The Ultimate YC Pitch Deck
How to raise like a YC founder: the ultimate pitch deck and YC startup landing pages
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Hey everyone 👋
This week, we’ve been thinking about the impact YC has had on the tech ecosystem. They don’t just produce great startups - the community and network are on another level having spoken to multiple YC founders over the last year who’ve all said the same thing.
But one step deeper: their pitch decks. They’re incredibly simple.
By reading this edition, these will be your three takeaways:
The impact of YC, the startups they create and the value they have created for the tech ecosystem.
The next batch of startups YC is looking to back.
The YC pitch deck template and how startups articulate their narrative.
Let’s dive in 🚀
Ask any founder or investor and they have undoubtedly heard of Y Combinator - one of the world’s most renowned startup accelerators, with a mighty track record. Founders who raise from them are 45% more likely to raise a Series A and the accelerator turned just 20 years old earlier this year. Throughout that time, they have achieved some incredible stats, including:
25% of YC startups exceed $10B in valuation.
6.5% become unicorns.
10% achieve an exit.
50% live beyond 10 years.
$800B in combined market value has been created.
All within 20 years. Now, they are looking for their next batch of founders and this is what they are looking for.
Finding Inspiration
YC regularly shares the types of startups they wish to have in the next batch — here’s their latest wishlist:
1) Retraining workers for the AI economy
Huge buildout of physical infrastructure like data centers and semiconductor fabs
Shortage of skilled electricians, HVAC technicians, welders
Opportunity to build new kind of vocational school for the AI economy
Use AI to create personalized training to get people job-ready in months
2) Video generation as a primitive
Approaching marginal cost of zero for near-perfect footage generation
Opportunity to create new seasons of canceled TV series
Personalized kids cartoons starring your own family
Video games built without traditional game engines
Video calls with deceased loved ones
3) The first 10-person, $100B company
Small, high-agency teams (even solo founders) can build multi-billion dollar companies
AI tools enable massive scaling with fewer people
Looking to fund high-agency founders
4) Infrastructure for multi-agent systems
Moving from single-threaded loops to distributed workflows
Scale to hundreds of thousands of subagents working in parallel
Looking for builders who have experienced these production pain points firsthand
Make operating agent fleets as routine as deploying web services
5) AI native enterprise software
AI presents once-in-a-generation opportunity for today’s founders (similar to early SaaS)
New enterprise software will have AI embedded deeply and thoughtfully throughout
Cursor for sales, HR, and accounting
6) Using LLMs instead of government consulting
The U.S. government spends over $100 billion a year on consulting
Every part of the government runs on software, mostly built by a consulting company
Opportunity to replace traditional consulting firms with LLM-powered software solutions
Still looking for inspiration?
The impact of YC has been huge.
In our deep dives on Startup Factories — covering former operators from LinkedIn, Nvidia, Spotify, DeepMind, Instacart, Revolut, Airbnb, Stripe, Uber, and others who go on to start their own companies - we found that roughly 25% had raised from YC, underscoring their early access to top talent.
They also introduced SAFE notes, making it easier for startups to raise.
A SAFE note (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) is a contract where investors give startups money now in exchange for equity later, usually when the company raises its next priced round. Unlike convertible notes, SAFEs aren’t debt — no interest or maturity dates. They typically include a valuation cap and/or discount, giving investors better share prices when conversion happens. Founders like them because they’re fast and simple; investors like them because they get early upside protection.
Lastly, there are now dedicated VC funds which only invest in YC companies such as Lobster Capital.
The next big startup could be you — we take a closer look at how to construct your pitch - just like a YC startup.
Over the last year, we have spoken with some of the very best founders who have gone through YC and one common aspect that came through clearly: their pitch decks are incredibly simple and clear.
The purpose of this edition is to help you simplify your raise by showing how the best-in-class startups at YC do it. So, we’ve put together the template for you which should help you articulate your narrative and make the pitch incredibly concise. Hundreds of founders have used this template so now is your turn.
The typical YC deck has 10 slides which include:
Intro
The product you are building
Team slide
Current traction
How your product works
Why now
Live demo of one of your customers trying your product
The impact of your product
Market opportunity
Fundraising
Discover the exact format and design hundreds of founders have used to successfully fundraise.
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