The Silicon Valley dream is to construct a tech startup that’s such a novel thought it alters the business universe and turns its founders into billionaires. Collaborating within the Valley’s most famed startup manufacturing facility, Y Combinator, is commonly a part of that dream. Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe all bought began there.
But, a deep dive into the information from the entire practically 5,000 firms YC has backed to this point reveals a shocking reality: YC startups don’t need to be distinctive. Removed from it.
YC generally accepts startups which are constructing related or practically similar merchandise to earlier YC grads. A few of them are direct rivals; others differ barely by concentrating on a brand new geography (Asia or Latin America), or are a subset of a bigger market (point-of-sale software program for bars versus espresso retailers).
Information evaluation startup Deckmatch carried out the analysis, impressed to have a look at competing YC merchandise after an issue over a YC-backed startup referred to as PearAI. Critics stated that PearAI’s code editor product wasn’t far more than a cloned model of one other YC product, referred to as Proceed — and PearAI’s founder basically admitted it. There have been extra causes that Pear discovered itself in scorching water (together with the bravado of its founders and the way it dealt with the open supply licensing). However the uproar concluded with Pear’s founders vowing to begin over from scratch.
YC CEO Garry Tan defended the corporate, and the truth that YC accepted this conduct, by posting on X, “Extra alternative is nice, folks constructing is nice, in case you don’t prefer it don’t use it.”
That is clearly greater than lip service for Tan, who has himself, for example, championed two police bodycam startups a couple of years aside: Flock Security (Summer time 2017 cohort) and Abel Police (Summer time 2024). Alongside the identical strains, greater than a dozen startups constructing AI code editors went via the YC program between 2022 and 2024 — some in the identical batch with the identical YC accomplice.
When requested about its propensity to again rivals, a YC spokesperson stated that the group is extra within the founders’ backgrounds than their enterprise concepts. “YC invests in founders over concepts, specializing in people with the potential to construct transformative firms — irrespective of the house they function in. Our funding technique focuses on backing probably the most promising founders with imaginative and prescient, resilience, and skill to execute, which is evident in our RFS course of,” a spokesperson instructed TechCrunch.
Some founders love YC’s method
Certainly one of YC’s massive advantages is its cozy community, the place startups typically search clients, companions, and the like. Consequently, some alums dislike competitors in the event that they really feel one other’s product mimics theirs, reasonably than differentiates. Across the time of the PearAI controversy, YC alum Bryan Onel, founding father of safety startup Oneleet, posted on X about his expertise with this. A couple of others chimed in to commiserate. (Onel didn’t reply to our requests for remark.)
Then once more, different YC alums suppose this sort of direct competitors is nice, particularly when the identical YC accomplice advises them. Restaurant PoS methods is one space that has been well-liked in YC, and YC alum Nick Evans, co-founder CEO of restaurant PoS Avocado, is ok with rivals.
He ought to know. Evans famously based a device-tracking startup referred to as Tile, which went loopy with crowdfunding, raised cash from conventional VCs, took on Apple’s AirTags, then offered to Life360 in 2021 for $205 million.
“I believe it’s silly that the majority buyers don’t put money into competing firms,” Evans instructed TechCrunch about YC competitors. “I would like buyers that deeply perceive my enterprise and trade. How the hell would they know something helpful in the event that they aren’t working with related firms? Startups don’t die by homicide; they die by suicide. You aren’t preventing in opposition to different startups. You’re preventing in opposition to folks not giving a s— about your product.”
Deep dive impressed by PearAI controversy
Earlier than diving into the specifics of the classes YC has significantly favored, it’s price noting that Deckmatch just isn’t a YC firm and has by no means utilized to be one, CEO Leo Gasteen tells TechCrunch.
Deckmatch was impressed to research YC merchandise by the PearAI state of affairs as a demo take a look at for its new product AlphaLens. Deckmatch sells product evaluation knowledge on about 8 million startups to personal market individuals like buyers, and company innovation and M&A groups.
It needs to do for product knowledge what PitchBook did for company-level knowledge, Gasteen says. Earlier this month, Deckmatch raised a $3.1 million seed spherical co-led by Alliance VC and Luminar Ventures, with participation from its pre-seed buyers First Diploma Capital and Skyfall Ventures. It’s raised $4.2 million to this point, it says.
AlphaLens lets Deckmatch clients comb via its database to seek out distinctive and related merchandise, construct scatter charts, cluster maps, and the like. However the outcomes of the YC evaluation, shared solely with TechCrunch, needs to be fascinating to any founder questioning what sorts of startups YC tends to simply accept.
Sorts of merchandise YC loves, in accordance with the information
In keeping with this knowledge, the present well-liked product classes, every with no less than a dozen startups, embody:
AI code editors: Past Proceed and PearAI, one other instance is Void (one other open supply different to Cursor, the favored Andreessen Horowitz/OpenAI-backed startup). Then there’s EasyCode, Ellipsis, Cosine, Greptile, and extra, every making use of AI to numerous coding duties.
Meals/beverage/restaurant level of sale methods: A lot of the PoS startups had been accepted into this system between 2020 and 2023, together with Avocado, Dripos, or Latin American startup Polo.
Enterprise finance/payroll: With the success of YC alums Gusto and Rippling got here many rivals, some aimed toward completely different worldwide markets. Examples embody Warp and Zeal.
AI gross sales and buyer relationship administration. This can be a extremely popular space of improvement for the massive gamers (Salesforce, Microsoft) and startups. YC alums embody Apten, Persana AI, and Topo.
AI assembly assistants: Circleback, Onward, Sonnet, and Spinach AI are however a couple of examples.
AI authorized assistants: Dioptra, Leya, and Tower are some examples.
Then once more, a number of areas had been well-liked however have been lately much less so. These embody:
Crypto buying and selling platforms: Given the success of YC grad Coinbase, YC was gung ho on this for some time, with a few dozen grads, largely from 2014 to 2022.
E-commerce retailer platforms: Within the wake of Shopify (not a YC alum) YC accepted a few dozen such firms since 2018, with the bulk within the 2018 to 2022 timeframe.
Company expense playing cards: After YC alum Brex got here many others, principally from 2018 to 2022.
