Startups Can’t Survive On $20,000

Gentrification in the Bay Area is a popular topic lately.  San Francisco rents are up more than 3 times the national average, reports SFGate.  The cost of living has simply gotten too expensive except for those with well-paying jobs at established companies.  That’s a serious long-term problem for everybody because the high cost of living destroys […]

Soylent Is A Nutritious Meal-Replacement Shake Mix And Experiment In Food Engineering By Startups

Soylent is a dry powder shake mix designed as a meal-replacement drink.  The mix contains “an assortment of… vitamins deemed medically necessary for a person to live.”  Soylent, a product of Rosa Labs, started as a Crowdhoster campaign that resulted in over $1.5 million pre-orders.  The meal-replacement drink also just raised a $1.5 million seed round.  Rather […]

New York Building Supervisors Warn Tenants: Airbnb Is Not Welcome Here. [Airbnb Lawsuit Filings Attached]

New York property managers don’t want their buildings in online listings of cheap nightly rentals.  Building supervisors have begun formally warning residents against listing their apartment on short-term rental services like Airbnb.  Property managers are also asking tenants to report neighbors they suspect are using such services.  Airbnb’s Fight Against New York And Protecting The […]

Scribd Launches Subscriptions With HarperCollins, Great For Sharing School Notes, Sees Future On Wearables

Scribd is the self-described “world’s largest digital library, where readers can discover books and written works of all kinds.”  Scribd Subscriptions is the company’s new $8.99/month service that offers unlimited book reading.  The YC S06 company is great for sharing documents, like school notes and research, court filings, and recipes.  Scribd co-founder and CEO Trip Adler also recently […]

Profit By Hacking The Law

Corporations in the high-tech industry spend millions of dollars every year in Washington, D.C.  That money is spent on influencing politicians to change the laws that affect those companies’ agendas.  Big corporations need not be only ones to profit from public policy, though.  Businesses of all sizes can hack potential growth simply by paying attention […]

PG on Fundraising Inefficiency, YC Stats

Paul Graham recently interviewed with TechCrunch’s Ryan Lawler at the PreMoney Conference.  The discussion focused on the current inefficiency in Series A fundraising, including a possible solution.  Mr. Graham also mentioned the current state of Y Combinator and provided updated amounts regarding its portfolio.

Y Combinator Gains Five New Partners, IPO Experience

Y Combinator has added four new part-time partners, one new full-time partner, and a full-time partner is reducing his role to part-time.  That’s all according to a post on the official Y Combinator blog at Posthaven.  Three of these new advisors have previously founded YC-funded startups.  One of the new advisors is the first YC […]

Y Combinator’s Universe

Y Combinator’s universe is more vast than you might initially think.  There’s Y Combinator itself, consisting of at least 14 partners and advisors.  Paul Graham inherently means YC’s universe includes the Lisp programming language and Arc dialect.  The other partners are also all interesting characters, like Robert T. Morris and the Gmail creator, Paul “Don’t Be Evil” […]

Companies

General Description
Airbnb
  • Batch: ycw09
  • Location: San Francisco
  • CrunchBase: airbnb
  • Hacker News: brianchesky
  • Status: live
  • Market: travel-related services
Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique spaces around the world online or from an iPhone device. Whether the available space is a castle for a night, a sailboat for a week, or an apartment for a month, Airbnb is the easiest way for people to showcase these distinctive spaces to an audience of millions. By facilitating bookings and financial transactions, Airbnb makes the process of listing or booking a space effortless and efficient.
RegistryLove
  • Batch: ycs12
  • Location: Cupertino, CA
  • CrunchBase: registrylove
  • Hacker News: n/a
  • Status: live
  • Market:
RegistryLove is the first wedding registry to co-operate with independent retailers & big box stores. RegistryLove lets you register products and services from anywhere & consolidate them all onto ONE registry. From traditional department store items, to local gems you wouldn't find anywhere else, to your dream honeymoon & activities, RegistryLove is a service tailored to you.
RentHop
  • Batch: ycs09
  • Location: New York
  • CrunchBase: n/a
  • Hacker News: n/a
  • Status: live
  • Market: real estate infrastructure
RentHop lets you search NYC apartment rentals for free, no registration required! RentHop provides full landlord addresses and contact information with each listing, no broker fees attached.
Soylent
  • Batch: ycs12
  • Location: San Francisco, CA
  • CrunchBase: soylent-corporation
  • Hacker News: n/a
  • Status: live
  • Market: food products
Soylent is a drink designed as a meal-replacement product. Soylent contains an assortment of carbohydrates, amino acids, proteins and dozens of other vitamins deemed medically necessary for a person to live by the Institute of Medicine. Soylent also has a custom recipe that's been designed through testing process. Soylent is a product of Rosa Labs.