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Y Combinator Startup Podcast

Vivian Shen, Gustaf Alströmer

Booking Overview

An interview-led startup and entrepreneurship show focused on company building, founder tactics, scaling, artificial intelligence, and hard tech, with external guests typically including YC partners, startup founders and CEOs, and prominent startup thinkers. Credible pitches include founders with meaningful traction, executives leading innovative technology companies, and established experts in startup strategy, sales, AI, or hard tech; booking difficulty is high because the show is closely tied to Y Combinator and favors notable, highly relevant guests.

Metrics

Episodes: 342

Frequency: Several times a week

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Estimated listeners: 1,000 - 10,000

Gender skew: Male

Listener location: USA

YouTube: 2.4M subscribers

Instagram: 740.0k followers

Contact Information

Publicly listed emails

content@ycombinator.com

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Host

Vivian Shen - Y Combinator Visiting Partner focused on startups and founder development.

Gustaf Alströmer - Y Combinator partner and startup operator.

Booking Intelligence

Booking Requirements

high
Typical Credentials:  
Startup founders and CEOs with meaningful company traction, Y Combinator partners and alumni, and recognized operators or experts with direct experience in entrepreneurship, AI, sales, software, or hard tech.
Required Achievements:  
Founded or led a venture-backed startup, Built and scaled a notable technology company, Developed widely used AI, software, or hard-tech products, Demonstrated significant revenue, adoption, or technical milestones

Recent Guest Discussions

Christina Gilbert - Outbound Sales, Customer Targeting, Founder-led Sales, Outreach Messaging, Follow-up, And Improving Reply Rates.

Jeffrey Morgan - Open AI Models, Coding Agents, Falling Model Costs, AI Adoption, And Building Ollama.

Paul Graham - Startups, Ambition, Artificial Intelligence, And The Qualities Of Great Founders.

Anders Forslund - Electric Aircraft, Hard-tech Company Building, Aviation Innovation, And Scaling From Prototypes To Full-scale Flight.

Recent Topics

Business, Entrepreneurship, Startup Strategy, Artificial Intelligence, Hard Tech

Episodes

Here's the recent few episodes on
Y Combinator Startup Podcast
:

Robot-Use Agents: Why General-Purpose Models May Win in Robotics

September 26, 2026

One of the biggest surprises in AI over the last few years has been how well coding agents generalize beyond software. In a recent essay, MIT professor Philip Isola argued that we may be entering the era of robot-use agents: general-purpose models that can control different robots, write policies, and learn new physical tasks with little or no robot-specific training.In this episode of Decoded, we're joined by the founders of Waddle Labs and RoboCurve, two of the startups whose work helpe...

The State of Startups in 2026

September 18, 2026

YC works with thousands of founders every year, which gives us an early look at how startups are changing. Right now, the shift is striking: startups are moving from bits to atoms, nearly one in five YC companies has a solo founder, and companies are reaching meaningful revenue faster than ever.In this episode of The Lightcone, Garry, Jared, Diana, and Harj dig into what’s driving these changes and what they mean for founders. They discuss how AI is making it possible for smaller teams to tak...

8 Ways To Improve Your Outbound Sales

September 13, 2026

The best outbound starts before you automate anything. Founders need to learn who actually has the problem, what gets their attention, and what makes them reply. YC Visiting Partner Christina Gilbert recommends doing at least your first 100 outreaches by hand so you can learn those things yourself.Drawing from her experience generating and closing millions of dollars through founder-led sales at OneSchema, Christina shares eight ways founders can improve their outbound, from targeting the rig...

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Frequently asked questions

Here's some frequently asked questions for
Y Combinator Startup Podcast
:

How do I get in touch with Y Combinator Startup Podcast?

Y Combinator Startup Podcast is hosted by Vivian Shen and Gustaf Alströmer. Its publicly listed email is content@ycombinator.com. For guest bookings, the host or producer is usually the best person to reach. Podseeker helps you find direct host and producer contacts and pitch from your own inbox.

What is the email for Y Combinator Startup Podcast?

The publicly listed email for Y Combinator Startup Podcast: content@ycombinator.com.

How many listeners does Y Combinator Startup Podcast have?

Podseeker estimates Y Combinator Startup Podcast reaches 1,000 to 10,000 listeners per episode. Only the publisher has exact numbers.

Who is an ideal guest for Y Combinator Startup Podcast?

Y Combinator Startup Podcast typically books industry leaders. Typical guest background: Startup founders and CEOs with meaningful company traction, Y Combinator partners and alumni, and recognized operators or experts with direct experience in entrepreneurship, AI, sales, software, or hard tech. Common among recent guests: Founded or led a venture-backed startup; Built and scaled a notable technology company; Developed widely used AI, software, or hard-tech products. Recent guests include Christina Gilbert, Jeffrey Morgan, and Paul Graham.

How hard is it to get booked on Y Combinator Startup Podcast?

High. It mostly books established leaders in its field.

What topics does Y Combinator Startup Podcast cover?

Recent episodes cover Business, Entrepreneurship, Startup Strategy, Artificial Intelligence, and Hard Tech. Pitch an idea tied to one of these topics and mention a recent episode.

Publicly listed emails

content@ycombinator.com

Looking for the right person? Join Podseeker to find direct host and producer contacts and manage your podcast outreach.

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