What does it really take to break into the world’s most selective startup accelerator? In this episode, host Swathi Moorthy speaks with Ankit Gupta, General Partner at Y Combinator, about how AI is rapidly eroding traditional advantages in entrepreneurship. Gupta explains why a growing share of YC startups, nearly 80–90% are now AI-led, and how coding agents are enabling younger, first-time founders to compress years of learning into months. He challenges the idea that pedigree, polished pitches, or early revenue matter most, arguing instead that YC continues to back builders with strong execution skills and complementary co-founding teams. The conversation also takes on prevailing narratives about Indian founders, the isolation that comes with building companies from scratch, and YC’s blunt survival mantra: “Don’t die.” Gupta closes with a sobering insight that we are living through an unusually uncertain moment, one where even a decade ahead has become impossible to predict.
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Check out other interesting episodes of ET in the Valley: ET in the Valley: Grant Lee, Co-Founder & CEO of Gamma, ET in the Valley: Databricks Co-founder Patrick Wendell, ET in the Valley: Replit Founder and CEO Amjad Masad, ET in the Valley: ElevenLabs Co-Founder Mati Staniszewski and much more.

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