--- alias: - Y Combinator - YC - YCombinator - Y Combinator Management - Y Combinator Management, LLC - Y Combinator, LLC - Cambridge Seed - Summer Founders Program category: Private Organization created: 2026-10-01 location: Mountain View, California relations: - fn: 1 reverse: true role: cofounder; put in 100,000 dollars start: 2005-03-11 type: founded with: '[[Paul Graham]]' - fn: 1 reverse: true role: cofounder start: 2005-03-11 type: founded with: '[[Jessica Livingston]]' - fn: 1 reverse: true role: cofounder; put in 50,000 dollars start: 2005-03-11 type: founded with: '[[Robert Tappan Morris]]' - fn: 1 reverse: true role: cofounder; put in 50,000 dollars start: 2005-03-11 type: founded with: '[[Trevor Blackwell]]' - end: 2019 fn: 9 reverse: true role: president start: 2014 type: head_of with: '[[Sam Altman]]' - end: 2022 fn: 10 reverse: true role: president and chief executive start: 2019-05-20 type: head_of with: '[[Geoff Ralston]]' - fn: 3 reverse: true role: president and chief executive start: 2023-01 type: head_of with: '[[Garry Tan]]' - fn: 3 reverse: true role: managing director, partnerships, per Form ADV start: 2022-06 type: employed_by with: '[[Jonathan Levy]]' - fn: 3 reverse: true role: chief legal officer, per Form ADV start: 2014-04 type: employed_by with: '[[Carolynn Levy]]' - fn: 13 reverse: true role: part-time partner start: 2015-03-10 type: employed_by with: '[[Peter Thiel]]' - end: 2020-06-05 fn: 15 role: nonprofit research lab, renamed Open Research Lab Inc. on July 13, 2020 start: 2015-10-07 type: founded with: '[[Y Combinator Research]]' - fn: 14 role: late-stage fund, 10 million dollars in OpenAI's for-profit subsidiary, as reported by TechCrunch type: funded with: '[[OpenAI]]' - fn: 38 role: existing investor named in the Series F announcement of 2024-05-21 type: funded with: '[[Scale AI]]' - fn: 34 role: connected organization of the federal PAC known as Little Tech PAC start: 2025-12-15 type: founded with: '[[Y Combinator Management, LLC Political Committee]]' - end: 2014-10-20 fn: 37 reverse: true role: registered lobbyist, startup visa start: 2014-09-05 type: represented with: '[[Venture Politics]]' - fn: 37 reverse: true role: registered lobbyist start: 2023-12-11 type: represented with: '[[The Joseph Group]]' start: 2005-03-11 summary: Startup investor founded in March 2005 by Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris and Trevor Blackwell, whose research affiliate shared officers and a lender with OpenAI and whose federal PAC registered in 2025. tags: - Organization - YCombinator - StartupAccelerator - VentureCapital - SiliconValley - OpenAI - YCResearch - SamAltman - SanFranciscoPolitics - PoliticalMoney - Lobbying updated: 2026-10-01 --- Y Combinator (YC) is a startup investment firm that Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston decided to start on March 11, 2005, walking home from dinner in Harvard Square. Graham agreed to put in 100,000 dollars, and over the following days Robert Morris and Trevor Blackwell put in 50,000 dollars each, so that the firm began with 200,000 dollars. It was first called Cambridge Seed and was renamed Y Combinator before its announcement a few days later.[^1] Its standard deal is 500,000 dollars per company: 125,000 dollars for 7 percent on a post-money SAFE and 375,000 dollars on an uncapped SAFE with a most-favored-nation clause.[^2] Its investment adviser, Y Combinator Management, LLC, reports nineteen private funds with combined gross assets of about 22 billion dollars.[^3] ### Founders Graham and Morris started Viaweb in 1995, and Yahoo acquired it in 1998, when it became Yahoo Store.[^4] Graham wrote in 2021 that Viaweb's shopping cart was Morris's work, its order manager Blackwell's, and that Morris was a graduate student at [Harvard University](/organizations/harvard-university/) when they began.[^5] In the same essay Graham recalled that "my friend Robert Morris got kicked out of Cornell for writing the internet worm of 1988."