Reports

Y Combinator just published its Fall 2026 Requests for Startups — including one from the sitting US Secretary of the Army. Here are the four themes hiding inside the thirteen requests, and what they say about the next wave of company formation.

OpenAI at $850B and Anthropic at $965B dominate the headlines. But the median US unicorn is worth $2 billion, took six years to get there, and you've probably never heard of it. Here's what the shape of the market actually looks like.

AI is no longer the thesis — it's the baseline. The W26 batch shows what founders build when everyone assumes AI, and what that means for the next generation of startups.

The GENIUS Act passed. Stablecoin B2B volume hit $5.4 trillion. Fireblocks says 25% of their customer invoices settle in stablecoins. Here's what actually changed, and what CFOs need to think about now.

Cap table problems don't kill deals — they delay them. A three-week diligence process becomes six months of legal cleanup. Here's what to fix before your investor asks for the file.

You exercise. You don't sell anything. Six months later you owe the IRS $80,000. Here's how the alternative minimum tax works, why ISOs trigger it, and what the 2025 tax law change means for you.

IPOs stalled. Employees held equity for a decade. A secondary market that barely existed five years ago now moves billions. Here's what's really going on — and what it means for founders, employees, and investors.

You're not asking for salary. You're asking for equity that might be worth nothing or might change your life. Here are the seven questions that determine which one.

Most founders sign their first term sheet without knowing what half of it does. Here's the working guide to the ten clauses that will affect you most — and what to push back on.

Limited Partners are picky, slow, and increasingly selective. Here's what the latest data says about how funds actually get raised — and what emerging managers need to know.

The Stripe letter said agentic commerce was coming. Here's the actual infrastructure being built to make it work — and what founders should pay attention to.

The most consequential financial choice most startup employees make — and the one almost nobody is prepared for. Here's how to think through it.

One number on a term sheet can erase millions in employee equity at exit. Here's what to actually look for — and what to push back on.

The seat-based pricing that built SaaS doesn't work for products where the AI does the work. Here's what's replacing it — and what founders need to know now.

Patrick and John Collison shipped a 9,000-word letter. Here's what matters if you're building in fintech or thinking about it.

Founders are raising more, on different instruments, and giving away more equity than they think. Here's what the data actually says — and what to do about it.