The big news today in the Y Combinator ecosystem is that YC announced a new “standard deal” of $500k for each new startup. This will be structured as a $125k check for 7% equity + $375k check on an uncapped SAFE with an MFN. …

At Rebel Fund, our job is to invest in the top 3–4% startups in each new Y Combinator (YC) batch. To accomplish this, we build what we believe to be the most comprehensive database that exists of YC startups — including over 60,000 data points on ~400 startups in just…

Y Combinator recently published their latest Top Companies list online, listing the top 137 YC portfolio startups in descending order of valuation. The headline statistics are impressively shocking: $300B+ combined valuation 125+ companies valued at $150 million+ 60K+ jobs created Since Rebel Fund’s job is to select and invest in…

When I moved to San Francisco in 2012, it was the place to start a venture-backed technology startup. Everyone knew that Silicon Valley attracted the best software developers, the best entrepreneurs, the best venture capitalists, and all the other A-players necessary for a thriving startup ecosystem. …

At Rebel Fund, one of our ‘unfair advantages’ when it comes to investing in seed-stage Y Combinator startups is a proprietary machine learning algorithm we developed called Rebel Theorem. Developed for Rebel by the brilliant MIT-trained computer scientist Ajay Saini, this algorithm uses machine learning techniques to score and screen…

I’ve long been a fan of Tim Urban’s brilliant blog Wait Buy Why. His recent post A Sick Giant is the latest in a long series on how human individuals and societies process information and make decisions. …

If there’s been a common thread amongst the dozen or so posts that I’ve published related to COVID-19 over the past several months, it’s been that the public perception and policy reaction of this virus has not been at all proportional to its objective threat. …

Today I’d like to explore some statistics around potential COVID-19 fatalities and the various ways that Americans typically die. This can help us understand exactly how afraid we should be of this novel virus at every age. As anyone who reads my posts knows, I’m pretty obsessed with quantifying risk…

My family is facing a conundrum. My grandfather is 94 years old and due to strict lockdown policies in his assisted living facility, his quality of life has deteriorated. He’s not allowed to leave the building and can only interact with visitors through a pane of glass. Community meal service…