[^5] On November 2, 1988, Robert Tappan Morris, then a first-year graduate student in the computer science doctoral program at Cornell University, released a self-replicating program from a computer at the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](/organizations/massachusetts-institute-of-technology/); it spread through the network and caused computers at universities, military sites and medical research facilities to crash. He was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York under section 1030(a)(5)(A) of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and sentenced to three years of probation, 400 hours of community service and a fine of 10,050 dollars. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed on March 7, 1991, in an opinion by Judge Jon O. Newman.[^6] His father, Robert Morris, a cryptographer who had worked on Unix at [Bell Labs](/organizations/bell-labs/), was then chief scientist of the [National Security Agency](/organizations/nsa/)'s National Computer Security Center. John Markoff reported in the father's 2011 obituary that the agency had asked him in the late 1970s not to publish a paper on an early German cipher device, that he joined it in 1986 to work on protecting government computers and on electronic surveillance and online warfare, that he played a clandestine role in planning the electronic attacks on [Saddam Hussein](/people/saddam-hussein/)'s government before the [Gulf War](/events/gulf-war/) of 1991, and that after releasing the worm the son went to his parents' home in Arnold, Maryland, before turning himself in to the [Federal Bureau of Investigation](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/). The younger Morris later took a doctorate at Harvard and joined the MIT faculty.[^7] ### Founding and Early Batches The first batch was the Summer Founders Program of 2005 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Graham wrote that the second batch was funded in [Silicon Valley](/places/silicon-valley/) and housed in part of a building in Mountain View, California that Blackwell owned.[^1] The first batch included the founders of Reddit, Justin Kan and Emmett Shear, later of Twitch, Aaron Swartz, and [Sam Altman](/people/sam-altman/), who became YC's second president.[^5] Graham also wrote Hacker News, first called Startup News, as a test of his programming language Arc.[^5] Form D filings made with the [Securities and Exchange Commission](/organizations/securities-and-exchange-commission/) in 2015 and 2016 for two YC Continuity funds give the address 335 Pioneer Way, Mountain View.[^8] ### Presidents Graham wrote that in 2013, after Livingston declined to become president, he, Livingston, Morris and Blackwell agreed on "a complete changing of the guard": YC had until then been "controlled by the original LLC we four had started," and if Altman accepted, he would be allowed to reorganize it, with Graham and Morris retiring and Livingston and Blackwell becoming ordinary partners. Altman at first declined because he wanted to start a company to build nuclear reactors, and agreed in October 2013.[^5] On February 21, 2014, Graham announced that Altman would become president "starting next batch," that "Sam is going to lead YC," and that Graham would "continue to do office hours." He wrote that Altman "was one of the founders in the first batch we funded, in 2005."[^9] TechCrunch reported on May 20, 2019 that Altman had stepped away from the presidency two months earlier to become chief executive of [OpenAI](/organizations/openai/), that he had been named chairman of YC on his way out, and that he would no longer hold that title and would instead be an adviser. The same day YC named Geoff Ralston president. Ralston had built RocketMail, which became Yahoo Mail in 1997, and had known Graham for twenty years from Yahoo.[^10] Altman wrote in announcing Ralston that working on OpenAI "has been more exciting (and more complex) than I ever imagined."[^11] On August 29, 2022, Ralston announced that he would leave at the end of the year and that Garry Tan would succeed him as president and chief executive. Tan had been in the summer 2008 batch, had been an engineer at [Palantir Technologies](/organizations/palantir-technologies/), had founded the blogging service Posterous and sold it to Twitter, had been a YC partner, and had left in 2015 to run Initialized Capital, the venture fund he cofounded.