There’s never been a better time to start an AI company. Not just because there are new ideas, but because the tech finally makes old ones actually work.
On the Lightcone, Garry, Harj, Diana and Jared talk through the kinds of startups that are suddenly viable thanks to LLMs—from full-stack law firms to personalized tutors to recruiting platforms that can finally scale. They share the patterns they’re seeing, the ideas they’re excited about, and what it means to live at the edge of the future, where breakthroughs often look like second chances.
If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to build, this is it.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://ycombinator.com/apply
Work at a startup: https://workatastartup.com
Chapters (Powered by https://chapterme.co/) –
0:00 Intro
00:41 What startup ideas could not work before AI?
06:06 Technical screening products
07:35 Truly personalized education tools
09:48 Do better products automatically get better distribution?
14:41 Moats
16:08 The need for platform neutrality
17:40 Big Tech and AI
23:24 AI horseless carriages
25:14 Gross margins
30:03 Full stack companies
32:30 ML ops
37:14 Updated startup advice for the AI age
40:19 Outro
"Community adjusted EBITDA" 😊
Classic YC hyping OpenAI 😂 Not biased at all against meta or google. lol.
You just force a EUREKA moment just now for me. Keep it up, guys!
This discussion makes it clear that now is the perfect time to start an AI company. The team breaks down how LLMs are making old ideas actually work, from personalized education tools to scalable recruiting platforms. It’s a practical look at new opportunities, startup patterns, and how to build at the cutting edge of AI.
Finally consumer talks – why are we talking so little about how this actually can be completely new media???
I didn't learn anything from this.