YC deadline in <2 weeks; Who's applying?
If you're applying, reply below with what you're building so we can cheer you on!
If you're doing a startup and not applying, why aren't you applying?
If I were starting a company today, I would 100% apply even though I've done it before with @Tandem (S19) for a few key reasons:
The partners help. A lot. (this isn't common. Most people who say they help startups are neutral or harmful)
The network is insane, especially for b2b companies. It will accelerate your G2M like nothing else.
You'll learn what real speed looks like, by grinding alongside the top early stage founders. Every time I talk to a current or recent YC company or go to the events, I'm reminded what top speed looks like. And I'm also reminded that the speed that start-ups are capable of gets faster every year, especially with AI.
As for hesitations...sometimes people balk at the dilution, but generally speaking, the higher price that startups command in their next round at Demo Day more than compensates.
Replies
š Weāre applying!
Tech By Tech Agents: The Global AI Agent Store ā the first curated, specialist-powered AI agent marketplace built in Africa for the world.
Unlike typical AI ābot stores,ā every agent is co-built or validated by real experts (doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc), fully exportable (web, WhatsApp, app, more), and standards-driven (weāre launching TAML: Tech By Tech Agent Markup Language).
We believe the next wave of AI is about trust, jobs, and real-world results.
Building our team, raising, and aiming to set a new global standard for useful AI.
https://www.producthunt.com/products/tech-by-tech-agents-no-more-junk-bots/
https://agents.techbytech.tech/
Product Hunt
@juvenal_lunguenda That's a lot of buzzwords. I'd suggest really distilling what you're building into plain English. Also, how do you know people want this? I've talked to a few marketplaces for agents, and I'm always a bit skeptical. Most people aren't really using agents. So why would people want a marketplace for agents?
Thanks for the nudge! I'm applying, building a B2B platform that simplifies onboarding for remote teams. Your point about speed really resonated. Every time I see YC teams in motion, it's like watching startups on a different gear.
Product Hunt
@brigid_stewart Employee lifecycle software for remote teams seems a little tough to get a foothold on, but so valuable if you do. I'm thinking about the insane trajectory of companies like Deel. I bet @ph_leeanntrang might be interested in what you're building!
Product Hunt
Purposeful Poop
@jonayed_tanjim
Mega nit but your first card is larger than the others!
@catt_marroll thanks man! We just figured it out. Updated š«”
Product Hunt
@jonayed_tanjim I'm not close enough to Webhooks to understand if this is a valuable problem to solve. But if this is a common build vs buy decision, my general feeling is that all of these decisions for Dev/Infra will move towards buy. Do you have customers yet?
@rajiv_ayyangar Yes, we currently have a few customers in our private beta, and weāre onboarding two YC companies soon.
On the problem side: itās a real pain point that surfaces as companies begin to scale. Webhooks often start as a ājust make it workā thing, but quickly become a reliability nightmare when the product demands more attention.
Our mission is simple: Stripeās webhook reliability is legendary. Weāre bringing that level of infrastructure to the 99% of teams who canāt afford to build it in-house.
Just applied! My co-founder and I are ex-AWS and we're building observability tools for LLM-heavy infra. It's early but we believer YC could help us move 3x faster. I used to underestimate the value of the network but you nailed it, for B2B especially, it's rocket fuel.
Product Hunt
@sandhya_kumari_ Observability feels like a space where there's a ton of need but there aren't any outright winners yet. There are some compelling vertically focused tools like @Coval for voice agents.
Product Hunt
@g888 News is such a tricky consumer space, but can be big if done right. I had high hopes for @Artifact . Do you have a sense of what happened to them?
@rajiv_ayyangar Prior to starting this I read a Failory article on how they lost a lot of traction by starting to take a too broad approach and pivoting away from being just a source for news. They became too social-media-esque (if thatās a word) by adding things like user generated content and a more Twitter like feed. Though my take on why Artifact failed is that they were focusing on the wrong audience. They focussed on younger generations (16-21) which is not an audience thatās as much interested in reading the news.
Handit.ai
š Applying with HandIt.ai ā the open-source CI/CD engine for AI.
it detects broken AI behavior instantlyāboth in prod and during PR checksāgenerates and A/Bātests fixes, and opens the PR that puts the patch in prod, so your team stops firefighting and ships truly reliable AI. Already shipping fix PRs for teams running doc-AI and RAG agents ā turning 2 a.m. firefights into self-improving AI.
