I did Y Combinator in 2016 and 2025. The first time felt more 'family-style.'
Business Insider
February 22, 2026
AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary
Quang Hoang’s unique experience of completing Y Combinator (YC) twice—once in 2016 for his company Birdly and again in 2025 for Vybe—provides valuable insights into the evolution of the startup accelerator. While the core principles of YC remain unchanged, such as fostering user engagement, coding, and growth, Hoang highlights significant differences between his two experiences. His first run with YC felt more “family-style,” with communal dinners where partners sometimes cooked meals and fewer visible employees compared to today’s more structured environment.
Hoang co-founded Birdly in 2016 while still a student, aiming to solve the problem of lost expense receipts by creating a mobile app. Leveraging Slack’s newly released API, he pitched a bot that quickly gained traction during YC interviews, leading to his acceptance into the program. The experience was transformative, especially as Hoang and his team adapted to life in Mountain View, California, while navigating the cultural and professional challenges of starting a business in a new country.
After selling his previous company to Coda, which later became part of Grammarly, Hoang shifted focus to vibe-coding platforms with Vybe. Encouraged by YC partner Nicolas Dessaigne, he reapplied to YC despite the opportunity cost of leaving a successful acquisition. This time around, he noticed a marked increase in batch sizes and a greater emphasis on AI-driven startups. While the fundamentals of entrepreneurship—steady
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Originally published on Business Insider on 2/22/2026