How did you and Jessica Livingston originally conceive the idea for Y Combinator?
Replied byPaul Graham
Co-Founder at Y Combinator
Niche: Finance
Revenue: Not Publicly Disclosed/month
Location: Mountain View, California, United States
Started: 2005
We originally set out to build an angel investment firm that invested small amounts of capital into early-stage founders using standardized legal paperwork. We organized the first batch over the summer as an alternative to corporate internships for college students, discovering that cohort-based investing accelerated both investor learning and founder progress.
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