/onesignal/">OneSignal (YC S11) - Engage customers through personalized omni-channel messaging</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/skill-lync/">Skill-lync (YC W19) - Online engineering college for India</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/tigereye/">TigerEye (YC S22) - Modern enterprise software for sales leaders</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/zeitview/">Zeitview (YC W15) - Inspection software for renewable energy &amp; sustainable infrastructure</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/ontop/">OnTop (YC W21) - A bank for remote workers connected to payroll</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/obie/">Obie (YC S19) - Insurance and risk management for landlords</li><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/nabis/">Nabis (YC W19) - The largest licensed cannabis wholesale platform</li></ul><p>Public:</p><ul><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/presto/">Presto (YC S10) - Digital meets physical for big chain restaurants</li></ul><p>Exits:</p><ul><li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/nurx/">NURX (YC W16) - Medicine or testing kit, prescribed online, and delivered to your door </li></ul><p>One thing to note is that this is not an exhaustive list of YC’s top companies. We allowed founders to opt out of being listed for any reason. The full list of YC companies can be found <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/">here. </p><p>Congrats again to the companies recognized on the 2023 YC Top Companies list!</p>","comment_id":"63f91878d2b0220001e8d6e9","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/02/BlogTwitter-Image-Template.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2023-02-24T12:05:12.000-08:00","updated_at":"2023-03-16T09:44:58.000-07:00","published_at":"2023-02-27T09:00:00.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"There are now 16 public YC companies, 290 private YC companies and 33 exits that are valued at over $150M, and over 80 that are worth more than $1B.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a7106f","name":"Y 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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-top-companies-feb-2023/","excerpt":"We’re excited to present the 2023 YC Top Companies!","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},{"id":"638559cc3a008e000176edd4","uuid":"e7d13ed0-72da-46aa-a877-cb21bda20645","title":"YC Happy Hour at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference","slug":"yc-happy-hour-at-jp-morgan-healthcare-conference","html":"<p>Join us for a happy hour during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. </p><p>If you’re a YC alum, an investor, industry leader, or are interested in starting a bio or healthcare company, we’d love to see you there.</p><p><strong>YC at JPM</strong><br>January 10 from 2:30 - 5 pm in San Francisco, CA<br>Appetizers and drinks will be served. <br><br>Space is limited, so sign up <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtMLHJC2orF1Ua8PAz4V20IZCeHTtTbNdESZtXU84QUPYL8w/viewform?usp=sf_link\%22>here by December 29 and we’ll send you a confirmation and location details by December 30.</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://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtMLHJC2orF1Ua8PAz4V20IZCeHTtTbNdESZtXU84QUPYL8w/viewform/" style=\"text-decoration: none;\" title=\"YC Happy Hour at JP Morgan Healthcare Conference\" target=\"_blank\">Sign Up</a>\n</center><!--kg-card-end: html-->","comment_id":"638559cc3a008e000176edd4","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/11/BlogTwitter-Image-Template--31-.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2022-11-28T17:01:00.000-08:00","updated_at":"2022-11-29T08:51:35.000-08:00","published_at":"2022-11-29T08:51:00.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"Join us for a happy hour during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on January 10th. If you’re a YC alum, an investor, industry leader, or are interested in starting a bio or healthcare company, we’d love to see you there.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71072","name":"Surbhi Sarna","slug":"surbhi-sarna","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/09/1563221214332.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Surbhi is a group partner at Y Combinator. Prior to YC, Surbhi was CEO of nVision Medical, which was acquired by Boston Scientific.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/surbhi-sarna/"}],"tags":[{"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":"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":"6321041a51421000014435a2","name":"Healthcare","slug":"healthcare","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/healthcare/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71183","name":"Event","slug":"event","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/event/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7117e","name":"Biotech","slug":"biotech","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/biotech/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71072","name":"Surbhi Sarna","slug":"surbhi-sarna","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/09/1563221214332.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Surbhi is a group partner at Y Combinator. Prior to YC, Surbhi was CEO of nVision Medical, which was acquired by Boston Scientific.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/surbhi-sarna/"},"primary_tag":{"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/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/yc-happy-hour-at-jp-morgan-healthcare-conference/","excerpt":"Join us for a happy hour during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. ","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":"63ed7c5ebb97530001aa5cd2","uuid":"c2766136-77ff-4a0c-9a1f-9d50f593e6b9","title":"Why would you start a startup in an economic downturn?","slug":"why-would-you-start-a-startup-in-an-economic-downturn","html":"<p>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.</p><p>But these are also reasons it’s an especially good time to start a startup, especially with YC.</p><p>Cost-sensitive customers can be helpful in the early days of your company. If they pay you in this tough environment, it's a stronger signal. There’s a higher likelihood you’re building something they really want.</p><p>And though our <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/deal/">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; 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