Pumped to sprint alongside the F25 batch and prove AI can actually look after itself. Happy to swap notes with anyone fighting flaky agents!
Product Hunt
@jramr7 Very cool! I haven't thought too deeply about the space, but it makes sense to me that CI/CD needs would amplify or change as we use more and more AI for development.
Handit.ai
@rajiv_ayyangar 100% you see it today, AI hallucinates all the time, and when you have a chat that's fine, but if you're automating a critical process, you can't allow this kinda stuff. So we built Handit to finally solve this and make AI reliable and accurate!
Product Hunt
@dbul Scheduling is a holy grail problem with a large graveyard. Huge if you can crack it. How well does it actually work?
@rajiv_ayyangar For 1:1 meetings, Ting can handle:
ā¢ Direct booking (e.g. āTing, book me and Guest at 2pm on Tuesdayā)
ā¢ Scheduling (e.g. āTing, find a time with me and Guest next weekā)
ā¢ Rescheduling (e.g. āTing, that time doesnāt work anymoreā - from either side)
ā¢ Canceling (also works from either side)
When both users are on Ting, we unlock a neat network effect: instant booking. No emails needed - Ting syncs server-side and picks the best time based on both calendars and preferences.
Current bugs weāre navigating:
ā¢ Inbox setup edge cases (Gmail only for now)
ā¢ Handling vague replies that trip up the AI
Post-closed beta, weāre focused on:
ā¢ Opt-in memory to reduce user effort and improve preference recall
ā¢ Richer context inputs for smarter, more human scheduling
ā¢ Multi-guest booking (our ācalendar nirvanaā if all users are on Ting)
Weāre launching here next Wednesday - would love your feedback!
Hey š,
Iām applying to YC (Fall 2025).
Iām building Aelya, a vertical AI co-pilot for solo doctors. It auto-writes medical notes, fills forms, and saves hours of admin per day.
Most doctors in Europe waste 2ā3 hours daily on documentation. Aelya gives them that time back without changing tools, and fully GDPR-compliant.
I burned out twice so I know how bad it gets when medicine becomes paperwork. Thatās why Iām building this.
MVP is shipping soon, already talking to potential early users in France.
@axel_brunet This is lovely! I messaged you on LinkedIn to discuss a potential collaboration.
Product Hunt
@axel_brunet Amazing, good luck. This is such an incredibly valuable problem. Sounds like you're building a product for yourself, which is a great way to approach a startup. I don't know how it is in Europe, but in the U.S., building tools for medical professionals often requires some creative solutions for getting into market. How easy is it to get MVPs into the hands of customers?
Giving a second thought to applying to YC with HireCade AI Recruiter https://www.hirecade.com/
A few concerns:
Batch sizes have grown significantly
Multiple batches per year
Original partners like Paul Graham and Michael Seibel are less involved
Support may not feel as personalized as before
Several startups in the same batch often work on similar ideas
Any clarification from recent YC founders would be super helpful! š
Product Hunt
@hirecadeashish
1, 2, 4: Batch sizes have actually shrunk. The attention you get from each partner is higher than it was in the past. They've sharded the batches, smartly.
The caliber of new partners is incredible. I would look into who some of the new partners are. E.g. Dave Lieb made Google Photos (and Bump before that). It's also a huge benefit to start-ups to have partners whose startup experience is a bit more fresh than Paul and Michael, although they are legends.
This has always been the case, and I wouldn't be deterred. You are an orde of magnitude (or two) more likely to die from not finding product-market fit than you are from a competitor killing you.
Product Hunt
@hirecadeashish We had a near competitor in our YC batch, and although we were a bit competitive during the batch, they've since become friends. It turns out your competitors often are the people who see the world the most similarly to you. And if you can navigate that, you can become really good friends.
Why do people still care about YC and venture funding at all? The success rate of building a successful startup is miserableāfounders often trade ~4 years of their youth for the 'experience'. I worked at two VC firms; their business model thrives simply because they have a large number of shots.
@okhlopkov subjective experience, a lot of people I know who have gone on to start their own gigs went to YC just for visibility and it absolutely helped them. Some investors just want that orange badge on your page.
