solo founders

The talk describes a shift in YC startups toward hard tech, with growth in robotics, industrial manufacturing, defense, semiconductors, photonics, and power. Speakers attribute this to stronger technical founders, advances in AI-assisted research and coding, and renewed investor interest; they also share examples from space, defense, and compute infrastructure. On the software side, they argue that agents doing entire workflows can deliver more value than point solutions or systems that only track work, while data and reinforcement learning environments are becoming businesses in their own right. They also discuss the rise of solo founders and experienced founders, and advise builders to start experimenting with current AI models and coding agents.

Kat Manalac explains how to find a co-founder and when starting solo may make sense. She shares where co-founding teams at high-valuation YC companies and female-founded YC companies met, emphasizing the value of knowing a potential partner’s work and communication style. She describes what YC looks for in a team: complementary skills, clear communication, and evidence that the founders have worked together over time. She also recommends equal equity splits so co-founders feel equally invested for the long term.