Updated Request for Startups

by Kat Mañalac3/6/2018

The application deadline for YC Summer 2018 is on March 24, and in honor of the deadline, we published an update to our Request for Startups (RFS).

While many of the best ideas we’ve funded were ones that surprised us, there are always a collection of ideas we wish more founders would apply with. We periodically take time to write those ideas down and publish them here.

This RFS lists 25 categories — including 9 new ones:
1. Brick and Mortar 2.0
2. Carbon Removal Technologies
3. Cellular Agriculture and Clean Meat
4. Cleaner Commodities
5. Improving Memory
6. Longevity and Anti-Aging (YC Bio)
7. Safeguards Against Fake Video
8. Supporting Creators
9. Voice Apps

Please don’t feel like you need to be working on one of these ideas to apply to Y Combinator. As we’ve said many times, the people matter more than the idea. The RFS mostly exists to encourage you to apply if you’re already working on an idea in one of these areas.

If you’d like to know what we look for in non-profits, read this post.

Applications for the YC Summer 2018 batch are open now. Apply here.

Author

  • Kat Mañalac

    Kat is the Managing Outreach Officer at YC. She was Chief of Staff to Alexis Ohanian, cofounder of reddit, before joining YC as its Director of Outreach. Prior to that, Kat was at WIRED Magazine.