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☆ The man who led Google Photos to 1 billion users is now the newest group partner at Y Combinator
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Lieb, having a background in semiconductors and not server management, reached out to his fellow Y Combinator founders for support. After a year and a half of advising at the accelerator, he's stepping up as a group partner, Y Combinator tells Business Insider exclusively. It was never released, but many of the ideas would later come back in the form of Google Photos. From there, he reached into the Y Combinator alumni network to find other promising upstarts. David Lieb, second from left, speaks to a group of Y Combinator founders.

Persons: David Lieb, Lieb, Alex Polvi, Combinator —, Garry Tan, Jared Friedman, Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel, Sam Altman, it's, Y Combinator, " Lieb, Dan Lieb, Y, Xoogler, Patrick, John Collison's, Mixpanel, Jake Mintz, Forbes, Kevin Systrom, Flock, Andy Huibers, Mary, 72m2YgJZq8 — David Lieb, Ryan Peterson, He's Organizations: Apple, Business, Investors, Google Locations: Cloudkick, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Flexport

☆ San Francisco’s ‘Twitter Menace’ or True Believer? He Might Be Both.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Heather Knight | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Under cathedral ceilings and soaring stained glass windows, Garry Tan clutched a microphone as he greeted a crowd of political centrists, including San Francisco’s mayor, local prosecutors and police brass. “Welcome to the church of turning San Francisco around!” said Mr. Tan at a fund-raiser he was hosting for local Asian American female political candidates just days before the Super Tuesday elections this month. For a man evangelizing for change in San Francisco, owning a condo that used to be part of a church comes in handy. Last year, he scooped up the $3.95 million space near the city’s palm-tree-studded Dolores Park to hold events like this one — events he hopes will shift San Francisco from its idealistic progressivism toward nuts-and-bolts centrism. Mr. Tan’s day job is chief executive of Y Combinator, the accelerator for tech start-ups that has helped create household names including Airbnb, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart and Reddit.

Persons: Garry Tan clutched, ”, Tan, Y Organizations: Francisco’s Locations: San Francisco, Dolores, Francisco

☆ Mathilde Collin built a $1.7 billion email startup by the time she was 32. She's now stepping back at an inflection point for Front.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

And so last fall, Collin kicked off a search for a new board director, to fill in her knowledge gaps. Now, Collin says she will step down as chief executive of Front after her hunt for a board director took an unexpected turn. She will move into an executive chair role on April 15, when O'Connell takes up the mantle as chief executive, Front tells Business Insider exclusively. Known for her sharp wit and radical candor, Collin started the business out of college in her native France. Advertisement"We're at a scale now where the CEO can't come in and sort of wave the proverbial magic wand and make things happen," said Mohammed Attar, Front's chief product officer.

Persons: Mathilde Collin, Collin, Dan O'Connell, O'Connell, Garry Tan, Paul Buchheit, Jack Altman, Kyle Vogt, Cruise, Jeff Lawson, Mohammed Attar, —, Josh Stein, Stein Organizations: Service, Business, Dialpad, Front Locations: San Francisco neighborhood, France, Dialpad

☆ Reddit's co-founder is bickering with investors on the company's big IPO day
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-21 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But Reddit's co-founder took to X to call out a perceived slight by investor Initialized Capital. But it's not all sunshine and roses for Reddit, whose co-founder and early investors are bickering on social media. Alexis Ohanian called out Initialized Capital investors on X after the firm's social media account failed to congratulate him by name on Reddit's IPO. Garry Tan tweeted a congrtulations to both Alexis Ohanian an Steve Huffman on Reddit's IPO. Ohanian, Tan, and representatives for Initialized Capital did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Persons: Reddit, Reddit's, —, it's, Alexis Ohanian, Steve Huffman, Y, Garry Tan —, Ohanian, Tan, Brett Gibson, Jen Wolf, @jenhwolf, George Floyd's, Michael Seibel, Tan's, confidentially, Instacart, Huffman, Garry Tan, Garry Organizations: Service, Twitter, VC, NYSE, New York Stock Exchange

☆ Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan: Reddit going public is a 'boon for all of tech'
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailY Combinator CEO Garry Tan: Reddit going public is a 'boon for all of tech'Garry Tan, Y Combinator CEO, joins 'Closing Bell Overtime' to talk the collapse of SIlicon Valley Bank one year later, the OpenAI board situation, Reddit's IPO and more.

