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The Y Combinator design team built its new website using AI coding assistants Opus 4.5 and Cursor instead of traditional design tools like Figma.
The Y Combinator design team used Opus 4.5 as a creative partner, providing it with high-level prompts like "display it creatively" to explore different design directions for website sections.
The previous Y Combinator website was perceived as utilitarian and similar to a generic B2B SaaS template, failing to be inspiring or effectively tell the brand's story.
A key goal for the Y Combinator website redesign was to shift the focus from company logos to the founders who built the companies.
Dozens of billion-dollar companies have been started at Y Combinator.
A key differentiator for Y Combinator is that all of its partners are former YC founders.
The new Y Combinator website design was heavily inspired by Paul Graham's essays, specifically incorporating the word "formidable" which he and Jessica Livingston used to describe extraordinary founders.
The new Y Combinator website intentionally uses the exact same descriptive copy written by Paul Graham for the original site more than 10 years ago.
Y Combinator now funds companies four times a year and operates its program in San Francisco, having moved from Mountain View.
The new Y Combinator website uses AI to animate photos of notable speakers and founders to make the images feel more engaging.
Y Combinator used an AI video generation tool called "One", which was recommended by a recent YC startup, to create animated photos for its new website.
Y Combinator funds founders at the earliest stages, including those who have not yet quit their jobs, are still in school, or do not have a fully formed idea or customers.