YCombinator News on LinkedIn

"He builds like an operator, thinks like an architect, and executes like an athlete." Proud Moroccan tech entrepreneur, Ismael Belkhayat is building at the intersection of ambition, endurance, and continental transformation. As the Founder & CEO of Chari—an e-commerce and fintech platform serving retailers across Francophone Africa—and a Y Combinator S21 alumnus, he represents a new wave of builders redefining how traditional retail systems operate across emerging markets. His journey is shaped by both elite global training and real-world execution, drawing from experiences at Y Combinator, Boston Consulting Group, and Cornell University. As an Endeavor Entrepreneur and member of Young Presidents' Organization, he operates within a global network of leaders while staying deeply committed to Africa’s digital and economic acceleration. Recognized among the Choiseul 100 Africa and part of the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance, Ismael embodies a builder’s mindset rooted in resilience and scale. His approach to entrepreneurship mirrors endurance sport—long-term, disciplined, and mentally relentless—turning complex market challenges into structured, scalable systems that empower thousands of retailers. Driven by execution over theory, he focuses on building infrastructure where informal economies meet digital efficiency. Through Chari, he is not just creating a company—he is helping reshape how commerce flows across Francophone Africa, one retailer at a time. #IsmaelBelkhayat #Chari #YCAlumni #YCombinator #StartupFounder #TechEntrepreneur #Fintech #Ecommerce #RetailInnovation #AfricanStartups #FrancophoneAfrica #StartupEcosystem #DigitalTransformation #MarketInfrastructure #BusinessInnovation #ScaleUps #Entrepreneurship #StartupLife #EndeavorEntrepreneur #YPO #Choiseul100Africa #Harambean #MoroccanEntrepreneur #TechLeadership #BuildingInAfri

Submitted my second Y Combinator application. Summer 2026 batch. GITEX in Almaty kicks off today. The morning session is closed-door, government delegations and ministry officials only. Strategies, roadmaps, panels. I'm not in that room. I'm in another one. Talking to customers. Building product. Filing applications. Whatever YC decides, the work continues tomorrow. Keep moving forward. #YCombinator #AgenticAI #ProjectManagement #Founders #AgestaAI

We’re not just building a startup we’re redefining how culture is experienced globally. I’ve been accepted into Y Combinator’s Startup School with Endebeto. Endebeto exists to shift cultural tourism from packaged, surface-level experiences to something real — where travelers connect directly with local communities and host families, and culture is shared by its true owners. The long-term vision is bigger: make authentic cultural experiences from Ethiopia accessible to the world, while creating sustainable economic opportunities at the community level. First, I thank God for the discipline, resilience, and grace that brought me here. Now, the focus is execution — refining the product, scaling the vision, and building something that truly matters. We’re just getting started. #YCombinator #StartupSchool #Endebeto #BuildInPublic #Startups #AfricanStartups #TravelTech #CulturalTourism #Innovation #Founders #Vision

#BeyondTheClassroomIISU Before you decide your career… watch this. Y Combinator — ever heard of it? Most students haven’t. But it has helped build companies like Airbnb, Stripe, and even Indian startups like Meesho and Groww. In simple words: YC is where ideas turn into real companies.  Start here (free lecture): Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup (by Sam Altman & Dustin Moskovitz) https://lnkd.in/gcBaAUJD Why this matters: This one video explains what most degrees don’t— how to think, build, and solve real problems.  If you’re a student and even slightly curious about startups, this is your starting point. Watch it. You’ll not think the same again. #YCombinator #StartupLearning #StudentFounders #ThinkDifferent #IISUKIRTI jhalaTisha MittalHiya SainiSoumya Ajmerapayal nehraPayal SainiKRATI DHUPIYAJigyasa GuptaTamiksha SharmaManavi SharmaDiksha ChoudharyDr. Varsha ChoudharyDAKSHA PATHAKShubendu MukherjeeSHUBHITA MATHURCA Priya Jain

