Business Angels of Slovenia’s Post

Thrilled to announce that I've officially kicked off my journey with Y Combinator - Startup School Online✨! Here's to the exciting ride ahead and the knowledge, connections, and tools that will shape the future of my journey to build my own biz one day🚀💼. #StartupSchoolOnline #YCombinator #entrepreneurshipeducation

At 19, Sam Altman dropped out of Stanford, raised $30 million, and launched Loopt, a pioneering location-based social app. Despite tough competition, Loopt was acquired for $43.4 million in 2012. 🔥 But that was just the start. As president of Y Combinator, he shaped the future of startups, and now, as CEO of OpenAI, he's leading the AI revolution. From dropout to tech titan, Sam Altman’s journey proves the power of vision, resilience, and daring to begin. PS. check out 🔔 for a winning pitch deck the template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel https://lnkd.in/ejp-Bhnu

Hey LinkedIn! Let’s dive deeper into Y Combinator (YC)—the legendary accelerator that has helped launch some of the world’s biggest tech companies. YC isn’t just about funding; it’s about mentorship, community, and a high-speed crash course in startup scaling. With over 4,953 companies backed globally, YC has an incredible network that fosters innovation and growth. Two companies from Either Ethiopia or Ethiopian have made it through this prestigious program. That exclusivity speaks volumes, but it also highlights the massive opportunity for ambitious founders from emerging markets like Ethiopia. YC’s program helps startups refine their product, connect with investors, and join a community that’s raised billions collectively. For Ethiopian founders or those interested in operating here, YC could be the catalyst for turning your ideas into global successes. Let’s aim higher and make more room for African innovation in this prestigious circle! 

Y Combinator & 🇫🇷 French startups - a short story Was checking the French startups in YC's (the world's most renowned startup incubator) latest batch ... A customer chatbot on top of whatsapp, an LLM analytics tool, an AI for sales and two data aggregators. "Where is the deeptech?" I know YC is more catered to SaaS startups but still, it's too bad that France's brightest scientists have no go-to place to build, scale (and distribute) their breakthrough technologies. Especially when we know that the same YC recently published their request for startups ... featuring deeptech predominantly! What's the YC of deeptech? Can there even be a YC for deeptech? Vous avez 4h (as we say in french)

It's finally time to introduce you to the startups in our Acceleration Program! Let’s start with the first one: Vivaio Ventures! 🤖 Within the next few years, the landscape of #brand creation and management is set to become more dynamic and inclusive, thanks to #AI, of course, and to innovative platforms like Vivaio Ventures. As a venture builder co-founded with content creators, Vivaio wants to revolutionize the way brands are developed and scaled. 💪 By centralizing brand #management operations, Vivaio enables #scalability in services and fosters a unified production-side #network. And by leveraging the #creative direction and #communication skills of creators, coupled with rapid market access through community #engagement, Vivaio is crafting a new era of brand building. Discover more about Vivaio, one of the startups that are part of the 9th batch of our Acceleration Program, and how Davide Politi, Edoardo Amman and Guido Aldera have decided to create this startup. Check our new post! ⏬

Last week I pitched my startup Openmart (YC W24) at Y Combinator retreat in front of hundreds of founders and YC partners without preparation. 🌟 Be uncomfortable - Stepping out of my comfort zone was terrifying. I used to shy away from public speaking, letting fear dictate my limits. But not this time. This time, I embraced the discomfort. 💡 Be genuine - Speaking without a net showed me the power of authenticity. It wasn't just about pitching; it was about connecting, sharing a vision, and inspiring others to believe in it too. ✨ Be fearless - Your potential is boundless. Don't let imaginary fears hold you back. Take the leap, speak up, and watch as your ideas take flight. Because when you speak from the heart, the world listens. #ycombinator #yc #founders #founder #startup #courage #inspiration #makeanimpact #cpg #cpgbrands #marketing #seedfunding #ecommerce #publicspeaking #ai #openmart #gpt #openai

Today, we're thrilled to announce Clueso (YC W23)'s $1.4M seed round led by f7 Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator! At Clueso, we’re building the fastest way for companies to create studio-quality product videos and visual documentation for customer education and employee training. Our AI-powered product turns ordinary screen recordings into highly engaging videos and step-by-step articles with screenshots and GIFs. At our last startup, my co-founders Prajwal Prakash, Neel Balar, and I used to spend 2 weeks creating each product video. Over the course of an entire year, we made just 5. Today, with Clueso, some of our customers create 100+ videos every month! A huge thanks to all our amazing investors for believing in us: - Our YC partners Brad Flora, Puneet Kumar. YC changed our lives forever ✨ - Kelly Graziadei, Joanna Lee Shevelenko, Francisca Gilmore-Yulee from f7 Ventures. Y'all are the most supportive bunch of collaborators we could have asked for. - Our first investor Jason Marmon, took a bet on us before anyone else did ❤️ - Our amazing angels Srihari, Jasen, Ravin, Yohann, Avinash, Aditya - Our incredible fellow alumni from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras : Venkatesh Krishnaswamy, Venky Karnam, Akhilesh Koppineni, Srinivasan Seshadri, who are also angel investors. Of course, a huge shoutout also to our earliest customers, many of whom are also angels! They've seen the product grow from its earliest days to where it is today. - Jasen Lew from Glowing.io - Vibhu Jain from CloudEagle.ai - Swabhi Gupta, Gabrial Fancon from vidyo.ai This is just the beginning, and we’re incredibly excited to build more together🚀 Read more on our Axios article: https://lnkd.in/gBgmyrDP Check out the full story on our company blog: https://lnkd.in/gDxb3VnK

For AI startups, the competition for sustained user attention and engagement is way, way tougher than the competition for venture dollars right now. As the famous YC mantra goes: “build something people want”. People being users, not VCs ;)

Thousands of companies applied, 12 were selected (including us), and it all comes down to this! Tomorrow 10:00 am PST is the big reveal, come and check us out at our virtual demo day. Register at the link below. #anywhereaf #techstars #startups #savewater #savemoney #creatives

TODAY is the DAY! Startup Grind's Virtual Startup Summit is here—and the focus is on AI! 𝘾𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙯𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙧? 𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨. ⏰ Starting at 10:45am... ▻ Participate in interactive workshop sessions with experts from Google, Rippling, Carta, Snowflake, and Zendesk. ▻ Discover the latest trends in AI investment, including which sectors are attracting the most funding and what investors are looking for in AI startups. ▻ Learn key steps to fundraising for your AI startup, from crafting a compelling pitch deck to building relationships with investors. PLUS, Startup Grind has an exciting announcement from Builder.ai about the opportunity to turn your dream app into a reality! (Tune in at 11:30am ET) Register + Tune In: https://lnkd.in/etQjWMXB