Y Combinator's Future in the Software Slowdown

Y Combinator, the startup accelerator co-founded by Paul Graham in 2005, has helped launch companies including Airbnb, Reddit, DoorDash, Stripe and Twitch, which YC estimates are valued at over $600 billion in total. The article explains that YC combines a venture fund with an education program: it currently invests $125,000 for 7% ownership in each company, and its graduates' prestige helps them attract investors and hires. It also notes that valuations can swing sharply, such as Stripe's cut from $95 billion in 2021 to $50 billion in 2023, and that Graham has argued most equity buyers and sellers are "making big decisions about things they don't understand."