[^12] YC's adviser, Y Combinator Management, LLC, has reported to the SEC as an exempt reporting adviser since October 23, 2014 (file number 802-80528). Its annual amendment of March 27, 2026 lists Tan as chief executive and president from January 2023, Carolynn Levy as chief legal officer from April 2014, and Jonathan Daniel Levy as managing director for partnerships from June 2022, and is signed by Jonathan Levy. Its largest reported funds are YC II, L.P. (gross assets of 7,828,145,069 dollars), Y Combinator ES20, LLC (3,118,959,390 dollars), Y Combinator Continuity Fund I, L.P. (2,632,819,339 dollars), YCC20, L.P. (2,259,947,049 dollars) and YCCG21, L.P. (1,582,725,829 dollars); the nineteen funds together report 21,962,163,829 dollars.[^3] ### Peter Thiel as a Part-Time Partner On March 10, 2015, Altman announced that [Peter Thiel](/people/peter-thiel/) was "joining YC as one of the (now 10!) part-time partners." The post stated that YC "generally won't bring on people that are involved with other investing firms given the obvious conflict," made Thiel an exception, and said that he would not invest in any company while it was in YC or for three months after its Demo Day, a restriction that would "apply to Peter's investment entities as well." It describes his work with technology companies "both personally and through [Founders Fund](/organizations/founders-fund/)." The post now begins: "Edit: Peter Thiel is no longer affiliated with Y Combinator."[^13] ### YC Continuity Y Combinator Continuity Fund I, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership whose general partner is YC Continuity Management I, LLC, filed a Form D on June 15, 2015 signed by Jonathan Levy as a member of the general partner; it listed the offering amount as indefinite and declined to disclose its revenue range. Y Combinator Continuity Affiliates Fund I, L.P. filed a Form D on March 25, 2016 signed by Jonathan Levy as managing member of the same general partner.[^8] The adviser's 2026 Form ADV reports gross assets of 2,632,819,339 dollars for the first fund and 40,387,194 dollars for the second.[^3] TechCrunch reported in May 2024 that YC's late-stage fund had invested 10 million dollars in OpenAI's for-profit subsidiary; Graham wrote that the investment was made before Altman was full-time at OpenAI, that "This was not a very big investment for those funds," and that "obviously it wasn't influencing me, since I found out about it 5 minutes ago."[^14] ### YC Research and OpenAI On October 7, 2015, Altman announced YC Research (YCR), a nonprofit research lab, and wrote: "To start off, I'm going to personally donate $10 million." The post said the lab was "not doing this with the goal of helping YC's startups succeed or adding to our bottom line." A note added on June 5, 2020 states that YC Research, "now OpenResearch," and its projects "are no longer affiliated with Y Combinator" and had "been operating independently for several years."[^15] Altman, [Elon Musk](/people/elon-musk/), Thiel and Livingston were among those who announced OpenAI as a nonprofit later in 2015, as TechCrunch reported.[^14] The returns on Form 990 that OpenAI Inc. (employer identification number 81-0861541) and Y Combinator Research Inc. (81-0861414, a Delaware 501(c)(3) at 469 9th Street, Oakland) filed with the [Internal Revenue Service](/organizations/internal-revenue-service/) for 2016 were both prepared by Michael Fontanello of Fontanello Duffield and Otake LLP of San Francisco and carry electronic timestamps 52 seconds apart on December 11, 2017.[^16][^17] The OpenAI Inc. return for 2016 lists Musk and Altman as directors, Chris Clark as director and chief operating officer, Jonathan Levy as secretary and treasurer, [Greg Brockman](/people/greg-brockman/) as chief technology officer and [Ilya Sutskever](/people/ilya-sutskever/) as research director. Schedule J reports that Clark received 40,942 dollars from OpenAI and 164,871 dollars from related organizations. The Y Combinator Research Inc. return for the same year lists Clark as president and chief operating officer at a base salary of 164,871 dollars, Levy as secretary and treasurer, and Altman and Patrick Scaglia as directors, with the investigators Dan Ingalls, Alex Warth, Bret Victor and John Maloney. Its mission statement reads: "YCR seeks to answer open-ended questions and develop technology that should not be owned by any one company and requires work on a very long time horizon."[^16][^17] Each return names the other organization as a related tax-exempt organization on Schedule R, and the OpenAI return reports a rental of facilities to a related organization.