2 days agoOn the rapid internationalization of Y Combinator startupsIn my last post On Y Combinator batch quality at scale we looked at the dramatic increase in the number of YC startups over the years and how batch quality has held up. …Ycombinator3 min read
6 days agoOn Y Combinator batch quality at scaleSince Rebel Fund invests exclusively in Y Combinator startups (with 80 YC startup investments to date) I’m often asked by other investors what I think about YC’s quickly growing batch sizes. …Ycombinator4 min read
Jun 11On portfolio strategy and unicorn catchingIn my previous post On $600B of Y Combinator Startup Success I discussed our analysis of the 271 companies on Y Combinator’s latest Top Companies list, which now total over $600B in value. A recurring theme in our studies of YC startups is just how ‘winners take all’ value creation…Ycombinator5 min read
May 9On $600B of Y Combinator Startup SuccessLast year I published a popular blog post On $300B of Y Combinator Startup Success that analyzed YC’s Top Companies list that year, which included 137 portfolio startups with a combined valuation of over $300B. YC recently published an updated Top Companies list including 271 companies with a combined official…Ycombinator7 min read
Jan 12On the $500k Y Combinator standard dealThe 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. For the unitiated, you can learn…Ycombinator4 min read
Dec 6, 2021On the Y Combinator Summer 2021 batchAt 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…Ycombinator8 min read
Published in The Startup·Jan 26, 2021On $300B of Y Combinator Startup SuccessY 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…Startup7 min read
Nov 6, 2020On the slow erosion of Silicon Valley’s dominanceWhen 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. …Silicon Valley3 min read
Sep 22, 2020On Rebel TheoremAt 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…Ycombinator4 min read
Jul 23, 2020On coronavirus and a sick giantI’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. …Coronavirus5 min read