YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

You can make significant progress in hard tech with just half a million dollars in three months.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Hard tech founders possess a high clarity of vision for the future of their companies, despite facing tactical risks.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

If you can mine asteroids, the market potential is enormous, indicating a lack of market risk in such ventures.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

This is a call to action for engineers to build something transformative and tackle major societal challenges.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

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

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Hard tech companies in Y Combinator need to demonstrate some form of commercial attraction, even if they can't generate revenue immediately.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Letters of Intent (LOIs) from potential customers are crucial for hard tech companies to show interest and legitimacy, especially if they involve significant values.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Many hard tech founders mistakenly believe they need large amounts of funding upfront, but Y Combinator encourages them to think like software companies and find ways to progress with less money.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Once hard tech founders shift their mindset to focus on quick, cost-effective progress, they often find success in attracting investment.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

In hard tech, the key question is not just 'why now' but 'why you,' emphasizing the importance of the founder's unique capabilities.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Hard tech founders must build a financial viability plan and demonstrate they can achieve technical milestones, even on a smaller scale.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

A successful strategy for hard tech founders is to present timelines that show how they can achieve results faster and cheaper than traditional companies.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

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

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

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.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Eight years after their Y Combinator batch, Boom successfully built and flew a supersonic jet, demonstrating the potential of hard tech startups.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Cruz, a successful hard tech company, was co-founded by Kyle, who previously worked on the MIT autonomous car team and aimed to create a commercial version of that technology.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

The startup that achieved the biggest and fastest exit from Y Combinator was sold for almost a billion dollars just two years after its founding.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Self-driving cars were once considered commercially unviable, but now they are prevalent in San Francisco, showcasing a significant shift in perception and technology.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Kyle's initial project at Y Combinator involved creating a retrofit system for Audi S4s, which helped him gain commercial validation without needing a full self-driving car from the start.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Kyle's pitch on demo day focused on a retrofit kit for Audi cars, which was a more achievable goal than pitching full self-driving technology, making it easier to raise funds.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Astranis, a Y Combinator startup, revolutionized satellite technology by building smaller, cheaper satellites instead of a few large ones, similar to how commodity servers replaced mainframes.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Astranis aimed to build a fully functioning satellite in three months during their Y Combinator batch, a timeline significantly shorter than the typical years required for satellite development.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Astranis successfully launched a nearly entirely 3D-printed rocket, marking a significant milestone in aerospace innovation.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Hard Aerospace, a Y Combinator company, is working on fully electric planes, targeting regional flights which are currently losing money and are heavily subsidized by the government.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Sweden aims to fully electrify all flights by 2040, reflecting a progressive regulatory environment that supports sustainable aviation initiatives. They built a 19-seater electric plane and have a test pilot ready, showcasing significant progress in just four years.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

To fund hardware companies, it's essential to secure customer purchase orders and not rely solely on venture capital funding.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Remora is retrofitting semi-trucks to be carbon neutral by capturing carbon emissions while in motion, addressing 3% of total U.S. emissions.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

The founder of Remora collaborated with a leading expert in mobile carbon capture to develop their technology, which is unique in the world.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Remora's technology captures 80% of exhaust emissions from trucks, demonstrating its effectiveness in reducing carbon output.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Cound is retrofitting cargo ships to meet new carbon regulations, making it the only viable solution for reducing CO2 emissions in shipping.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

During their YC batch, Cound secured contracts with ship owners, marking a significant breakthrough in a challenging industry.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Top talent should focus on solving major global challenges instead of optimizing ads for tech companies, as there's a greater need for impactful work.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Solugen started with a small-scale production of hydrogen peroxide and scaled up efficiently, generating revenue from day one during their YC batch.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Unlike many startups, Solugen began selling their product immediately, ensuring they were capital efficient and profitable from the start.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

K Scale Labs aims to create consumer humanoid robots, following a model that emphasizes proving concepts without needing massive initial funding.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

K Scale is developing a new foundation model for robot perception, leveraging the founder's experience from Tesla's Optimus project.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Astrome Mechanica has developed an electric jet engine that is efficient at all speeds, allowing for versatile applications in aviation.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Astrome Mechanica plans to focus on launching payloads into orbit as a specific use case for their versatile engine, similar to Tesla's strategy.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

The founders of these startups have been conceptualizing their technologies for years, leading to well-thought-out applications and business plans.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

The best hard tech founders possess a clear vision of the future and understand how to compress timelines to prove commercial viability.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Unlike software companies, hard tech founders often have a concrete vision of the future that they need to prove before running out of resources.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Hard tech companies face significant technical risks, but if they succeed, they can dominate massive markets, such as energy, which is a major component of GDP.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

The expected value of companies like Astro Forge, which aims to mine precious metals from asteroids, can be extremely high despite the low probability of success.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Hard tech founders must break down their problems into manageable steps to demonstrate their ability to take on risks progressively.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

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.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Running a hard tech company can be easier in terms of attracting interest and investment compared to traditional startups, as ambitious projects often rally support from various stakeholders.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

The cost of prototyping in hard tech is decreasing, making it easier to develop innovative solutions with less capital and in shorter timeframes.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

Even if you're not a natural fundraiser like Elon Musk, you can still build a successful hard tech company by thinking like a software company and surrounding yourself with the right people.

YC

Y Combinator Cast

04/12/24

@ Y Combinator

You don't need to be a billionaire or have multiple exits to succeed in hard tech; being smart and surrounding yourself with capable individuals is key.

Inside The Hard Tech Startups Turning Sci-Fi Into Reality

Takeaways