[^16][^17] The OpenAI return for 2017 adds [Holden Karnofsky](/people/holden-karnofsky/) as a director and lists David Lansky as general counsel; Lansky is also listed as general counsel on the YC Research returns from 2017.[^18][^19] Schedule L of each return reports loans from Altman, described as a board member and officer, to the organization for "operations," approved by the board and documented in writing. On the OpenAI return for 2016 the original principal is 3,750,000 dollars and no balance is reported; Schedule M of the same return reports a noncash contribution described as "Loan Forgiveness" of 3,784,637 dollars, valued by "Loan Balance," within total contributions of 13,784,637 dollars. On the OpenAI return for 2017 the original principal is 3,000,000 dollars and the balance due is 3,006,575 dollars.[^16][^18] On the YC Research returns the original principal is 5,200,000 dollars with a balance of 5,223,285 dollars for 2016, and 5,950,000 dollars with balances of 5,950,000 dollars for 2017, 6,726,000 dollars for 2018 and 9,581,000 dollars for 2019. The 2017 return also reports a noncash contribution described as "Forgiveness of Debt" of 15,932 dollars and a grant of 500,000 dollars to Watsi.[^17][^19][^20][^21] Contributions to YC Research were 1,000,000 dollars in 2016, 5,947,540 dollars in 2017, 1,635,953 dollars in 2018 and 1,726,811 dollars in 2019.[^17][^19][^20][^21] The return for 2020 states that a corporate name change from Y Combinator Research Inc. to Open Research Lab Inc. occurred on July 13, 2020, and describes the launch of its Basic Income project. It reports Altman's loan with an original principal of 14,071,725 dollars and a balance of 14,395,166 dollars, and a grant of 1,000,000 dollars for "operations" to Trialspark Inc. of Oakland, a recipient without a 501(c) designation. The 2021 return reports another "Forgiveness of Debt" of 272,767 dollars. The balance due was 14,535,883 dollars at the end of 2022 and 14,848,054 dollars at the end of 2023 (14,863,376 dollars on an amended return filed in January 2026). The return for 2024 reports no outstanding loan to or from an interested person and contributions of 18,164,914 dollars. Altman is listed as a director on every return from 2016 through 2024, and Clark as chief operating officer.[^22][^23][^24][^25][^26] ### Altman's Departure in 2019 Elizabeth Dwoskin and Nitasha Tiku of [The Washington Post](/organizations/washington-post/) reported on November 22, 2023, citing three people familiar with the incident, that Graham flew from the [United Kingdom](/places/united-kingdom/) to [San Francisco](/places/san-francisco/) in 2019 to remove Altman.[^27] On May 30, 2024, after [Helen Toner](/people/helen-toner/), a former OpenAI board member, said on the TED AI Show that the reasons for the departure had been "hushed up at the time," Graham wrote on X, as TechCrunch quoted him: "People have been claiming [Y Combinator] fired Sam Altman. That's not true." He wrote that when OpenAI announced a for-profit subsidiary of which Altman would be chief executive, Livingston told Altman he had to choose between OpenAI and YC, and that they told him "if he was going to work full-time on OpenAI, we should find someone else to run YC, and he agreed." Kyle Wiggers of TechCrunch wrote that, reportedly, some YC partners took issue with the indirect stake in OpenAI that Altman held while president.[^14] [Federal Election Commission](/organizations/federal-election-commission/) records list Altman with Y Combinator as his employer on contributions of 250,000 dollars to the super PAC SMP on May 11, 2020 and 100,000 dollars on August 17, 2022, after he had left the presidency.[^28] ### Garry Tan and San Francisco Politics On January 27, 2024, Joe Rivano Barros of Mission Local reported that Tan had written on X, in a since-deleted post, that seven named members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Aaron Peskin, Connie Chan, Dean Preston, Shamann Walton, Myrna Melgar, Hillary Ronen and Ahsha Safai, should "Die slow motherfuckers." Tan wrote afterward that he thought "everyone would get the rap reference but that wasn't a good call." Peskin called the post "unacceptable violent speech that should not be condoned in our society from anyone, particularly a tech millionaire."