After Y Combinator, we struggled financially for about a year, living off savings and working out of a friend's living room, which was made possible by the generosity of his parents.

The new standard deal allows Y Combinator to fund over 1,400 companies, providing half a million dollars upfront to founders, which helps them overcome fears about the current funding environment.

Despite starting Y Combinator with the goal of helping a few entrepreneurs, we never anticipated funding a thousand startups, many of which have become very successful.

I didn't do Y Combinator at the beginning of Gobble; I did it three and a half years into the struggle when I was running out of money and had only $8,000 in the bank.

After exiting Y Combinator, we achieved $200,000 in revenue within six weeks, and by the end of the year, we reached about $1 million, showcasing our rapid growth trajectory.

I co-founded Y Combinator, the first startup accelerator, which began with a hypothesis about what people wanted, and it turned out they did want it, leading us to fund over 1,800 startups valued at over a hundred billion dollars.

With dwindling funds and a working product, I was advised to join Y Combinator, which I initially hesitated to do but ultimately saw as a necessary step to keep the company alive.

Back in 2005, Y Combinator was eager for people to attend the first Startup School, which aimed to provide early-stage founders with insights from their peers.

The deadline to apply for the first Y Combinator spring batch is February 11th, and accepted applicants will receive $500,000 in investment along with access to a top startup community.