Persons: Garry Tan, Reddit, Y

☆ Exclusive: Ex-Truepill CEO just scored $6 million to help health plans and pharma companies ditch middlemen and work closely with patients
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

He's launched a new company, Foundation Health, to help them do that quickly and at a low cost. Foundation aims to make it easy for insurers to set up their own online pharmacies and pharma companies to sell drugs directly to consumers. "The main focus area for us is to help health plans disintermediate PBMs," Afridi said. Foundation Health wants to help customers ditch big PBMsFoundation's software enables a few different things. Finally, direct-to-consumer health companies can plug into Foundation's technology to power their services, instead of building their own pharmacies and hiring doctors.

Persons: Umar Afridi, disruptors, Afridi, He's, disintermediate, Garry Tan, Y, they've, pocketing, Eli Lilly's, Jack Altman Organizations: California, Cuban, Plus, Business, Foundation Health, Foundation, pharma, Alt, Liquid Ventures, Exceptional, Storm Ventures, PageOne Ventures, Federal Trade Commission Locations: drugmakers

☆ Watch CNBC's full interview with Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWatch CNBC's full interview with Y Combinator CEO Garry TanGarry Tan, Y Combinator CEO, joins 'Closing Bell Overtime' to talk the collapse of SIlicon Valley Bank one year later, the OpenAI board situation, Reddit's IPO and more.

Persons: Y, Garry Tan Garry Tan

☆ A quick explainer on Silicon Valley's newest, controversial philosophy
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It's an old Silicon Valley philosophy packaged anew: Growth without guardrails. Silicon Valley enters the age of e/accAndreessen and other prominent Silicon Valley figures such as Y Combinator president Garry Tan have quietly added the term e/acc to their social media profiles. In his manifesto, Andreessen calls it "techno-optimism." To some extent, it's a repackaging of what Silicon Valley has always peddled — let us build, grow, and make money without limitations. "Techno-optimists believe growth is progress," Andreessen argues, adding that growth is driven by the progress of technology without hindrance.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, —, Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, Andy Warhol, Milton Friedman, Prometheus, Y, Garry Tan, pesky ethicists, Carl, Benedikt Frey, Frey Organizations: Service, Silicon, acc Andreessen, acc, Netscape, Oxford Internet Institute Locations: Silicon Valley, digressions, OpenAI

☆ Web Summit Chief Steps Down Over Israel Remarks
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Michael J. De La Merced | More About Michael J. De La Merced | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The chief executive of Web Summit, one of Europe’s biggest technology conferences, stepped down on Saturday after major sponsors and speakers withdrew from the event, set for next month, following backlash over his public criticism of Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks. “I sincerely apologize again for any hurt I have caused.”A spokeswoman for Web Summit said that the organization aimed to appoint a new chief executive as soon as possible. Web Summit said on Friday that it expected about 70,000 people to attend, about the same as last year. Among those to drop out were Ravi Gupta, a partner at Sequoia Capital, and Garry Tan, the chief executive of the technology incubator Y Combinator. But by Tuesday, he published an apology on Web Summit’s site in which he said he defended “Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself.”

Persons: Paddy Cosgrave, —, ”, “, Cosgrave’s, Ravi Gupta, Garry Tan, Cosgrave Organizations: Web, Google, Intel, Meta, Siemens, Web Summit, Western, Sequoia Capital Locations: Irish, Lisbon, Israel