Today’s the last chance to apply for Y Combinator - Summer 2026 batch. Deadline: May 5th, 8:30 AM IST (May 4th, 8:00 PM PDT) If you’ve been thinking about applying, this might be the moment to just go for it. You don’t need everything figured out. All you really need is a strong idea and the willingness to try. Who knows what might click? Sometimes, taking that one step is what changes everything. If it’s been on your mind, just go for it. Worst case? You learn something valuable. Best case? It could completely change your journey. https://lnkd.in/gwUEHaNZ #Ycombinator #summarbatch2026 #YC #bhavyasreevadlamudi

I compared Y Combinator’s SAFE template with Nigerian law. What I found surprised me. Several clauses that look perfectly fine on paper… start to break the moment you apply them in Nigeria. And most founders never notice this — until much later. Here are a few examples. The governing law clause. The template says it’s governed by Delaware law. But in reality, a Nigerian court will still look at it through Nigerian legal principles. So you think you’re operating under US law… When you’re not. --- Then there’s equity. The SAFE refers to “preferred stock.” But under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, what we actually have are preference shares — and they don’t behave exactly the same way. That difference matters when conversion happens. --- Valuation caps? Simple in theory. But once you factor in Nigerian share premium rules, the accounting and structuring become more nuanced than most templates assume. --- Even clauses like “Most Favoured Nation” or liquidation priority can quietly conflict with how Nigerian law treats shareholders and winding-up processes. And dispute resolution? Many templates default to California arbitration. Which sounds fine… Until you try to enforce it locally. --- None of these issues look obvious at the start. That’s the real problem. On day one, everything feels simple. 18 months later — when it’s time to convert, raise a new round, or resolve a disagreement — the cracks start to show. I’ve seen founders save a few hundred thousand naira using a free template… And then spend millions trying to fix the structure later. So the issue isn’t SAFE itself. It’s using it without adapting it to the Nigerian legal environment. Because once you bring in frameworks like the Investment and Securities Act 2025, things stop being “simple agreements” very quickly. My rule of thumb: If you’re raising serious money, your documents should match your jurisdiction. Not just the internet. Next, I’ll answer the question most founders eventually ask: Should Nigerian startups even use SAFE at all or is there a better alternative? Curious: Have you ever reviewed a SAFE closely… or just trusted the template? #StartupLaw #YCombinator #SAFE #CapTable #NigerianStartups

Big news for founders 🚀: Most startup ideas don’t fail because they’re bad they fail because no one stress-tests them before spending months building the wrong thing. After reviewing thousands of Y Combinator applications, Paul Graham can spot winning ideas in minutes. The best part? You can now apply that same exact framework to your own idea using Claude. This is a game-changer. These five prompts walk you step-by-step through a full startup evaluation using Anthropic Claude 1. Problem Reality Check: “Act like a skeptical startup investor. Is the problem I’m solving actually real and painful, or am I overestimating it? Who specifically feels this pain, how often, and what are they doing today instead?” --- 2. User & Urgency Test: “Break down my ideal customer. Who are they in concrete terms, and why would they “urgently” need this solution right now instead of later or never?” --- 3. Competition Mapping: “List all existing alternatives to my idea including indirect ones. What solutions are people currently using (even if it’s spreadsheets or manual work), and why might they stick with them instead of switching?” --- 4. First 10 Customers Plan: “Give me a scrappy, step-by-step plan to get my first 10 paying customers without ads. Be specific about where to find them, how to reach out, and what to say.” --- 5. MVP Scope & Speed Test: “Design the simplest possible MVP I can build and launch in 2 weeks. What features should I include (and exclude), and how do I validate demand before fully building it?” #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Founders #StartupIdeas #BuildInPublic #IndieHackers #MVP #AI #Claude #YCombinator

