Boom, a company funded by Y Combinator, is developing a supersonic passenger jet and made significant progress during their batch by securing a $100 million LOI from Richard Branson.

Boom, a YC company, demonstrated that by assembling a team of top advisors and creating computer simulations, they could attract interest from airlines without incurring significant costs.

In 2016, Y Combinator funded three aerospace companies, including Astranis, which have since become billion-dollar companies, showing that it's possible to succeed without a billionaire founder.

Building a supersonic jet is incredibly challenging, but it's not impossible. It requires a unique approach and a willingness to learn from mistakes along the way.

Founders in hard tech need to be excellent storytellers to attract talent and investment, as demonstrated by Blake from Boom, who successfully recruited experts despite not having a traditional aerospace background.

Y Combinator has achieved notable success in hard tech, funding companies that create physical products, not just software.

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.

If hard tech founders can establish a habit of operating efficiently during Y Combinator, it can lead to long-term success in their ventures.

The last three batches of Y Combinator have consistently grown their revenue by 10% week on week, a feat not seen before in previous cycles.