[^29] Campaign filings published by the city of San Francisco list 49 itemized receipts from Garry Tan on Form 460 Schedule A between January 12, 2015 and May 22, 2026, totalling 487,990 dollars. Four total 100,500 dollars to committees supporting the recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin: 500 dollars on March 13, 2021, 10,000 dollars on April 25, 2021, 40,000 dollars on May 21, 2021 and 50,000 dollars on March 11, 2022. Three total 25,001 dollars to committees for the 2021 recall of three school board members. The Coalition to Grow San Francisco (Grow SF PAC) received 25,000 dollars on March 11, 2022 for a committee opposing "Mar for Supervisor 2022" and 50,000 dollars on July 27, 2023 for one opposing "Preston for Supervisor 2024," and its late-contribution reports list four further contributions of 24,500 dollars each from Tan on July 9, 2024. Other receipts include 100,000 dollars to Affordable Homes Now San Francisco on April 7, 2022, 25,000 dollars to a committee for Proposition D (victims' rights) on May 5, 2022, 12,000 dollars to the "No on B, Stop the Cop Tax" committee in December 2023 and February 2024, 25,000 dollars to SF Guardians in January and February 2024, 25,000 dollars on July 9, 2024 to the committee for "Yes on D, No on E," 10,000 dollars on October 9, 2024 to "Yes on F, San Franciscans for a Full Police Staffing," 10,000 dollars on April 7, 2025 to a committee opposing the recall of Supervisor Joel Engardio, and 10,000 dollars each on May 15 and May 22, 2026 to committees for Matt Dorsey and Stephen Sherrill. Filings from 2016 to 2022 list his employer as Initialized Capital and most from mid-2023 as Y Combinator, with Initialized Capital still appearing on some 2024 and 2025 entries.[^30] Rya Jetha of the San Francisco Standard reported on February 11, 2026 that Tan was launching Garry's List, a statewide nonprofit he described as a "Rotary Club for radical centrism" that he was funding with money from friends and supporters, and that he had given nearly 40,000 dollars the previous month to the campaign for governor of [San Jose](/places/san-jose/) Mayor Matt Mahan.[^31] ### Federal Political Contributions Federal Election Commission records list Tan, with Y Combinator as employer, giving 25,000 dollars on September 25, 2024 and 100,000 dollars on October 3, 2024 to the Harris Victory Fund, with attributed amounts of 21,700 and 19,600 dollars to the Democratic National Committee and 3,300 dollars to Harris for President. He gave 10,000 dollars to the DCCC through ActBlue on September 5, 2024; 10,000 dollars on each of June 4, 2024, March 26, 2025 and May 8, 2026 to the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee; 3,500 dollars twice on November 20, 2025 to the congressional campaign of Scott Wiener; and 25,000 dollars on December 24, 2025 to Abundant Future, a super PAC in Sacramento first registered on October 3, 2025.[^32] Graham gave 300,000 dollars to the Hillary Victory Fund on August 23, 2016, listing "Y Combinator, LLC" as employer, 100,000 dollars and 250,000 dollars to Swing Left on September 11, 2017 and May 8, 2018, and 500,000 dollars on October 1, 2018 to SMP (committee C00484642, a super PAC registered in 2010). Livingston gave 300,000 dollars to the Hillary Victory Fund on August 19, 2016, also listing "Y Combinator, LLC," and gave Tech for Campaigns 1,000,000 dollars on August 5, 2020, 4,000,000 dollars on September 29, 2020 and 5,000,000 dollars on September 10, 2024.[^33] Altman, listing Y Combinator as employer, gave SMP 250,000 dollars on April 6, 2018.[^28] ### Little Tech PAC Y Combinator Management, LLC registered a connected federal political committee, the Y Combinator Management, LLC Political Committee (Little Tech PAC), on December 15, 2025 (committee C00930727), with Justin Phillips as treasurer and the address 335 Pioneer Way, Mountain View. Its reports show receipts of 120,000 dollars for December 15 to 31, 2025, 83,920.70 dollars for the first quarter of 2026 and 580.60 dollars for April 1 to May 20, 2026, a total of 204,501.30 dollars, and disbursements of 117,646.90 dollars through July 15, 2026, leaving 86,854.40 dollars in cash.