My Top Six Picks from YC S19 Demo Day 1
A few weeks ago I wrote about how I recently had one of my angel investments cross into “unicorn” territory for the very first time (click here if you missed it), so naturally I have now gone full Nostradamus and am doing my own “top picks” YC demo day predictions.
Without further ado, here are my (check out Techcrunch’s article here for the full list) top six picks of the 84 companies that presented during Demo Day 1.
Disclaimer: I may have already, and reserve the right to in the future, invest in any of these companies. This should not be construed as investment advice. Any information below is from a public source: the aforementioned Techcrunch article, the companies website, or publicly available news articles.
Metacode (https://metacode.app/)
Pitch: Better code search. The fastest way to navigate and understand code.
My 2c: As any programmer can attest, a HUGE part of programming is googling. So Metacode’s value-prop is about as straightforward as you can get. If they can execute properly, their $25 / dev / month business model could grow into an extremely attractive business, and fast.
Apero Health (https://www.aperohealth.com/)
Pitch: Machine-language powered medical billing
My 2c: Technical chops? Founding team includes the former CTO of Doctor on Demand, which raised $160M (check). Industry ripe for disruption? Check. Need for specific use case? I’m no domain expert.. but medical billing seems like one of the most broken aspects of the broken healthcare industry. Check. Yep, this one checks a lot of unicorn boxes.
Blair (https://joinblair.com/)
Pitch: platform to finance college education via income sharing agreements
My 2c: Income sharing agreements (ISAs) is an idea whose time has come. Show me any screwed up industry, and I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that the incentives are screwed up. ISAs help to realign incentives when it comes to financing education. You could argue that the Blair is offering a more innovative product than fintech unicorns like SofI or Robinhood.
Simmer (https://www.usesimmer.com/)
Pitch: dish-level reviews for delivery apps
My 2c: this is an idea that’s easy to dismiss on the surface. And I almost did. And then I actually thought about it, and how it’s widely acknowledged that restaurants hate Yelp, and how the utility of Yelp for users decreases as the prevalence of delivery and cloud kitchens increases. Oh, and like, if you could get a review on a restaurant, or on the specific dish you want to order, guess which one is a lot more helpful? Chris Dixon said the next big thing will start out looking like a toy — dish-level reviews seems a bit gimmicky, but it makes a lot of sense (on many levels) after you really think about it.
ActionDesk (https://www.actiondesk.io)
Pitch: lets anyone build powerful automations using only their spreadsheet skills
My 2c: the spreadsheet is dead. Long live the spreadsheet. As much as we all can’t wait for Excel to just go away, it’s the cockroach of business tools - it’s everywhere and probably will be the only thing left when the sun explodes and annihilates life on earth. In the meantime, a startup that helps augment the spreadsheet seems like a pretty good startup idea. Maybe this is a bit of a stretch, but for those of you into pattern matching, they kind of have a Front-ish vibe to it (both are founded by YC French founders, both are improving on “old school” tools -- in Front’s case, email).
Hype & Vice (https://www.hypeandvice.com/)
Pitch: fashion-focused college apparel for women
My 2c: this is another startup idea that’s easy to dismiss at a glance (fashion? let me know how I can be helpful…). But, executed properly, it’s a gem of an idea. You have a captive audience (college students) where a competitive wedge (vs. the official student store) is there for the taking. The devil’s in the details, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this, similar to something like Fanatics, grows to be huge while you weren’t looking.
Well, those are my six. Next week I’ll reveal my list of top picks from Demo Day 2 — hit the subscribe button below if you want it delivered straight to your inbox! Oh, and I had a really hard time picking just six startups. I’ve listed a few more interesting ones below. Until next time, happy unicorn hunting!
Honorable Mention:
Because I’m relying solely on public information, I tended to stick to companies that have more straightforward (at least from my personal perspective) go-to-markets. As a result, I didn’t list a bunch of super-intriguing deeptech companies:
Vorticity: domain specific accelerators for fluid dynamics
Kern Systems: storing data on DNA
Holy Grail: cheaper and faster batteries
I also thought Courier (multi-channel notifications), Binks (tailor-made clothing for women in India), Revel (offline/online community for women over 50), Marble (self-ordering kiosks), Intersect Labs (predictive analytics for spreadsheet users), Soteris (AI platform for insurance), Well-Principled (AI-based management consultant), Prenda (microschool platform), GreenTiger (Robinhood for India) and Nonu (Hims for India) were all compelling.
But in some cases (the India-focused ones particularly) I just don’t have a good feel for how well those concepts would translate to a country I’ve never been to. In some other cases, I just didn’t have enough public information to make those my picks, but wouldn’t be surprised if any of those are the next AirBnb, Dropbox or Stripes.