☆ CEO apologizes for Israel remarks after 4 days of backlash and conference dropouts
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The founder of tech conference Web Summit apologized for "profound hurt" over his Israel remarks. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe founder of European tech conference Web Summit has apologized for the "profound hurt" caused by his comments criticizing the West's support for Israel, which triggered several high-profile withdrawals from the event. AdvertisementAdvertisementGil Dibner, general partner at Angular Ventures, said it was "a time that calls for moral clarity" after canceling his speaking engagement at Web Summit. Dropouts increased, and within 24 hours the number of Israel-based speakers at Web Summit dropped from at least five to zero, according to Insider analysis. Other speakers lined up for Web Summit include Meta's Nick Clegg, as well as comedian Amy Poehler and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Persons: Israel, Paddy Cosgrave, —, I'm, Garry Tan, Ravi Gupta, Cosgrave, State Anthony Blinken, Moshiel Biton, hadn't, Biton, Gil Dibner, Nick Clegg, Amy Poehler, Joseph Gordon, Levitt, Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: Service, Israel, Sequoia Capital, State, Web, Angular Ventures, Web Summit, Hamas, West Bank Locations: Gaza, Hamas, Lisbon, Portugal, Israel

☆ Web Summit CEO apologises for comments on Israeli conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Web Summit Chief Executive and founder Paddy Cosgrave on Tuesday apologised for comments he made on the Israeli-Hamas conflict that prompted some technology companies and investors to withdraw plans to attend its conference in Portugal next month. Web Summit, one of the world's largest tech conferences, will take place in Lisbon from Nov. 13-16, with attendees from companies such as Meta (META.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) to investors such as Atomico. "War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are," wrote Cosgrave, who was born in Ireland. Among executives to have cancelled their participation at Web Summit are AI21 Labs' Ori Goshen; Tome's Keith Peiris; Sequoia Capital partner Ravi Gupta; Yinon Costica, co-founder of Israeli cybersecurity unicorn Wiz; and Y Combinator’s Garry Tan, according to LinkedIn and X posts. Philippe Botteri, CEO of tech investor Accel, said in a LinkedIn post on Monday he would no longer speak at Web Summit.

Persons: Paddy Cosgrave, Cosgrave, I’m, Leo Varadkar's, Israel, Cosgrove, Goshen, Tome's Keith Peiris, Ravi Gupta, Yinon Costica, Y, Garry Tan, Philippe Botteri, Portugal Dor Shapira, Steven Scheer, Supantha Mukherjee, Josephine Mason, Alison Williams, Mark Potter Organizations: Web, Microsoft, Palestinian, Hamas, Irish, AI21 Labs, Sequoia Capital, Thomson Locations: Portugal, Lisbon, Gaza, Israel, Ireland, Jerusalem, Stockholm, London

☆ Tech leaders are pulling out of a CEO's conference over remarks he made about Israel
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are." War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are. Israel's ambassador to Portugal, Dor Shapira, announced Monday that his country would no longer participate in the Web Summit conference as a result of Cosgrave's "outrageous statements." AdvertisementAdvertisement"We are saddened to hear that some Israelis in the tech community will no longer be attending Web Summit," a spokesperson said. "To repeat: War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies & should be called out for what they are," Cosgrave wrote.

Persons: Israel, —, Paddy Cosgrave, I'm, Cosgrave, I’m, — Paddy Cosgrave, Dor Shapira, Shapira, Garry Tan, Y, Goshen, Ravi Gupta, Keith Peiris, Tome, Adam Singolda, David Marcus Organizations: Tech, Service, Web, AI21 Labs, Sequoia, PayPal, Web Summit, Hamas Locations: Europe, Israel, Irish, Lisbon, @paddycosgrave, Portugal, Goshen, Gaza, Palestinian

☆ It's time for companies with strong cash flows to go public, says early Instacart investor Garry Tan
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailIt's time for companies with strong cash flows to go public, says early Instacart investor Garry TanGarry Tan, Y Combinator CEO, joins 'Closing Bell Overtime' to talk Instacart's IPO, what's ahead for the company, Instacart's founder, the IPO market-at-large and more.

Persons: Garry Tan Garry Tan, Y

☆ As Instacart goes public, it's no victory lap for founder Apoorva Mehta
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Mehta was replaced as CEO of Instacart in July 2021 following a messy dispute with some of the company's largest investors. Instacart Founder Apoorva Mehta in his 2003 yearbook photo from Westdale Secondary School. The app started gaining momentum and Mehta put out ads on Craigslist for shoppers to do the grocery runs for him. Whole Foods reportedly broke the news to Mehta and a fellow Instacart executive on an early morning call. In a sworn affidavit, Mehta denies that he misappropriated any trade secrets and says he's since cut ties with Singh.