[^34] The receipts are forty contributions of 5,000 dollars each from individuals and 4,501.30 dollars reported as other receipts from Y Combinator Management, LLC. The first, on December 18, 2025, came from Travis Lowe, listed as YC's head of public policy, in Washington; Graham and Tan followed on December 19, Jonathan Levy, listed as managing director, on December 21, and Livingston on December 23, with group and managing partners and several spouses listed as homemakers making up most of the rest. Apart from payment processing fees, the committee's first disbursement was 1,500 dollars to Iowans for Zach Nunn on March 9, 2026. On July 1, 2026 it made 59 contributions of 1,000 to 3,500 dollars to candidate and leadership committees, among them those of Senators [Ted Cruz](/people/ted-cruz/), Josh Hawley, Bernie Moreno, Tim Sheehy, Ted Budd, Mike Rounds, Dan Sullivan and Katie Britt, and of Representatives Mike Rogers (3,000 dollars) and Adam Smith (3,000 dollars), the chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee,[^35] Valerie Foushee (3,500 dollars), Frank Pallone, [Jamie Raskin](/people/jamie-raskin/), Ted Lieu, Jay Obernolte, Pramila Jayapal, Rob Wittman and John Moolenaar. It had also given 1,000 dollars to Team Graham, Inc. on May 15, 2026.[^36] Eddie Kim of Gazetteer SF reported in September 2026 that the committee's designated agent is Verene Prescher, YC's head of finance, that its treasurer works for the political consulting firm Aristotle, and that YC and the committee did not respond to questions about its purpose.[^35] ### Lobbying The firm Venture Politics registered on September 5, 2014 to lobby for Y Combinator on "High Skilled Immigration Reform - Startup Visa" and filed a termination on October 20, 2014. On December 11, 2023, The Joseph Group, LLC registered for Y Combinator on "Immigration reform, tech competition policy, artificial intelligence and capital formation." Its lobbyist, Kevin Joseph, lists service on the House Energy and Commerce Committee from 1987 to 1989 and the Senate Commerce Committee from 1990 to 1999. Reported income was 20,000 dollars for the fourth quarter of 2023, 30,000 dollars for each of the first three quarters of 2024 and 45,000 dollars for each quarter from the fourth quarter of 2024 through the second quarter of 2026, a total of 425,000 dollars.[^37] ### Investment in Scale AI The Series F announcement of [Scale AI](/organizations/scale-ai/) on May 21, 2024 lists Y Combinator among the existing investors in the 1 billion dollar round at a 13.8 billion dollar valuation, alongside Nat Friedman, Index Ventures, Founders Fund and the lead investor Accel, and lists Meta among the new investors.[^38] [^1]: Graham, Paul. "How Y Combinator Started." paulgraham.com, March 2012. https://paulgraham.com/ycstart.html [^2]: Y Combinator. "What Happens at YC?" ycombinator.com/about, accessed October 1, 2026. https://www.ycombinator.com/about [^3]: Y Combinator Management, LLC (CRD 171730, SEC file 802-80528), Form ADV annual amendment, March 27, 2026, Items 1 and 7.B (Schedule D, Section 7.B.1) and Schedule A; Investment Adviser Public Disclosure record. https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/reports/ADV/171730/PDF/171730.pdf ; https://api.adviserinfo.sec.gov/search/firm/171730 [^4]: Graham, Paul. "Bio." paulgraham.com, accessed October 1, 2026. https://paulgraham.com/bio.html [^5]: Graham, Paul. "What I Worked On." paulgraham.com, February 2021. https://paulgraham.com/worked.html [^6]: United States v. Morris, 928 F.2d 504 (2d Cir. 1991), Docket No. 90-1336, argued December 4, 1990, decided March 7, 1991. https://openjurist.org/928/f2d/504 [^7]: Markoff, John. "Robert Morris, Pioneer in Computer Security, Dies at 78." The New York Times, June 29, 2011 (print July 1, 2011, section B, page 15). https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/technology/30morris.html [^8]: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Form D, Y Combinator Continuity Fund I, L.P. (CIK 0001645142), accession 0001645142-15-000001, filed June 15, 2015, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1645142/000164514215000001/primary_doc.xml ; Form D, Y Combinator Continuity Affiliates Fund I, L.P. (CIK 0001670489), accession 0001670489-16-000001, filed March 25, 2016, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1670489/000167048916000001/primary_doc.xml [^9]: Graham, Paul. "Sam Altman for President." Y Combinator