Co-founder of @algolia - Group partner at @ycombinator
San Francisco, CA
Joined July 2009
- Tweets 1,782
- Following 286
- Followers 9,980
- Likes 3,526
Nicolas Dessaigne retweeted
YC is funding more AI research companies than ever before. I'm very excited to fund frontier research, including in companies that plan to stay in stealth.
This upcoming batch, we are running a special cohort for companies like this. If you're a researcher and interested, you should apply to YC by the deadline this Monday!
my DMs are open if you have questions
Nicolas Dessaigne retweeted
I’ve never heard a more beautiful call out:
“𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱-𝟭 𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱” !!!!!!
🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
@Starcloud_Inc1, @ezrafeilden, @adi__oltean
AI meets filmmaking at the Uncanny Valley Fest 🎬 Nov 9 @ YC.
Make a film, music video, or launch video with no camera! Can't wait to see what you'll make 👀 uncannyfest.com
We’re hosting SF’s biggest AI filmmaking hackathon: The Uncanny Valley Fest, Nov 9 @ycombinator 🎬
Make a short film, music video, or a launch video without a camera.
Just @KoyalAI & the best tools in AI video.
More at uncannyfest [dot] com
Thx @fal & @MachineCinemaAI!
Nicolas Dessaigne retweeted
At NeurIPS this year, @ycombinator is hosting a rooftop party with our friends at @arcprize. If you’re a researcher in academia or industry please join us! It’s going to be awesome.
NeurIPS Party - ARC Prize Foundation + Y Combinator
Join us in San Diego for a NeurIPS party co-hosted with @ycombinator
Meet ARC Prize and YC leadership, researchers and industry leaders pushing the boundaries of frontier AI
San Diego
6-8 PM, December 6, 2025
🚀 New Vibecoding Hackathon at YC, Nov 8–9!
Emergent has quickly become one of the best platforms for building apps without writing code.
If you’ve ever wanted to create something by pure vibe, this is your moment. Can’t wait to see what you build 💥
Vibecoding is dying..really?
Vibecode your way to @ycombinator
Meet Vibecon by @emergentlabshq (w/ @awscloud & @anthropic)
Go from idea → guaranteed YC interview
200 builders, 2 nights, 1 life changing outcome at the YC HQ
Nicolas Dessaigne retweeted
Memory is what makes us human. It's also what makes AI truly intelligent.
@mem0ai has raised $24M to build the universal memory layer for AI.
Thousands of teams in production. 14M downloads. 41K GitHub stars.
Intelligence needs memory & we're building it for everyone.
More👇
Nicolas Dessaigne retweeted
Applications for the YC Winter 2026 batch are now open!
Apply by November 10: ycombinator.com/apply
Nicolas Dessaigne retweeted
A lot of startups have wild pivot stories – not Aleph (@getaleph).
They applied to YC 4 years ago with the same core idea they're building today, to automate financial planning & forecasting directly in spreadsheets. It wasn't an obvious insight at the time, but it's been driving their growth ever since.
Nicolas Dessaigne retweeted
We had traction, users, and momentum but still chose to pivot
Below, @dessaigne shares a bit about our journey from @mendableai to @firecrawl_dev - why we made the call even with strong growth, and what it taught us about timing and conviction
Thanks for featuring us ❤️🔥
Every founder faces moments where they’re not sure what to do next — such as how to go to market with AI products, when to pivot, and who/when to hire.
In this episode of Office Hours, YC partners @koomen, @bradflora, @dessaigne, and @gustaf answer real questions from founders and share stories about how great teams build conviction, learn faster, and make better decisions as they grow.
0:36 - Building an AI company in a legacy industry
7:00 - Time to grow vs long-term defensibility
14:31 - Spending for temporary edge vs waiting for model leap
16:10 - When should you consider pivoting if you’ve got traction?
26:07 - The power of technically challenging problems
30:42 - When to start hiring?
35:18 - When is it a good idea to open source an enterprise SaaS product?
New YC Office Hours video just dropped 🎥
This time, we answer real questions that founders asked us. Like how to go to market with an AI product in a legacy industry (3 approaches: AI tool vs full-stack firm vs acquisition)
We also go deep on:
💡 How to sell when you’re still learning
⚙️ When to hire humans vs build AI agents
🔁 How to know when to pivot, even with traction
🔓 When open-sourcing makes enterprise sales easier
If any of these questions resonate, have a look!
Every founder faces moments where they’re not sure what to do next — such as how to go to market with AI products, when to pivot, and who/when to hire.
In this episode of Office Hours, YC partners @koomen, @bradflora, @dessaigne, and @gustaf answer real questions from founders and share stories about how great teams build conviction, learn faster, and make better decisions as they grow.
0:36 - Building an AI company in a legacy industry
7:00 - Time to grow vs long-term defensibility
14:31 - Spending for temporary edge vs waiting for model leap
16:10 - When should you consider pivoting if you’ve got traction?
26:07 - The power of technically challenging problems
30:42 - When to start hiring?
35:18 - When is it a good idea to open source an enterprise SaaS product?
Nicolas Dessaigne retweeted
Every founder faces moments where they’re not sure what to do next — such as how to go to market with AI products, when to pivot, and who/when to hire.
In this episode of Office Hours, YC partners @koomen, @bradflora, @dessaigne, and @gustaf answer real questions from founders and share stories about how great teams build conviction, learn faster, and make better decisions as they grow.
0:36 - Building an AI company in a legacy industry
7:00 - Time to grow vs long-term defensibility
14:31 - Spending for temporary edge vs waiting for model leap
16:10 - When should you consider pivoting if you’ve got traction?
26:07 - The power of technically challenging problems
30:42 - When to start hiring?
35:18 - When is it a good idea to open source an enterprise SaaS product?
Nicolas Dessaigne retweeted
The YC community is better than I ever could’ve imagined.
People love to shit on YC and act like we’re all like the loudest among us online, but thats not representative of the group.
The willingness to help each other and the immediate connection when you meet another YC founder is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.
Way more than any sorority, school, etc.
Nicolas Dessaigne retweeted
not enough people are talking about @sdianahu
Reducto, David AI, Salient… all crushing it
Watch the full conversation here 🎥
piped.video/QkKeu1AyCQ0
Talking to them reminded me how early we are in this shift.
If you’re building in AI, it’s a great time to go all in. The ecosystem, tooling, and demand are all compounding.
We’re still at “Bitcoin dollar one.”
My favorite takeaway:
The biggest bottleneck isn’t compute, it’s imagination.
Mukund and Madhav are betting that once AI can help with implementation, founders can spend more time on ideas, which could unlock a new wave of creativity.
Emergent’s growth is wild, from 0 to $15M ARR in three months.
How? They focused on shipping real value early, not chasing hype.
Their best users aren’t casual experimenters, they’re automating real workflows and products.