Former Y Combinator, a16z consultants maintain invite-only summit for founders
On August 9, the individuals who beforehand ran startup incubator Y Combinator’s occasions and PR, together with a former Andreessen Horowitz social media supervisor, are holding a small, invitation-only occasion, TechCrunch has realized.
The To Do Listing Summit will cap off at 80 early-stage founders and can train them how one can work with the press and run their very own social media, the organizers promise. The price for the occasion is $600.
YC laid off a lot of the of us placing on this occasion between a small layoff a couple of yr in the past and a bigger one in 2023. These layoffs had been stunning on the time as a result of Y Combinator’s occasions have all the time been extremely common and had been a significant drive in making San Francisco the hub for the burgeoning AI startup neighborhood. (In fact, the middle of that universe is YC-affiliated OpenAI, additionally headquartered in San Francisco and run by former YC president Sam Altman).
The individuals placing on this occasion are doing it as a result of they’re appalled at how usually early-stage startups are led to imagine they have to pay tens of 1000’s of {dollars} to rent PR and social media businesses, one individual concerned informed TechCrunch.
Nonetheless, within the wake of startups that routinely go viral, like Cluely, founders really feel pressured to do the identical.
It’s additionally true {that a} single social media publish could make an early-stage startup go viral lately. The founders of app vibe coding startup Rork had been virtually broke when a viral tweet led them to lift $2.8 million and nab a spot in a16z’s Speedrun program. Protection tech startup Theseus landed a contract with the U.S. Particular Forces, $4.3 million in funding, and a spot in YC from a viral X publish.
If the parents behind the brand new occasion may assist YC founders, they imagine they can assist founders who aren’t a part of the famed program — and on a budget with out giving up fairness.