Persons: Apoorva Mehta, Mehta, Safeway Mehta, Hamilton Public Library Mehta, Bing Gordon, Kleiner Perkins, Gordon, he'd, Garry Tan, Tan, Garry, Andreessen Horowitz, catapulting Mehta, Forbes, Instacart, Mike Moritz, Fidji Simo, Simo, That's, Mehta's, he's, Tejasvi, Singh, Sam Bankman, NextMed, it's Organizations: Instacart, Safeway, Westdale Secondary, Hamilton Public Library, The University of Waterloo, Amazon, NPR, Electronic Arts, YC, TechCrunch, Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Forbes, Foods, Costco, Kroger, Facebook, Sunrise Locations: India, Libya, Hamilton , Ontario, Toronto, Seattle, San Francisco, wallowing, Sequoia, Mehta's, Marin County

☆ VCs don't care as much about Y Combinator's Demo Day anymore
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Y Combinator's Demo Day used to be the hottest in-person early-stage event in Silicon Valley. For early-stage venture capitalists, few days on the calendar used to compare to Y Combinator's biannual Demo Day. "All of the funds try to go meet the best YC companies before Demo Day," the same investor told Insider. When asked about startups raising before Demo Day, Y Combinator president and CEO Garry Tan told Insider in an emailed statement that "lots of the best companies raise at Demo Day and after." "Coinbase, Instacart, Whatnot, Rappi, Airbyte, Retool — you could have gotten into their rounds at Demo Day.

Persons: It's, Erik Bruckner, Y, Garry Tan, it's, Bruckner, They're, Y Combinator, Jeff Weinstein, Combinator, Tan, haven't Organizations: YC, Bruckner Ventures, FJ Labs Locations: Silicon Valley, Columbus , Ohio

☆ Get the lowdown on 'e/acc' — Silicon Valley's favorite obscure theory about progress at all costs, which has been embraced by Marc Andreessen
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

There's a new ideological interest in Silicon Valley: effective accelerationism. It's called effective accelerationism. The more formalized e/acc idea has taken shape on Twitter and through Substack newsletters since 2022. In an e/acc world, no idea that offers hypothetical value should be considered too absurd, too dangerous, too out there to make a reality. But one thing does seem certain: as long as AI remains front and center, so too will effective accelerationism.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, It's, Garry Tan, Sam Bankman, Fried, Michael M, Nick Land, Freeman, ChatGPT, Marc Andreessen's, Tan, Y Organizations: Tech, acc, Morning, Twitter, Getty, University of Warwick Locations: Silicon Valley, British, Francisco

☆ School's out for summer, and if ChatGPT usage is falling because students are off, that's a bad sign for OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

ChatGPT usage recently fell. If that's the reason, it's a bad sign for OpenAI and AI-powered chatbots. ChatGPT usage has fallen. Churn rates, which measure the percentage of users who stop engaging with a service, have also spiked into the 20% range for ChatGPT, according to Bernstein Research. "This idea that if the ChatGPT drop-off is due to students on summer break, that implies a narrower audience and fewer use cases."

Persons: ChatGPT Bernstein, ChatGPT, Mark Shmulik, Bernstein, Shmulik, It's, chatbots, OpenAI, Garry Tan Organizations: Morning, Bernstein Research, ChatGPT Bernstein Research, Microsoft, Enterprise, insider.com Locations: OpenAI, Silicon Valley

☆ Y Combinator CEO on leaving Palantir: 'I'm working like a dog for Peter Thiel... Who's the real chump?'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Will Gendron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan discussed his time at Palantir during its early days at the Axios BFD summit. "I'm working like a dog for Peter Thiel ... Who's the real chump?" He went on to explain that at Palantir he was "working like a dog for Peter Thiel." "I'm working like a dog for Peter Thiel... Who's the real chump?" He returned to Y Combinator as a partner from 2010 to 2015, and as its CEO in January.

