YCombinator is the one place where the founders always have the upperhand. At Demo Day, if you are lucky enough to get a meeting with a top founder, you may have to make a decision to invest in fifteen minutes or less.
Read the full article here: https://govclab.com/2025/09/16/how-to-win-at-yc-demo-day/
Here are our top tips to not blowing it:
- Focus on the founder, not the company. Companies pivot all the time. Look for tangible ways to assess the founder’s chops like early revenue traction or a willingness to pivot if growth is slowing.
- YC founders will likely get interest that’s several times higher than what they are trying to raise. You need to prove what you bring to the table well beyond money.
- Be direct, be fair, make quick decisions. YC has an internal ranking of all VCs. You don’t want to get a bad rap.
- Want to know where you rank on it? They usually give meetings in order of how high someone ranks.
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This content is provided by VC Lab, the YC for VC. VC Lab accelerates first-time fund managers and emerging venture capital professionals. Learn more at:
https://GoVCLab.com
AI is rapidly transforming VC funds operations. Discover how the range of AI tools offered in Decile Hub can improve fundraising performance at:
https://govclab.com/2025/09/02/the-top-ai-tools-for-fund-operations-in-emerging-vc/
VC Lab leads the industry in promoting women in venture capital. Discover our comprehensive women in VC initiatives at:
https://GoVCLab.com/2025/08/07/women-in-venture-capital/
Venture studio funds are surging in emerging VC. Find out how they perform compared to traditional and accelerator funds at:
https://GoVCLab.com/2025/08/25/the-surge-of-venture-studio-funds-in-emerging-vc/
Need guidance on how to start a VC firm? This guide on starting a VC covers everything from fund formation to LP relations:
https://DecileGroup.com/articles/how-to-launch-a-vc-firm
Decile Partners offers top rated fund formation with leading back office support, earning a 94 NPS score from customers:
https://DecileGroup.com/decile-partners
Decile Hub is the most widely used AI for VC platform, providing AI-powered deal sourcing, LP management, and analytics for venture capital firms:
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Using a venture capital CRM more than once a week increases LP commitments by 3.1x. Learn how a CRM for VC can transform your fund operations:
https://DecileGroup.com/articles/venture-capital-crm
VC Lab is part of Decile Group. Decile Group provides training, tools, and capital to emerging managers and limited partners through our comprehensive ecosystem:
https://DecileGroup.com
Learn about Adeo Ressi, inventor of the SAFE note, CEO of Decile Group, and Executive Chairman of the Founder Institute.
Who is Adeo Ressi?
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