After Listening to This Podcast, You'll Know How to Talk About AI | Summarizing Y Combinator's 260 AI Investments Over the Past Year

十字路口Crossing·May 28, 2024·0·0

We believe the best way to understand an industry is to understand what the people in it are actually doing.

We believe the best way to understand an industry is to understand what the people in that industry are actually doing. So naturally, the best way to understand AI is to understand what the top founders in AI are doing.

One idle afternoon, I reached out to Minghao Zhuang and asked him to do something ambitious with me: a systematic review of the 260+ AI startups Y Combinator had invested in over the past year, recorded as a podcast and video series introducing each one to our audience.

Minghao replied instantly: "Let's do it."

We hit it off immediately and dove right in.

And so came this crossover collaboration between our "Crossing"[1] podcast and the "Tulong Zhishu (The Art of Dragon Slaying)"[2] podcast — which made my entire May incredibly fulfilling, exposing me to an unprecedented volume of input. I felt like a walking LLM.

What is Y Combinator? Why does it matter?

Y Combinator[3] is the most prestigious startup incubator in Silicon Valley, commonly known as YC. Over the past year, YC has invested in more than 260 AI startups. They represent a microcosm of AI entrepreneurship trends in Silicon Valley and worldwide.

This was a podcast marathon, five and a half hours long. The content was deliberately straightforward: Minghao and I went through each of these 260 YC-backed AI companies one by one, visiting their products and websites, trying to understand them, learn from them, and thereby grasp what top AI founders are actually building.

We then distilled this into a refined 50-minute summary podcast. Based on a deck Minghao put together, we conducted a more macro-level statistical analysis of these 260 AI companies, synthesizing our respective observations and perspectives to better help ourselves — and all of you — understand the entrepreneurial trends in AI at this moment.

This is really fun.

Lately, I often think back to myself around 2010. Introduced to the industry by Xing Wang, after two years as a PM for Fanfou and Hainei, I received $1 million in angel funding from Cher, chair of HTC, and started my own startup: the Jiepang App.

I entered this industry. I became one of a group of misfits. I chose to build a startup. Without hesitation, I turned down offers from CMU and two Ivies. I stayed in Wudaokou.

I ate pizza, drank beer, wrote blog posts, scrolled through Twitter, and made friends with people.

Years later, I'm still doing these things.

My mindset has changed considerably (let's set that aside for now), but one thing remains constant: this is really fun.

The best way to understand an industry is to understand what the people in that industry are doing

Understanding what these 260 Y Combinator-backed AI companies are actually doing is a primal impulse.

The best way to understand an industry is to understand what the people in that industry are doing.

I believe that knowing what people who are actually building are doing is far more valuable than reading the news.

Sure, AI has its problems — growth at leading products seems to have hit a ceiling, new application scenarios are struggling to land, monetization models remain uncertain. But these are all fixable.

Since there's already broad consensus that generative AI represents a major direction for future technological development, the question we should be asking right now is: when and through what products and approaches will generative AI lead us into a new era beyond PC internet and mobile internet.

Finding and Uniting Active Builders in the AI Era

At "Crossing," we want to find and unite the active builders of the AI era.

Three quotes have been echoing in my mind lately.

The first comes from over a decade ago. When I first started my company building Jiepang, my desktop wallpaper was:

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. — Computer scientist Alan Kay

The second comes from recently, from Mao Zhu, founder of Duozhuayu:

Criticism always looks clever; building always looks clumsy.

The third comes from early this year, from a WeChat article by my good friend zzh, founder of AAAD, titled How Can a Piece of Clothing Create Happiness?:

In the new year, I hope we can face this turbulent world together, abandon illusions, take positive action, keep our fire alive, and grow wild. With vivid vitality, explore a vast and undefined tomorrow.

Reading through these Y Combinator companies, I've found myself returning to these words again and again.

The road is long, but it shines bright.

Special Thanks to:

Minghao — mentor and friend. Without him, I absolutely. could. not. have. completed. this. project. alone.

Zhitao, "the kid from the mountain valley," and Weizhi — three engineer friends who helped us experience and understand all the tech and infra-related companies.

Product Erjie, whose compilation and publication of this list inspired us to record this podcast.

Join the Crossing Membership Group:

☀️ Daily AI News Brief

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Appendix: Summary Deck

Minghao made the entire deck. I contributed as cheerleader (possibly).

References

[1] Crossing: https://www.xiaoyuzhoufm.com/podcast/60502e253c92d4f62c2a9577

[2] Tulong Zhishu (The Art of Dragon Slaying): https://www.xiaoyuzhoufm.com/podcast/6507bc165c88d2412626b401

[3] Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/

[4] Full Version (5.5 hours): What Are Top AI Founders Building? | A 5-Hour Podcast Breaking Down 260 AI Companies Recently Backed by Y Combinator: https://www.xiaoyuzhoufm.com/episode/663f929eb813c7172b70f390

[5] Summary Version (50 minutes): After Listening to This, You'll Know How to Talk About AI | Summarizing 260 AI Companies Recently Backed by Y Combinator: https://www.xiaoyuzhoufm.com/episode/66532717c59d1e5757c5ee70

[6] Video Part 1: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV11C41177MU/

[7] Video Part 2: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Q1421q7qv/

[8] Complete List of 260 AI Companies Backed by YC: https://thefair.feishu.cn/sheets/Vr3JsXx7QhokSUtACoIcsKE1nnb?sheet=1852c4