2b:null 2c:["$","title",null,{"children":"What even is an \"AI startup\"? | Jiaju Ma | Observable"}] 31:T4bc,Ask this question to ten different founders, and you will get ten different answers. To some, it is any company using machine learning. To others, it means building with foundation models. To investors, it might just be a buzzword that opens checkbooks. But instead of debating definitions, we decided to let the data answer. Picture the canonical Silicon Valley startup: two young founders in hoodies, sitting in a Palo Alto garage, debating whether their photo-sharing app should be called Snaply or Picster. This image has long served as the cultural archetype—but it no longer reflects reality, especially when it comes to AI. After analyzing more than 5,000 companies in Y Combinator's [public dataset](https://github.com/yc-oss/api), we found that the contemporary startup—and especially the AI startup—has diverged significantly from this canonical narrative. The characteristics that once defined the early 2000s startup—its geography, product focus, and even the way it presents itself online—have all undergone substantive shifts. The modern AI startup is, by measurable indicators, structurally and conceptually different from the one that dominated technology discourse twenty years ago. 32:T4b5,
## ~~Y Combinator~~ AI Combinator Over the past decade, the composition of YC companies has shifted dramatically. Early batches were dominated by consumer apps, social media, and SaaS tools—companies like [Airbnb](https://airbnb.com) (W09), [Stripe](https://stripe.com) (S09), [Coinbase](https://coinbase.com) (S12), and [DoorDash](https://doordash.com) (S13) defined what it meant to be a YC startup. However, beginning around 2012 and accelerating sharply after 2022, AI-related startups became the largest and fastest-growing category. Early AI bets like [Cruise Automation](https://getcruise.com) (2014) and [Scale AI](https://scale.com) (2016) were outliers in their batches; by Winter 2024, more than 75% of the companies explicitly built with AI—one of the most selective cohorts in YC history with under 1% acceptance. We analyze the industry tags provided by each YC company, and group them over the years. In the streamgraph, we see the AI and automation band swelling year by year, eventually overtaking entire categories that used to define the accelerator's identity. _In the visualization below, you can drag the dashed line around to see how the river of hype evolved over time._33:T12d4,{ const width = 975; const height = 500; const margin = {top: 60, right: 50, bottom: 60, left: 10}; const data = streamData.overview; const keys = streamData.keys.overview; const years = data.map(d => d.year); const minYear = Math.min(...years); const maxYear = Math.max(...years);; let currentYear = maxYear; const container = d3.create("div") .style("position", "relative") const header = container.append("div") .style("padding", "10px 0 20px 10px"); header.append("h3") .text("The river of hype") .style("margin", "0"); header.append("div") .text("Volume of startup themes in Y Combinator batches over time. Drag the dashed line to replay history.") .style("color", "#666") .style("font-size", "14px"); const svg = container.append("svg") .attr("viewBox", [0, 0, width, height]) .style("overflow", "visible") .style("cursor", "col-resize") .style("user-select", "none"); const x = d3.scaleLinear() .domain([minYear, maxYear]) .range([margin.left, width - margin.right]); const y = d3.scaleLinear() .range([height - margin.bottom, margin.top]); const color = d3.scaleOrdinal() .domain(keys) .range(["#ff8ab7", "#ffc400", "#00d1b2", "#9498a0", "#2563eb"]); const area = d3.area() .x(d => x(d.data.year)) .y0(d => y(d[0])) .y1(d => y(d[1])) .curve(d3.curveBasis); const layerGroup = svg.append("g").attr("class", "layers"); const legendGroup = svg.append("g").attr("class", "legend") .attr("transform", `translate(${margin.left + 5}, 8)`); keys.forEach((key, i) => { const g = legendGroup.append("g").attr("transform", `translate(${i * 120}, 0)`); g.append("circle").attr("r", 5).attr("fill", color(key)); g.append("text").attr("x", 10).attr("y", 4).text(key) .style("font-size", "11px") .style("font-weight", "bold") .style("fill", "#333"); }); const axisGroup = svg.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(0,${height - margin.bottom})`); axisGroup.call(d3.axisBottom(x).ticks(10).tickFormat(d3.format("d"))); // Eras const eras = [ { label: "Social & Mobile", start: 2005, end: 2009 }, { label: "Gig Economy", start: 2010, end: 2014 }, { label: "Crypto & Web3", start: 2017, end: 2021 }, { label: "Generative AI", start: 2022, end: maxYear } ]; const eraGroup = axisGroup.append("g").attr("class", "eras"); eras.forEach(era => { const x1 = x(era.start); const x2 = x(era.end); const mid = x1 + (x2 - x1) / 2; eraGroup.append("path") .attr("d", `M${x1},35 v5 H${x2} v-5`) // bracket shape .attr("stroke", "#333") .attr("fill", "none") .attr("stroke-width", 1); eraGroup.append("text") .attr("x", mid) .attr("y", 55) .attr("text-anchor", "middle") .text(era.label) .style("font-size", "11px") .style("font-weight", "bold") .style("fill", "#333"); }); // cursor const cursorGroup = svg.