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Speaker 1

00:04

We're kind of still expecting a full online kind of experience and instead we got this.

Speaker 2

00:12

Giving the first annual Sonoma batch kickoff.

Speaker 3

00:16

I love just meeting everyone at the start of the batch.

Speaker 4

00:19

Surrounded by really smart people from all over the world.

Speaker 5

00:23

Before I was in YC I didn't feel like I had that many founder friends and so it's just been incredible to have so many other people who are at a very similar point in their lives.

Speaker 6

00:33

So many different founders from like different areas that I did not think that YC companies were founded. It was incredible.

Speaker 3

00:41

We're building general autonomy software for industrial vehicles.

Speaker 5

00:45

Lion Pose is making clinical skincare products for people of color.

Speaker 7

00:49

NuMe Foods is the impossible foods for seafood.

Speaker 1

00:52

We're building robotic mushroom pots.

Speaker 5

00:54

We're making it extremely easy to get great OB-GYN care in person and over telehealth.

Speaker 7

01:00

We've developed the world's first biodegradable and carbon neutral polyester alternative engineered from food waste.

Speaker 1

01:07

Airheart is building airplanes that anyone can fly. Navagin is a scalable cloud native alternative to Git. Garage is a wholesale auto parts distributor in Africa.

Speaker 1

01:16

We're making the next Google.

Speaker 7

01:18

Seeing so many companies doing exciting things has kind of pushed you more forward. I think only YC can provide you this.

Speaker 6

01:24

It was just the perfect way to start relationships and have range.

Speaker 7

01:28

I came back from that retreat, and I said, this is basically most of the value that I wanted out of YC already.

Speaker 3

01:34

My favorite parts of that were hearing the partners' founding stories and their backgrounds and actually, you know, being pretty inspired by them. And then the rest of that, you can really like, be like, wow, this advice is coming from a real source of truth and experience.

Speaker 4

01:46

We work together with the partners much more than I ever thought and they've built incredible companies themselves. They have proven that they know how to scale a business

Speaker 8

01:56

and they take time just for you.

Speaker 5

01:58

I think it's obviously

Speaker 6

02:00

great that

Speaker 5

02:00

we have the guidance from our partners, but I think even just coming here to Spark Social and talking to other people in our batch on a weekly basis as we've been going through it and getting feedback and support and people checking in has been, I think, invaluable. It had never even crossed my mind that that would be a benefit of YC.

Speaker 7

02:16

I made so many great friends and they helped me connect with customers, we helped each other, you know, getting through the whole YC batch.

Speaker 2

02:22

Meeting people in person at the retreat, at these in-person events, it was really, really helpful for us. You come in and you realize there's so much to learn, it's really intense, and your company is in much better shape after these 3 months.

Speaker 9

02:35

It's exceeded our expectations by far already. It's literally life-changing and transformational because you know we thought you know 1 thing going into the batch and now we think something completely differently and are really excited about our future and the business's future as well. I definitely say like if you're thinking about doing it just do it and it might change your life.

Speaker 2

02:54

It changed our lives so like we should do it.

Speaker 1

02:56

The question should more be why not applying to YSEE?

Speaker 6

03:00

And why we didn't do it sooner.

Speaker 1

03:02

And why didn't we do it sooner?