In some ways, Y Combinator’s biannual Demo Day is somewhat predictable: There will be Stanford dropouts, last-minute pivots, and, as always, promises of near-term profitability. We even made a bingo board about it.
But one thing I can never guess ahead of time is the exact priorities of the season’s batch. Y Combinator stands by the fact that it backs people, not ideas, so its Demo Day technically unveils two things: who the accelerator bet on and what they decided to prioritize. This year was different for myriad reasons. First, YC Summer 2022 is the second batch to receive a $500,000 check instead of $125,000, as part of the accelerator’s expanded check size. Second, the batch was smaller than usual (see previous versions of this column here and here; it’s a different tone altogether) — a narrowing of focus the accelerator says was due to the downturn
Image: Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch
