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Founder Stories: Rishi Choudhary
Y Combinator· 2025-11-16 18:36
My name is Rishi Chadri. I'm the founder and CEO of Castle AI. Castle builds voice AI agents for large banks and mortgage lenders to automate phone calls.Things are going pretty well and we actually work with three of the top 25 servicesers in the country. My life has completely changed. Uh post YC, preyc I was just like working a regular 9 toive job.You know, I always thought like corporate America is going to be like this exciting thing that I get to like, you know, build and constantly ship new products. ...
Founder Stories: Saurav Kumar
Y Combinator· 2025-11-10 02:56
Company Overview - Fleet Line aims to boost client revenue by 20% through graph algorithms designed for better truck positioning based on future demand [1] - Fleet Line has secured multiple six-figure contracts [2] - Fleet Line completed a $4 million seed round [2] Founder & YC Impact - The founder, Sarv Kumar, graduated with a CS and statistics degree [1] - YC significantly influenced the founder's risk tolerance and ability to navigate the constantly changing environment of being a founder [3] - YC helps refine ideas by combining the founder's strengths with market needs [4]
Founder Stories: Rishi Choudhary
Y Combinator· 2025-11-09 16:34
My name is Rishi Chadri. I'm the founder and CEO of Castle AI. Castle builds voice AI agents for large banks and mortgage lenders to automate phone calls.Things are going pretty well. We recently crossed seven figures in revenue and we actually work with three of the top 25 servicesers in the country. My life has completely changed uh post YC.Preyc I was just like working a regular 9 toive job. You know, I always thought like corporate America is going to be like this exciting thing that I get to like, you ...
How To Recruit The Best Engineers And Sales Reps
Y Combinator· 2025-11-07 17:58
Hiring Strategy - Early-stage startups need to focus on selling their company to potential hires, not just interviewing [1] - Great candidates prioritize what the startup can offer them [1] - Effective outreach is crucial for getting replies from top engineering and sales talent [1] - Startups should prioritize selling the company during interviews before assessing candidates [1] - Closing hires quickly is essential, even when competing with Big Tech [1] Key Considerations - First hires are critical for a startup's success [1] - Startups should understand what top talent actually wants [1] - Founders often make common mistakes during the hiring process [1] - Knowing when and how to hire a recruiter is important [1]
Founder Stories: Priya Khandelwal
Y Combinator· 2025-11-07 00:19
I'm Priya Kandoal. I'm the co-founder and CEO of Nixo. We help AI companies get SAS level margins from custom deployments and services work.Just a few months ago, I was a student at Stanford University. I was doing AI research in labs and now I'm a founder running a company that's powering so many AI companies across SF and honestly the world. YC changed the trajectory of my company and also my personal journey as a founder.All of our customers are AI startups and when you have a community of the top AI com ...
Founder Stories: Pablo Hansen
Y Combinator· 2025-11-05 23:57
I'm Pablo Hansen and the company I'm building is Keystone. Keystone is a modern bug triage platform. So, we find all sources of bugs in your product, consolidate them, and we give you a first pass fix.Last year, I was just wrapping up a master's degree in AI. So, I was a new grad, and now I've turned down acquisition offers worth eight figures, and raised more than $5 million to build during the most exciting technological revolution that mankind has ever seen. YC has definitely changed my life.I mean, they ...
From dorm rooms to million-dollar companies
Y Combinator· 2025-11-03 18:04
Just a couple months ago, I was still a CS student at Princeton heading into my senior year. >> I was studying CS and statistics. I was just wrapping up a master's degree in AI. >> I was just like working a regular 9 to5 job. >> I was a student at Stanford University.Now I'm a founder of 11 million company. >> I've turned down acquisition offers worth eight figures and raised more than $5 million. I get to like work directly with the executives of large banks and help them shape their AI journey.>> Pretty d ...
Don't Just Check Off Boxes
Y Combinator· 2025-10-29 23:18
Career Advice - Focus on pursuing interests and collaborating with respected individuals [1] - Prioritize long-term projects over simply "checking boxes," especially for those in school [1]
The Hard Part About Being Contrarian
Y Combinator· 2025-10-24 18:59
When open AI launched, it got mostly negative press. There were some people like a small like group of like techno optimist people who thought it was really cool, but by and large most people especially the AI researcher establishment in academia and in other companies mostly just like was extremely negative on the idea that a bunch of like >> 20 and 30 Yeah. could create AGI.They're like, you know, we're the experts in this. We've been doing this for like 50 years. If there was a way to do it, we would hav ...
The Line Between Software and Service
Y Combinator· 2025-10-20 20:31
Industry Trends - The legal software industry is experiencing a blurring line between software and service offerings [1] - Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly evolving, necessitating continuous adaptation within the legal software sector [1] Strategic Direction - Category leaders in the legal software space should serve as strategic partners to large firms, guiding them through significant transitions [2] - The company has scaled headcount rapidly while maintaining culture, urgency, and velocity [2]