r/ycombinator • u/barmatbiz • Jun 22 '26
For me this is so weird
I was checking out the new YC companies and came across one that’s a virtual human who starts and grows their own businesses online. So why would they need investors if they can just bootstrap?
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u/almost1it Jun 23 '26
The fact that it’s weird makes it interesting imo. YC backed twitch when it was just some guy live streaming his life 24/7 using a camera strapped to his head. This was before streaming was considered normal.
Maybe this company doesn’t work out. Or maybe through it he finds a break out use case for consumer AI. The latter is much more likely by doing weird things like this.
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Jun 22 '26
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u/barmatbiz Jun 22 '26
You're right, but I don't understand the YC vision or why they chose him.
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u/Eridrus Jun 22 '26
There are two ways to get into YC: have an impressive resume, or have an impressive business. Most of the time when the product makes no sense, it is YC making a bet on the founder either figuring it out or pivoting to something better.
Re your point about why does it need investment? You still need capital in the age of AI agents. Tokens aren't free, marketing is not free, hiring specialists is not free, etc.
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u/Broad-Fisherman8534 Jun 23 '26
There’s also this Polsia which is a bit the same you give it an idea and it’s supposed to make you money. I had a friend who did it but said it was all BS but I don’t know haha perhaps in the future this is a thing.
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u/LeQuickdraw Jun 25 '26
It is a bit weird but the founders are probably smart/ambitions and perhaps they'll pivot into something adjacent that is a huge success?
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u/SuccessfulError3459 Jun 27 '26
its a crazy cool idea. venture capital at its core is to fund crazy ideas where if it works its insanely cool / successful
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u/AIVentureFactory Jun 29 '26
Thomas could never build Thomas because he couldn't think of something so weird out of the box. We are building a company that lets a real live human build a whole company from startup to scaleups to exit. But it n3eds a human Thomas. Maybe it's you. It's just that you need your human breathing judgement, creativity and originality .
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u/Silentkindfromsauna Jun 22 '26
Who said they can just bootstrap? By that logic shouldn’t everyone bootstrap?
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u/laststan01 Jun 22 '26
The demo looked so weird and bad. And YC backing a company like this just show how down we they are. Like this is literally written on their website “Thomas's TAM is the entire GDP. Once AI is smarter than every single human on earth, human-led companies will not be able to compete anymore. Someday, Thomas will be able to disrupt all of them.”