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(${width - margin.right}, 0)`) .style("pointer-events", "none"); const cursorLine = cursorGroup.append("line") .attr("y1", margin.top) .attr("y2", height - margin.bottom) .attr("stroke", "#333") .attr("stroke-width", 2) .attr("stroke-dasharray", "4 4"); const cursorLabel = cursorGroup.append("text") .attr("y", margin.top - 5) .attr("text-anchor", "middle") .style("font-weight", "bold") .style("font-size", "14px") .text(maxYear); // drag behavior const drag = d3.drag() .on("start drag", function(event) { const [mx] = d3.pointer(event, svg.node()); const cx = Math.max(margin.left, Math.min(width - margin.right, mx)); const rawYear = x.invert(cx); const year = Math.max(minYear, Math.min(maxYear, Math.round(rawYear))); if (year !== currentYear) { updateCursor(year); } }); svg.call(drag); // update logic function updateCursor(year) { currentYear = year; const cx = x(year); cursorGroup.attr("transform", `translate(${cx}, 0)`); cursorLabel.text(year); const filteredData = data.filter(d => d.year <= year); const stack = d3.stack() .keys(keys) .offset(d3.stackOffsetSilhouette) .order(d3.stackOrderNone); const series = stack(filteredData); const currentMaxY = d3.max(series, layer => d3.max(layer, d => d[1])) || 10; y.domain([-currentMaxY, currentMaxY]); layerGroup.selectAll("path") .data(series, d => d.key) .join("path") .attr("d", area) .attr("fill", d => color(d.key)) .attr("opacity", 0.9) .attr("stroke", "white") .attr("stroke-width", 0.5); } updateCursor(maxYear); return container.node(); }34:T280e,chart = { const width = 1400; const height = 500; const marginTop = 40; // Reduced to close gap const marginRight = 80; const marginBottom = 60; const marginLeft = 80; const tld1 = ".com"; const tld2 = ".ai"; const container = d3.create("div") .style("position", "relative"); const header = container.append("div") .style("padding", "10px 0 0 10px"); // Reduced bottom padding header.append("h3") .text("The Domain Name Shift") .style("margin", "0"); header.append("div") .text("Percentage of YC companies launching with .com vs .ai domains") .style("color", "#666") .style("font-size", "14px"); const svg = container.append("svg") .attr("width", width) .attr("height", height) .attr("viewBox", [0, 0, width, height]) .style("max-width", "100%") .style("height", "auto"); const svgGroup = svg.append("g"); const tooltip = container.append("div") .attr("class", "tooltip") .style("position", "absolute") .style("pointer-events", "none") .style("background", "white") .style("padding", "12px 18px") .style("border", "2px solid #ddd") .style("border-radius", "8px") .style("font-size", "12px") .style("box-shadow", "0 4px 20px rgba(0,0,0,0.15)") .style("opacity", 0) .style("z-index", "10000") .style("transition", "opacity 0.2s") .style("text-align", "center") .style("line-height", "1.6"); function draw() { svgGroup.selectAll("*").remove(); const batchData = computeBatchDomainStats(data, tld1, tld2); const color1 = "#df6c37"; const color2 = "#417bf7"; const x = d3.scaleBand() .domain(batchData.map(d => batchToShortLabel(d.batch))) .range([marginLeft, width - marginRight]) .padding(0.3); const y = d3.scaleLinear() .domain([0, 105]) .range([height - marginBottom, marginTop]); svgGroup.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(0,${height - marginBottom})`) .call(d3.axisBottom(x)) .style("font-size", "12px") .selectAll("text") .attr("transform", "rotate(-45)") .style("text-anchor", "end"); svgGroup.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(${marginLeft},0)`) .call(d3.axisLeft(y)) .style("font-size", "14px"); svgGroup.append("text") .attr("transform", "rotate(-90)") .attr("y", marginLeft - 50) .attr("x", -(height / 2)) .attr("text-anchor", "middle") .style("font-size", "16px") .style("font-weight", "600") .text("% of Companies"); svgGroup.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(${marginLeft},0)`) .call(d3.axisLeft(y).tickSize(-(width - marginLeft - marginRight)).tickFormat("")) .attr("stroke-opacity", 0.1); const makeLine = accessor => d3.line() .x(d => x(batchToShortLabel(d.batch)) + x.bandwidth() / 2) .y(d => y(accessor(d))); svgGroup.append("path") .datum(batchData) .attr("fill", "none") .attr("stroke", color1) .attr("stroke-width", 2.5) .attr("d", makeLine(d => d.pctTld1)); svgGroup.append("path") .datum(batchData) .attr("fill", "none") .attr("stroke", color2) .attr("stroke-width", 2.5) .attr("d", makeLine(d => d.pctTld2)); function addDots(accessor, color, label, countAccessor) { svgGroup.append("g") .selectAll("circle") .data(batchData) .join("circle") .attr("cx", d => x(batchToShortLabel(d.batch)) + x.bandwidth() / 2) .attr("cy", d => y(accessor(d))) .attr("r", 6) .attr("fill", "white") .attr("stroke", color) .attr("stroke-width", 2.5) .style("cursor", "pointer") .on("mouseenter", function(event, d) { d3.select(this) .transition() .duration(150) .attr("r", 8) .attr("stroke-width", 3); const total = d.countTld1 + d.countTld2; const pctCom = d.pctTld1; const pctAi = d.pctTld2; const containerRect = container.node().getBoundingClientRect(); const mouseX = event.pageX - containerRect.left - window.scrollX; const mouseY = event.pageY - containerRect.top - window.scrollY; const tooltipWidth = 300; const shouldFlipLeft = mouseX > width / 2; const leftPos = shouldFlipLeft ? (mouseX - tooltipWidth - 15) : (mouseX + 15); tooltip .style("opacity", 1) .html(`

