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.

The early days of Y Combinator were magical and pure; we focused on helping a small group of founders without distractions or negative scrutiny from the press.

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.

Getting into Y Combinator was a turning point for us, as it validated our idea and pushed us to fully commit to the startup.

When we decided to join Y Combinator, we were already profitable and saw it as an opportunity to scale our team and improve our fundraising efforts.

At Y Combinator, I was inspired by the ambitious mindset of other founders, which contrasted sharply with the skepticism we faced before. It motivated me to fully commit to making Watsi a reality.

During Y Combinator, we focused on building strong relationships with our first 100 customers, doing things that don't scale to ensure they loved our service.

We were initially hesitant to apply to Y Combinator, but an advisor encouraged us to go for it, leading to an unexpected interview and acceptance.

Joining Y Combinator turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made, especially as we faced severe financial challenges before receiving their support. Starting and running a company as a founder can be a very lonely experience, where you often feel responsible for everyone's future and only you know the reality of the low times.