Also people absolutely realize the chance of success is low, but thats regardless of YC for a startup. When you're building alone or in a small team, it's a very small and special class of person (and I mean this in a very positive way) who can wake up and say "this is it".
YC is the hypeman for so many startups, and sometimes people need that to keep going.
----
Second side note, I've seen successful startup founders tell their protege's to apply to YC. Not to get in or anything, but solely as a humbling experience when they don't. There's so many reasons that an institution like YC matters in my opinion, and it's not solely just to have people get in. If thats peoples reasons for applying then yeah, I agree, this isn't the way to go about things.
Will apply for suere :)
Forth application, but now updated with more traction and more clear vision.
Product Hunt
@tsvetan_99 awesome. Good luck!
Hello. Do you think it is worth submitting my project if I am from Ukraine and cannot travel to the United States?
I can't say for sure that my project will be selected, but if it is, would it be possible to collaborate online?
YC has been my dream since 2018, but I am apprehensive š
Product Hunt
@ideaxton I'm not sure. They might have something on their site about it. They also might have some ways of helping you get over here. I think it's worth applying at the very least. The application has a good set of questions to ask yourself about your project.
@rajiv_ayyangar thank you š
Trickle
I've heard so much about YC and often watch YC's YouTube videos. The vibe of building something alongside great mentors and a strong alumni community really excites me.
I do wonder if there might be online batches in the future? I know YC has always been in-person and requires staying together for 3 months, but Iād be thrilled if there were ever a remote option too.
Product Hunt
@victoria_wu You should apply! I think with the community and general vibes of San Francisco, it's well worth moving to SF for three months. Garry in particular has been really intentional and effective at creating community in-person.
Not sure if I will be ready with my product update until then, but if so I will apply for sure.
Thanks for the heads-up!
Product Hunt
@attila_bogozi Apply anyway. Lots of companies get into yc pre-product.
We are applying for YC (Fall 25)!
A solution for you to Deploy resilient, stateful AI agents in a click.
It completely eliminate the traditional DevOps overhead and make deployment 99% faster. In a single click, agent can be deployed using prebuilt Docker image and comes with a dedicated API endpoint, state persistence with auto-recovery, auto-scaling, and built-in observability. It allows devs to focus on building agent's logic and ship fast, not managing complex infrastructure.
We already have open source demo available on our GitHub: Agentainer-lab
If you are interested, sign up early access to get free usage when we release: Agentainer
Any feedbacks would be appreciate!!
Product Hunt
@cywdev ooooh devops for agents. You should launch on PH! I'm not close enough to know what the problems in detail are, but I have a feeling that if it works well, lots of people would use it.
@rajiv_ayyangar Thx, it means a lot to us!! We are currently working on the production version and def have plan to launch on PH once we ready!
I just recorded demo video for our application, if anyone have interest to check out how it works and what it does, here you go: Demo Video (Youtube)
Can I apply from anywhere? working on @ZapDigits from the Netherlands and wondering if its possible to apply from here.
@malithmcrdev Pretty sure you can! YC accept applications from all around the world and many of them already incorporated in their own country. YC Incorporating
Product Hunt
@malithmcrdev You can apply from anywhere. My stats are a bit out of date, but I think at some point half of the companies were international.
Asa.team
Building ASA.team - an AI-powered management tool that we're making synonymous with work, to help you with whatever workplace-related!
Excited to be part of this YC batch! š
Good luck to everyone applying!
Need suggestion here.
We are not sure if we should apply. We are a team of ex-YC founders but don't have a product ready just yet. We are working hard to launch before application deadline. Our concern is that we won't have enough data to talk about it during the interview. We will apply anyway. But what can we do to improve our odds of selection. Any suggestion will help.
We are building Cursor for design - Rustic AI.
Product Hunt
@shashwat_verma2 Yeah, I'd apply anyway. My general thinking is that the number one thing you can do to improve your odds of selection is also the number one thing you can do to make progress on the product. For example, it could be getting early user interviews or de-risking the number one risk.
Thinking to apply with AllForms. It's a 17-in-one business platform fixing SaaS sprawl and overpriced bloatware. From what I understand though, YC seems more likely to accept you with serious traction, so I plan to grow MRR in the next couple weeks.
Someday, hopefullyš¤