Y Combinator

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This is an article about the venture capital firm; for the fixed point combinator, see Y combinator.

Y Combinator is a seed-stage startup funding firm, started by Paul Graham, Robert Morris, Trevor Blackwell, and Jessica Livingston. Y Combinator provides seed money, advice, and connections at two 3-month programs a year in Cambridge and Mountain View. In exchange, they take on average about 6% of the seed's equity. Unusually among startup funding firms, Y Combinator provides very little money- usually 6000 USD per founder. This reflects Graham's conviction that between free software, the web, and Moore's Law, the cost of starting a startup has greatly decreased. Eight to twelve companies are funded with each round, chosen out of several hundred applicants.

Y Combinator was started after Graham gave a talk at his alma mater, Harvard (where he got a PhD in Computer Science) which became, "How to Start a Startup". [1] He suggested founders seek seed funding from "angel investors", preferably those who had made money in technology. He half-jokingly added "but not me", but, feeling guilty, he soon after organized Y Combinator to offer seed funding to startups.

[edit] Startups funded by Y Combinator

Companies that have received funding through Y combinator include:

• Kiko
• reddit
• Snipshot
• Flagr
• Wufoo
• YouOS
• LikeBetter
• Loopt
• TextPayMe
• Inkling
• PollGround
• ClickFacts

[edit] External links

• Company website
• Article in The New York Times on Y Combinator
• Startup School
• Flagr Map of Y Combinator Startup HQs