Berkeley AI-Native Hackathon — May 9, 3 PM Together with HKN at Cal, we’re bringing students and industry builders into the same room to build something AI-native. 🐻Open to students + builders 🐻No experience required — with today’s AI tools, everyone’s perspective is valuable and buildable. Come and join us: 🔸$3,000+ in cash and credit prizes 🔸Mentors and sponsors from startups, Y Combinator and Google DeepMind — in the room with you 🔸AI-native demos and workshops before you start 🔸For students: internship + full-time opportunities (recruiters on site) A room full of people who’d rather ship than talk about shipping Thank you to our sponsors for helping us become more AI-native Entelligence.AI InsForge Klarity Health and Zeabur Come solo or bring a team — we’ll match you if needed. → Apply here: https://luma.com/7i8crpqz Spots are limited. Please sign up We believe building with people is how you actually connect and learn. Come build, learn, and connect. #AI #Hackathon #YCombinator #DeepMind #Berkeley #BuildersWelcome

Thrilled to take home 🥈 in the Y Combinator Voice Agents Hackathon B2B track! But more importantly: we built something that solves a massive, real-world headache for firefighters. The Problem: Pre-incident building inspections are a manual nightmare. Firefighters have to juggle clipboards and cameras in basements, stairwells, and corridors—usually with zero WiFi. Troy Gunawardene went above and beyond and connected us with multiple fire fighters so that we focused on a real need. Once we were set on our use case, the Cactus (YC S25) and Google DeepMind Gemma team made the code base seamless to build on. Over the weekend, we built FireSight 🔥, a local, multimodal voice agent integrated with Meta glasses. Firefighters can now finish pre-incident inspections like a breeze, even in basements or narrow corridors with zero WiFi, no longer needing to juggle clipboards and cameras. Why it’s a game-changer: ✋ 100% Hands-Free: Voice reporting keeps eyes on the environment, not a screen. 📡 100% WiFi-Free: Powered by Gemma 4 and Cactus to run entirely on-device (crucial for those signal-dead zones). 👁️ Multimodal Context: Captures and analyzes photos via smart glasses to automate data entry in real-time. Huge shoutout to the team for the 24-hour hustle: Troy Gunawardene, Ifeoluwa Oyetimehin, Arjun Chidambaram. Special thanks to Henry Ndubuaku for hosting! Question for the builders: What do you want to build with a local open-sourced model? Let’s brainstorm in the comments. ⬇️ (Demo link in the first comment!) #Gemma #YCombinator #AgenticAI #OnDeviceAI #FireSight #BuildInPublic #MultimodelAgent #VoiceAgent

Y Combinator'ga arizamni yubordim. G'oya - NURA. Bu NIR spektroskopiya qurilmasi bo'lib, dori haqiqiy yoki soxtaligini soniyalar ichida, dorixonada bevosita aniqlab beradi. Muammo dolzarb: O'zbekiston dori-darmonlarining 70% dan ortig'ini import qiladi. Namunaviy tekshiruvlarda ~12% dorilar sifat talablariga javob bermagan. Aksariyat dorixonalarda yagona sifat nazorati farmatsevtning ko'zi. Hech qanday qurilma yo'q. Hech qanday ma'lumot yo'q. Faqat ishonch. I just submitted my application to Y Combinator. The idea is NURA - a NIR spectroscopy device that tells you in seconds whether a pill is authentic or counterfeit, at the point of dispensing. The problem is real: Uzbekistan imports over 70% of its pharmaceuticals, ~12% of sampled drugs fail quality standards, and at most pharmacies the only quality check is a pharmacist's eyes. No instrument. No data. Just trust. #YCombinator #Healthtech #Uzbekistan #CentralAsia