☆ Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and other tech execs respond to the fatal stabbing of Cash App creator Bob Lee: 'Violent crime in SF is horrific'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Grace Kay | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Bob Lee's peers and industry leaders wrote social media posts mourning the Cash App creator. At the company, the executive created Cash App, a mobile payment platform. YCombinator CEO Garry Tan called Lee's death a "huge loss for the tech community and for San Francisco." "We do not tolerate these horrific acts of violence in San Francisco," she tweeted. —Brooke Jenkins 謝安宜 (@BrookeJenkinsSF) April 5, 2023The San Francisco police department must conclude its investigation before the DA's office can step in, Randy Quezada, communications director at the San Francisco District Attorney's office, told Insider.

Greg Becker, who was the longtime CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, pictured last year. "Looks like Silicon Valley Bank is in some deep shit," Uncommon Capital general partner Jamie Quint tweeted. Startup founders scrambled to get their funds out of Silicon Valley Bank after its collapse. Andreessen Horowitz announced this week that it will continue banking with Silicon Valley Bank "for the foreseeable future" but is crafting a longer-term plan to diversify. Even so, he added, "I think we'd be supportive, as they stabilize, for them to be one of many partners that our founders bank with."

☆ Tech pressure, Yellen everywhere: How Washington scrambled as SVB collapsed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Yellen heads to the White House, Brainard meets with her staff and holds Zoom calls in her wood-paneled office in the West Wing. Treasury staff hustle to get Yellen on CBS News' "Face the Nation" program on Sunday, in an attempt to reassure markets. White House officials draft news releases with various scenarios, uncertain until shortly before 6 p.m. if an acquisition can still happen. As he leaves Delaware to return to the White House, Biden tells reporters he will make a statement on Monday. Treasury and White House officials reach out to members of Congress and their staffs throughout the evening to explain the plan, with discussions continuing into Monday.

☆ The tech industry avoided an ‘extinction-level event,’ but it’s not unscathed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —For much of the weekend, Silicon Valley scrambled to find a way through what one prominent tech investor described as an “extinction-level event for startups” after the collapse of a top lender in the industry. “You can feel the collective *sigh*,” Ryan Hoover, a tech founder and investor wrote on Twitter Sunday. SVB’s collapse also risks changing how the world, and prospective recruits, think of Silicon Valley. The bank worked with nearly half of all venture-backed tech and healthcare companies in the United States. President Joe Biden emphasized in remarks Monday that “no losses will be borne by the taxpayers” related to the government’s intervention for Silicon Valley Bank.

☆ A Silicon Valley Bank VP, whose grandmother and aunt also worked at the bank, said he's 'heartbroken' for startups affected by its implosion
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A vice president at Silicon Valley Bank said he is "heartbroken" for startups affected by its collapse. JP Giannini said both his grandmother and his aunt had previously worked at the bank. Silicon Valley Bank's implosion on Friday sent shockwaves through the tech sector. Palo Alto-based Giannini said Silicon Valley Bank played an important role in his family for over 30 years, with both his grandmother and aunt also working there. At age 10, Giannini attended company picnics with his grandmother when she was still working at the bank, per Silicon Valley Bank's website.

☆ Y Combinator pulls back from late-stage startup investing to focus on its core accelerator program, and parts ways with 17 employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Y Combinator president Garry Tan announced the accelerator is moving away from late-stage investing. The startup accelerator will also eliminate 17 roles on the late-stage investing team. Known for its early-stage investing focus through its core accelerator program, YC also does late-stage investing. "But late stage investing turned out to be so different from early stage that we found it to be a distraction from our core mission. As part of the restructuring, 17 employees on the late-stage investing teams had their roles eliminated, Tan wrote in the post.

Friday's dramatic failure of the bank, which focuses on tech startups, was the biggest since the 2008 financial crisis. Even small startups are getting in on the action to help others. Aleem Mawani, founder of Streak, a company with about 30 employees, tweeted Friday he would lend his personal cash free of any terms to other small startups worried about paying staff. Some, including Lowercarbon Capital, have offered loans to portfolio companies that have funds stuck at SVB. Gurson estimated "conservatively" that Altman has given more than $1 million to support other startups in similar need.

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