Y Combinator S24 Preview

The YC S24 Demo Day is around the corner! These are some of the companies we're most excited about.

Author

Adam Hardej
September 10, 2024

Excited to be investing in the S24 batch and wanted to share some of my favorites here before demo day. This will be the 5th consecutive batch I’m actively investing in. Quality remains high. Valuations remain just barely palatable. Lots of AI. Some hardware. More on that below as well as an awesome event this Thursday with Walter from Sacra and Tyson from Notice. Learn more and RSVP for that here!

Are you an accredited investor? Click here to apply to our syndicate.

A lot has changed at YC since the 2009 “prototype day” pictured above.
Paul Graham’s outfit has not.

I got denied from YC in 2018 after an IRL second-round interview. They told me my business was interesting and the early traction was impressive, but that it probably wouldn’t scale. I told them they were wrong and kept building. I found out a year later they were right and moved on to start something new. I’ve been in startup-land since.

That trip to San Francisco to get denied from YC stands out in my mind as when all the “startup” stuff became real. When I felt right calling myself a “founder” rather than saying that I run my own small business. When the blogs about “building something people want” felt like they were directed at me rather than at some other imaginary person that was surely more capable and ambitious than I was.

YC continues to be a rallying point for some of the most exciting early-stage founders in the world. In some ways - whether you get into YC or not - they’re a permission-giver. A brand that has somehow institutionalized crazy ideas in a way that makes them not seem that crazy. For lots of entrepreneurs, it’s the front door of Silicon Valley. Every 6 months we get to see who’s joining the party.

Here are some of my favorites from the S24 batch so far:

These are 5 of the ~30 companies we’ll look to get on calls with and we’ll end up writing ~10 checks. Exciting times.

If you want to check out more of the batch, I’d encourage you to check out the YC directory here. Even if you’re not investing I think it’s a great way to get a look at what the future might look like.

Finally, some other news to catch up on:

Sandhill Exclusive Content 

This Thursday: Venture Research Roundtable

Join us live this week on Thursday, September 12th, as we dive deep into the private markets and the latest venture news. You won’t want to miss this one!

​Tyson Hendricksen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Notice and an Angel Investor. He also co-founded Fideras, where he serves as Chief Compliance Officer and Partner.

ICYMI: Straight Outta High School 👇

Last week we heard from a few crazy young founders who went straight from high school and headed for the startup big leagues.

​If you missed it, head to our youtube to hear how they bypassed traditional routes and transitioned straight into entrepreneurship.m

​Our featured guests included:

​Samuel Hall, Founder @ Wafer

​Henry Kutrieb, Founder @ KickBot

​This event is brought to by Sacra and Sandhill Markets!

A New Blog 👀

We recently had ​​​Tyson Hendricksen, CEO @ Notice, on our podcast. It was a great conversation and we wanted to extrapolate more on what we spoke about.

Read more about the Data Revolution in Private Markets below.

Talk soon,
Adam

PS - Are you an accredited investor? Click here to apply to our syndicate.