I went to the first-ever Columbia Entrepreneurship Summit in New York City, and it gave me a clear signal: AI is not only rising in San Francisco — it is also rising in New York. The room had around 200 founders, builders, and students. One of the biggest moments for me was seeing Geoff Ralston, President Emeritus of Y Combinator, speaking about entrepreneurship, AI, and how founders should think in this new era. YC helped launch companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, and Coinbase. Hearing this conversation inside Columbia’s founder ecosystem felt very meaningful. As an AI student and founder-minded builder, I see this as part of a bigger shift: New York is no longer only finance, media, and real estate. It is becoming a serious AI and startup city. This is Part 1 of my Columbia Entrepreneurship Summit series. #ColumbiaUniversity #YCombinator #AIStartups #NYCTech #Entrepreneurship

Haithem Kchaou, fondateur de Callab AI (YC P26) at Y Combinator, highlighting his solution on Agentic AI Customer Service, at the TAYP2026 Retreat with EXPRESS FM. #TAYP #AI #YCombinator #Diaspora #TN

Orbital Data Centers: Past the Sci-Fi Phase On Earth, data centers face town-hall revolts, power shortages, and water crises. In orbit: free 24/7 sunlight, vacuum as an ideal radiator, zero zoning bureaucracy. A model that looked like a meme five years ago is now pulling billions. 🇺🇸 USA: first server-class GPU already up there Nvidia- and Y Combinator-backed Starcloud put an Nvidia H100 the first data-center-class GPU in space into orbit in November 2025. By December the satellite was running Google's Gemma model in orbit. Starcloud-2 with Blackwell ships October 2026; commercial access via Crusoe opens early 2027. An FCC filing for 88,000 satellites is in. SpaceX is talking about a million orbital DCs for xAI and Tesla but real unit economics depend on Starship; commercial cadence is targeted for 2028–2029. Google (Project Suncatcher) and Aetherflux aim for 2027. 🇨🇳 China: state-scale Beijing's Orbital Chenguang has secured $8.4B in credit lines from 12 banks, including Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China. The plan: 16 satellites in a dawn-dusk sun-synchronous orbit at 700–800 km, totaling 16 GW of solar power by 2035. In parallel, ADA Space and Zhejiang Lab's Three-Body constellation has 12 satellites flying since May 2025, each carrying an 8B-parameter AI model. Zhongke Tiansuan is testing Aurora 5000 on domestic GPUs. 🇯🇵 Japan: betting on optics NTT and SKY Perfect JSAT, via JV Space Compass, are building the Space Integrated Computing Network-clusters linked by NTT's IOWN optical comms. Deals with Microsoft, Amazon's Project Kuiper, and JAXA are already signed. Three-layer architecture: stratospheric HAPS, LEO, GEO. Industry calendar 2026–2027 demonstrators and first commercial tests 2028–2030 hybrid Earth–orbit integration 2035-gigawatt class Everything hinges on launch costs falling to 200$/kg the threshold Google's November feasibility study identified, projecting Starship at 180$ launches/year by 2035. The first orbital DC IPO is expected in 2027–2028. Winners: GPU and optics makers, heavy-lift operators, thermal-radiator specialists. Losers: terrestrial hyperscalers in expensive, NIMBY-heavy regions. OpenAI - Lunar Compute "Some thoughts are too big for one planet." In times of global instability, space investments are emerging as one of the most resilient opportunities. #SpaceX #BlueOrigin #RocketLab #RelativitySpace #VastSpace #VardaSpace #AxiomSpace #Astroscale #LandSpace #SpacePioneer #Starcloud #Aetherflux #LonestarDataHoldings #OrbitalChenguang #ADASpace #SpaceCompass #NTT #SkyPerfectJSAT #Nvidia #Google #Microsoft #AWS #Amazon #Crusoe #xAI #Tesla #OpenAI #Anthropic #ElonMusk #JeffBezos #PhilipJohnston #BaijuBhatt #DelianAsparouhov #PeterThiel #SamAltman #JensenHuang #SundarPichai #SatyaNadella #AndyJassy #OrbitalDataCenters #SpaceDC #Starship #Blackwell #Kuiper #ProjectSuncatcher #IOWN #FoundersFund #Benchmark #YCombinator #AI #DataCenters #SpaceTech #SpaceEconomy