blog, February 21, 2014. https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/sam-altman-for-president/ [^10]: Loizos, Connie. "Y Combinator promotes Geoff Ralston to president, while Sam Altman shifts to advisor role." TechCrunch, May 20, 2019. https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/20/y-combinator-promotes-geoff-ralston-to-president-while-sam-altman-shifts-to-advisor-role [^11]: Altman, Sam. "Geoff Ralston for President." Y Combinator blog, May 20, 2019. https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/geoff-ralston-for-president/ [^12]: Ralston, Geoff. "Welcome Home, Garry Tan." Y Combinator blog, August 29, 2022. https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/welcome-home-garry-tan [^13]: Altman, Sam. "Welcome Peter." Y Combinator blog, March 10, 2015 (with later edit line). https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/welcome-peter [^14]: Wiggers, Kyle. "Paul Graham claims Sam Altman wasn't fired from Y Combinator." TechCrunch, May 30, 2024, quoting Graham's posts on X of the same date. https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/30/paul-graham-claims-altman-wasnt-fired-from-y-combinator/ [^15]: Altman, Sam. "YC Research." Y Combinator blog, October 7, 2015, updated June 5, 2020. https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/yc-research/ [^16]: OpenAI Inc. (EIN 81-0861541), Form 990 for 2016, IRS e-file object 201703459349300445, Part VII and Schedules J, L, M and R, return timestamp December 11, 2017. IRS Form 990 e-file data, download990xml_2017_2.zip. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2017/download990xml_2017_2.zip [^17]: Y Combinator Research Inc. (EIN 81-0861414), Form 990 for 2016, IRS e-file object 201703459349300845, Part VII and Schedules J, L and R, return timestamp December 11, 2017. IRS Form 990 e-file data, download990xml_2017_2.zip. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2017/download990xml_2017_2.zip [^18]: OpenAI Inc., Form 990 for 2017, IRS e-file object 201920719349300822, Part VII and Schedules L and R, return timestamp March 12, 2019. download990xml_2019_4.zip. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2019/download990xml_2019_4.zip [^19]: Y Combinator Research Inc., Form 990 for 2017, IRS e-file object 201923539349301727, Part VII and Schedules I, L and M, return timestamp December 19, 2019. download990xml_2019_5.zip. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2019/download990xml_2019_5.zip [^20]: Y Combinator Research Inc., Form 990 for 2018, IRS e-file object 202030949349300318, Schedule L. download990xml_2020_5.zip. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2020/download990xml_2020_5.zip [^21]: Y Combinator Research Inc., Form 990 for 2019, IRS e-file object 202011399349301581, Schedule L. download990xml_2020_2.zip. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2020/download990xml_2020_2.zip [^22]: Open Research Lab (EIN 81-0861414), Form 990 for 2020, IRS e-file object 202113209349301966, Part III and Schedules I, L and O (name change of July 13, 2020). 2021_TEOS_XML_01A.zip. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2021/2021_TEOS_XML_01A.zip [^23]: Open Research Lab, Form 990 for 2021, IRS e-file object 202213199349328891, Schedules L and M. 2022_TEOS_XML_02A.zip. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2022/2022_TEOS_XML_02A.zip [^24]: Open Research Lab, Form 990 for 2022, IRS e-file object 202323259349301112, Schedule L. 2023_TEOS_XML_11A.zip. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2023/2023_TEOS_XML_11A.zip [^25]: Open Research Lab, Form 990 for 2023, IRS e-file object 202403209349327670, Schedule L, 2024_TEOS_XML_11A.zip, https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2024/2024_TEOS_XML_11A.zip ; amended Form 990 for 2023, object 202610309349301431, return timestamp January 30, 2026, 2026_TEOS_XML_02A.zip, https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2026/2026_TEOS_XML_02A.zip [^26]: Open Research Lab, Form 990 for 2024, IRS e-file object 202610309349300226, Part I, Part IV and Part VII, return timestamp January 30, 2026. 2026_TEOS_XML_02A.zip. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2026/2026_TEOS_XML_02A.zip [^27]: Dwoskin, Elizabeth, and Nitasha Tiku. "Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor." The Washington Post, November 22, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/22/sam-altman-fired-y-combinator-paul-graham/ [^28]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipts, contributor "Altman, Sam," sub_ids 4052220181566105868, 4062320201776698601 and 4092120221576376976. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/ [^29]: Rivano Barros, Joe. "Garry Tan, tech CEO & campaign donor, wishes death upon San Francisco politicians." Mission Local, January 27, 2024. https://missionlocal.org/2024/01/garry-tan-death-wish-sf-supervisors/ [^30]: City and County of San Francisco, Ethics Commission, campaign finance transactions (Form 460 Schedule A and Form 496), DataSF dataset pitq-e56w, queried October 1, 2026 for contributor Garry Tan. https://data.sf.gov/resource/pitq-e56w.json [^31]: Jetha, Rya. "Garry Tan isn't leaving California. He's launching a policy nonprofit instead." The San Francisco Standard, February 11, 2026. https://sfstandard.com/2026/02/11/garry-tan-isn-t-leaving-california-s-launching-policy-nonprofit-instead/ [^32]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipts, contributor "Tan, Garry," sub_ids 4051020251190690588, 4051020251189907530, 4060420251204703693, 4060420251204704940, 4102320242081212337, 4103120241015203165, 4010720261300203985, 4081320261580938131, 4090920261595992703, 4091520261598475450, 4091520261598475452 and 4041020261435471006; committee record C00922229 (Abundant Future). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/ ; https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00922229/ [^33]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A receipts, contributor "Graham, Paul" (sub_ids 4090120171448198341, 4021620181506028468, 4062720181571939382, 4021520191639633861) and "Livingston, Jessica" (4090120171448389113, 4022620211189209529, 4022620211189209530, 4012220251133165299); committee record C00484642 (SMP). https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/ ; https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00484642/ [^34]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00930727, Y Combinator Management, LLC Political Committee (Little Tech PAC), committee record and reports: Year-End 2025, https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/966/202601309794605966/202601309794605966.pdf ; April Quarterly 2026, https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/828/202604159857579828/202604159857579828.pdf ; Pre-Primary (April 1 to May 20, 2026), https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/264/202605289870302264/202605289870302264.pdf ; July Quarterly 2026, https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/209/202607139874939209/202607139874939209.pdf ; Pre-Primary (July 1 to 15, 2026), https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/400/202607239894444400/202607239894444400.pdf [^35]: Kim, Eddie. "Y Combinator's PAC is throwing money at a bunch of Republicans across the country." Gazetteer SF, September 18, 2026. https://sf.gazetteer.co/y-combinators-pac-is-throwing-money-at-a-bunch-of-republicans-across-the-country [^36]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A (42 records) and Schedule B (72 records) for committee C00930727, two-year period 2026, queried October 1, 2026. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?committee_id=C00930727 ; https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_b/?committee_id=C00930727 [^37]: U.S. Senate and House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings for client Y Combinator: Venture Politics registration posted September 5, 2014, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/7f934920-3e3f-46e4-bfe0-2cd9379fbdae/print/ , and termination posted October 20, 2014, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/784b304f-43fa-4dc0-8ddc-bd1a64a8f877/print/ ; The Joseph Group, LLC registration posted December 11, 2023, https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/cd6749cc-6a4f-4565-8b39-e4f42f395e7d/print/ , and quarterly reports for the fourth quarter of 2023 through the second quarter of 2026, https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/?client_name=Y+Combinator [^38]: Wang, Alexandr. "Scale's Series F: Expanding the Data Foundry for AI." Scale AI, May 21, 2024. https://scale.com/blog/scale-ai-series-f