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A comment on Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC companies, data shows. Parent comment

Re:Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC... by JumpCrisscross on Tuesday November 26, 2024 @09:04AM (#42245842)
> More often than not most of what startups do is not unique

The message is also that if your start-up is based on deep tech moats choose another seed. (Think of YC's home runs. None had an industry secret/IP secret sauce.)

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Re:Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC... by light_triad on Tuesday November 26, 2024 @09:31AM (#42246078)
YC's roots are definitely the software hacker/painter/kill FAANG from a coffee shop type founders, although they've shown that deep tech teams can make interesting progress without years of R&D. Finding investors that get your idea and can help with their network is paramount. YC might not be the best fit in all cases.
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Re:Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC... by jedberg on Tuesday November 26, 2024 @11:13AM (#42246954)
YC has only been investing in deep tech for about a decade, I'm not sure that's long enough for them to have had a home run yet.

For example, Boom Supersonic was founded 10 years ago, and just this summer completed their second test flight. They are scheduled to launch commercial operations in 2029.

Lucid bots was founded in 2018, and just did their Series A to fund their growth of their autonomous drone fleet.

I wouldn't count YC out of the deep tech game just yet.

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Re:Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC... by throwaway2037 on Tuesday November 26, 2024 @09:52PM (#42252454)
What is "deep tech"?
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Re:Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC... by jasfi on Tuesday November 26, 2024 @11:56PM (#42253047)
Things that are difficult to do in tech, e.g. AI/ML that's in-house (not using an API).
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Re:Y Combinator often backs startups that duplicate other YC... by j45 on Tuesday November 26, 2024 @11:08AM (#42246911)
YC is more focused on B2B now, so this will change.
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