MURP from Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, University of Michigan College. 🎓 Great to be back in AA and sneak into this year's stage walk. Taubman built me the exact convication needed to join the startup world. First from Taubman into Y Combinator. Co-founded AutoSitu (YC W26), AI that QAs your submittal before you submit. Michigan showed me everything. The work is just getting started. 🏙️ Architects, developers, if resubmittals and uncertain risks are eating your schedule, that's the problem we're built for. Let's talk. GO BLUE 💛 💙 #UrbanPlanning #Architecture #Taubman #UMich #UrbanDesign #YCombinator #MURP

Y Combinator just put a sharper point on it: the next wave of AI startups won't sell software tools — they'll deliver AI-native services. The math behind that thesis is hard to argue with. Software, globally: ~$800B. Professional Services, globally: ~$6.4T. ~8x larger. Legal alone — $1T+ — is bigger than all of software combined. Most of that work is already outsourced. It's sitting in spreadsheets, email threads, and billable-hour timesheets — wide open for AI to take end-to-end. That's the bet behind Tap&Tell AI. And today I'm thrilled to share we've partnered with Parthenon Law to put it into market: an integrated, AI-native legal experience for founders. The simple version. Software handles what should never have been billed by the hour — intake, matter intelligence, jurisdiction-aware drafting, the long tail of document production. All powered by an orchestrated mix of GPT, Claude, and Gemini, grounded in proprietary legal data and retrieval systems to minimize hallucinations — running within a secure, privacy-first architecture with strict data controls. Outputs that are traceable, auditable, and built for real legal work. Parthenon's licensed attorneys handle the judgment that actually requires a lawyer. Coverage is what we shipped at launch — startup law and immigration (with patent in the pipeline) — sharpened around founder workflows. The bigger picture: AI-native law firms are a new category, not just a new product. Tap&Tell AI is to be the infra underneath them — the modern legal stack that lets boutique and sharp firms operate at the scope of a large one. Parthenon Law is the first and there will be more. If you're a founder or building a technical team and want legal that moves at your pace — let's talk 🚀 #LegalAI #AccessToJustice #LegalTech #AINative #Startups #YCombinator

For years, I’ve been fascinated by the mechanics of building great companies. I spent countless hours watching the early Y Combinator application videos of giants like DoorDash, and taking detailed notes from Sam Altman’s startup lectures, always envisioning the day I would be on the other side of the camera. Today, that day has finally arrived. I am incredibly proud to share that we have officially submitted our Y Combinator Summer 2026 application for Thresholdai.tech. We are building a Multi-Agent System (MAS) to transform mass production plants into fully autonomous, waste-free environments. Manufacturing is a massive industry, and we are bringing the next level of intelligence to the factory floor to make series production smarter and more efficient than ever before. But the best part of this journey isn't just what we are building it's the people I get to build it with. A massive shoutout to my brilliant co-founders, Ali Andaç Erdaş and Yusuf asım Eren. There is no one else I’d rather be in the trenches with. I’ve attached our pitch video. The application is in, and we are ready for whatever comes next. Wish us luck! Y Combinator #YCombinator #StartupJourney #Founders #ManufacturingTech #MultiAgentSystems #ThresholdAI #ArtificialIntelligence #YCS26

