Y-Combinator January 2022
Some of the most innovative ideas are developed in the startup world and become the world’s top companies and products. However, those businesses would not have gotten where they are today without some source of funding to help them get started and develop the ideas.
Y Combinator is an accelerator company that launched in March 2005. The startups launched out of YC, such as Stripe, Airbnb, DoorDash, Instacart, Dropbox, and Twitch, are only a few of nearly 2,000 companies.
In a rapidly growing ecosystem, founders need to be able to focus on building their idea. That is exactly what YC does.
What does YC offer?
The most crucial thing that YC offers is support for startups to develop their ideas. Over three months, the team at Y Combinator will essentially help founders in various things, from long-term planning to what to call their company to connect them with investors.
The program teaches founders to market their product, build their team, refine their business model, achieve product/market fit, and scale the startup into a high-growth business. The program also includes office hours where startup founders meet individually and in groups to share their experiences. Founders also participate in weekly dinners where guests from the ecosystem speak to the founders. The program ends with Demo Day, in which startups present their business to potential investors.
Don’t be misled, those that invest in companies are beyond venture capital firms and seed funds, but also include athletes, actors, angel investment clubs, etc. The recent spike in investors has created a market for startups in general.
In 2021 investment in startups was at $580 billion. Some YC companies get funded well before Demo Day, sometimes even before proven viable. That has created a frenzy within the community of investors desperate to get a ticket to the next big thing, tossing money at companies and sectors in hopes of hitting the lottery. This is partially due to limited investment options in general. But this can be a risk for certain startups. If they take more funding than needed it might lead to subsequent funding. Which can also potentially lead to the acceptance of investments at valuations lower than the initial estimate.
Overall, YC’s focus on founders’ development is significant. Rather than viewing a company based on its business model and replacing the founders, you choose a company based on the founders and help them develop and launch their idea. Passion is the ultimate driver. In recent years the program has become more diverse and a wider reach to both founders and investors. The methodology used by YC has inspired and shifted the way accelerators engage within the ecosystem.
January Journal
- In the third version of its calendar, the Spanish Embassy celebrates Sudanese culture with 12 digital illustrators. The 2022 calendar includes the works of 12 Sudanese artists that will be exhibited from the 3rd to the 10th of February at Savannah Innovation Labs from 5 PM to 8:30 PM.
This exhibition is curated by The Muse multi studios and hosted at Savannah Innovation Labs.
Calendar partners: Mojo Gallery, Savannah Innovation Labs, The Muse multi studios, Zain Sudan.
Accompanying the exhibition is the workshop “2022 calendar illustration workshop” instructed by Spanish duo CACHETEJACK. The participating artists had the opportunity to learn more about the world of illustration, tips and tricks, creating a portfolio, and producing an illustration work for an editorial project. The works produced at the workshop will be part of the exhibition “2022 Calendar: 12 illustrators celebrate Sudanese culture”
Suggestion of the Month
How I Built This with Guy Raz: It’s a series of podcasts that talks with real entrepreneurs building incredible companies. The reason this podcast is so highly recommended is because the stories are engaging and relatable. They share a journey about innovators, entrepreneurs, and idealists and the development they build.