We’re happy to announce that we’re hiring Harjeet Taggar to work for YC. Harj was a founder of Auctomatic, which we funded in winter 2007, and which went on to be acquired by Live Current Media in 2008. Officially Harj is in charge of biz dev, but he’s going to do pretty much everything we do, including selecting and advising startups.

We’ve known Harj since he interviewed at YC in the fall of 2006. We liked him immediately, and that opinion hasn’t changed. We think you’ll like him too. He’s exactly what we look for in a founder: smart and determined, but also a genuinely nice guy.

If you’re applying to YC this cycle, you may have noticed that on the page explaining how to apply, we say that “groups that apply early have a significant advantage.” We’re referring to Harj, who has already started to engage with groups that seem promising.

If you live near Seattle, you can meet Harj in person tonight at the YC Meetup.