When established prototyping companies dream of solving the exact problem you are actively fixing... what other validation do you need? ​Philip Tsao (Founder at Ember Prototypes) just defined "Zero post-processing" as a dream for resin printing. At Ficta3D, we define it as our standard. ​A few days ago, Yotam Rosenbaum (YC) posted about how the real competitive edge today is tackling "operational pain". I left a comment suggesting that maybe the real moat is shifting back to atoms and hardware to solve this physical pain, and got a clap reaction from him. ​Now, seeing Philip's post proves the point: the industry’s biggest operational bottleneck is still wide open and we got it right. Doesn't matter if you're a small miniatures 3D printing lab or a well established prototyping company. We all suffer the same pain: the messy, manual post-processing that kills scaling. ​While others treat this as a dream, we are building it and protecting it with patents. ​How does this defensibility compare to a software moat that can be replicated in 24 hours? It doesn't. You cannot copy physical execution. ​This is exactly why we applied to Y Combinator Our Ficta O project is the direct answer to their Request for Startups on "Hardware Supply Chain". We are enabling rapid hardware iteration and tightly integrating manufacturing by killing the manual OPEX bottleneck. ​And we are doing it with a patented technology developed with the cash flow from our own D2C printing service. We suffered (and are suffering) the industry pain on our skin, so we decided to solve it, for us and for everybody else. ​Hardware is hard. Hard to build. Harder to copy. 💪🏻 ​#3DPrinting #AdditiveManufacturing #YCombinator #Deeptech #hardtech #hardware

Organizing an event in Nigeria shouldn't be a chaotic feat. If you’ve ever planned an event here, you know the struggle. There is a massive disconnect between event hosts and vendors. You spend days on calls, chasing hall managers, and dealing with fragmented pricing. ​It’s an industry worth $10.67 billion today, projected to grow to $27 billion by 2035—yet there is no central infrastructure to manage it. ​That’s why we’re building Rentify Events. ​We are Nigeria’s first dedicated event marketplace, designed to bring every vendor you need—from halls to equipment—into one seamless platform. We’re turning "chaotic" into "simple." ​Where we are now: ​ Beta Phase: We are currently live with testing. ​ Vendor Growth: We are already onboarding our first 100 vendors to ensure high-quality options for our users. ​ The Vision: We recently applied to Y Combinator to help us scale this vision and move even faster. ​This isn't a solo mission. I’m incredibly proud of the team behind this: owen osayi, Elishama Iyawe, and Oluwaseun Babalola. We’ve been heads-down building, and we’re ready to change how Nigeria celebrates. ​Want to see how we’re changing the game? Drop a comment below if you’ve ever dealt with the stress of event planning—we’re building this for you. ​#Rentify #EventsNG #StartupNigeria #YCombinator #BuildInPublic #EventTech

AI agents are no longer the future — they’re already here. But there’s a problem we’re not talking about enough: How do you trust them? Today, AI agents can act, decide, and interact — but they don’t have a native way to prove who they are. That’s the gap I’ve been working on solving. Over the past months, I’ve built a trust infrastructure for AI agents — think of it like what HTTPS did for the web. → Every AI agent gets a cryptographic identity → Every interaction can be verified and trusted → Every system can know who it’s dealing with In simple terms: We’re giving AI agents the equivalent of an SSL certificate. The result? A foundation for a safer, more accountable AI ecosystem — across businesses, platforms, and applications. The system is already live and working, and I’ve successfully deployed a functional demo. I’ve also submitted this project to the next batch at Y Combinator — excited to see where that goes. Right now, I’m looking to connect with: - Founders building with AI - Cybersecurity experts - Investors interested in AI infrastructure - Anyone thinking seriously about trust in AI If this resonates, let’s connect or start a conversation. The next layer of the internet isn’t just intelligent — it needs to be trustworthy. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #CyberSecurity #TrustInfrastructure #AIInfrastructure #Startups #Founders #TechInnovation #MachineLearning #DigitalIdentity #Security #YC #YCombinator #FutureOfAI

Attended India's first Y Combinator Startup School a couple of weeks ago in Bangalore! 25,000 applied. 2,000 got in. Glad I was one of them. Met some of India's most cracked builders and founders working in AI and made many great friends who are pushing the frontier. Got $25k+ in credits as well. #YCombinator #Startups