Business & Money · Framework
How to Build What YC Wants in 2025
Breakdown of Y Combinator's 2025 Request for Startups themes and priorities
A framework summarizing Y Combinator's 2025 Request for Startups (RFS) focus areas. It emphasizes full job function automation over human copilot assistance, vertical-specific AI agents, and developer infrastructure for scaling AI. It is useful for founders aligning their product strategy with venture capital demand.
The framework
1/ Big Themes from YC's Latest RFS:
- AI isn't just assisting humans anymore - it's replacing entire job functions
- Opportunity isn't in building better AI, it's in applying AI to specific industries
- Focus on infrastructure and tools that help AI scale
- System-level optimization is becoming critical again
2/ Most Interesting Opportunities:
* AI App Store & Infrastructure
- Build the "operating system" for AI apps
- Focus on privacy, shared memory, and distribution
- Think iOS App Store but for AI agents
* Vertical AI Agents
- Build AI that replaces specific job functions
- Focus on highly specialized tasks (tax accounting, medical billing)
- Don't just assist humans - fully automate the work
* Developer Tools for AI
- Help developers manage teams of AI agents
- Build tools for deployment, testing, and monitoring
- Focus on making AI development easier and more reliable
3/ The Math Behind It:
- 4M people work in compliance/audit
- $8-50k/year spent on legal templates
- Entire job categories becoming automated
- Focus on high-value, repetitive work
4/ Non-Obvious Opportunities:
- Hardware-optimized AI code generation
- Data center automation
- AI-first document handling
- B2A (Business-to-Agent) infrastructure
5/ What Makes a Good YC AI Startup:
- Deep domain expertise in a vertical
- Focus on full automation, not assistance
- Clear path to revenue
- Infrastructure or tools that help AI scale
YC isn't looking for better AI - they're looking for better applications of existing AI.
What it's for
- Brainstorm startup ideas aligned with Y Combinator's funding priorities
- Pivot an existing AI copilot into a fully automated vertical agent
- Structure an accelerator pitch deck around specific industry automation
Key points
- Focus on full job function replacement instead of human-assistive copilots
- Prioritize vertical AI applications in fields like legal, tax, and medical billing
- Identify platform opportunities like an AI agent operating system and app store
- Highlight developer tooling for managing, testing, and deploying AI agent teams
- Explore non-obvious areas such as data center automation and hardware-optimized code generation
Pricing
Free
Details
- Type
- Framework
- Category
- Business & Money
- Topic
- Startup Accelerators
- Open source
- No
- Platforms
- other
- For
- Startup founders and software developers planning to apply to Y Combinator
- Tags
- y combinator, startups, ai agents, fundraising, ideation
Why it was saved
- @elonmusk: Directs what to build and pitch to YC this year
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