YC Batch: ${batchToShortLabel(d.batch)}

% with .com Domain: ${pctCom.toFixed(2)}%

% with .ai Domain: ${pctAi.toFixed(2)}%

YC Batch: ${batchToShortLabel(d.batch)}

% with .com Domain: ${pctCom.toFixed(2)}%

% with .ai Domain: ${pctAi.toFixed(2)}%

`) .style("left", leftPos + "px") .style("top", (mouseY - 10) + "px"); }) .on("mousemove", function(event) { const containerRect = container.node().getBoundingClientRect(); const mouseX = event.pageX - containerRect.left - window.scrollX; const mouseY = event.pageY - containerRect.top - window.scrollY; const tooltipWidth = 300; const shouldFlipLeft = mouseX > width / 2; const leftPos = shouldFlipLeft ? (mouseX - tooltipWidth - 15) : (mouseX + 15); tooltip .style("left", leftPos + "px") .style("top", (mouseY - 10) + "px"); }) .on("mouseleave", function() { connectLine.attr("opacity", 0); svgGroup.selectAll("circle").each(function(circleData) { if (circleData && batchToShortLabel(circleData.batch) === batchToShortLabel(d.batch)) { d3.select(this).attr("fill", "white"); } }); tooltip.style("opacity", 0); }); }); addDots(d => d.pctTld1, color1); addDots(d => d.pctTld2, color2); const legend = svgGroup.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(${width - marginRight - 220}, ${marginTop + 40})`); const legendItems = [ { label: ".com", color: color1 }, { label: ".ai", color: color2 } ]; // draw line legendItems.forEach((item, i) => { const g = legend.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(${i * 110},0)`); g.append("line") .attr("x1", 0) .attr("x2", 20) .attr("y1", 7) .attr("y2", 7) .attr("stroke", item.color) .attr("stroke-width", 2.5); g.append("circle") .attr("cx", 10) .attr("cy", 7) .attr("r", 5) .attr("fill", "white") .attr("stroke", item.color) .attr("stroke-width", 2.5); g.append("text") .attr("x", 26) .attr("y", 11) .style("font-size", "15px") .style("font-weight", "600") .text(item.label); }); } draw(); return container.node(); }35:T4dd, We also found evidence of this rise in AI startups in an unexpected place: the domain names of their company websites. In early YC batches, nearly every company used a `.com` domain, reflecting the default identity of a classic internet business. **However, over the last five years, there’s been a sharp and steady rise in startups choosing `.ai` domains.** The chart shows the tipping point clearly: `.ai` begins as a fringe choice, then accelerates rapidly once generative AI takes off (2022), becoming a visible marker of a company positioning itself inside the AI ecosystem. Equally interesting is the corresponding decline of `.com`. It’s not that `.com` disappears, but it no longer dominates by default. The shift suggests that founders increasingly see AI not as a feature but as the identity of the company—something worth branding at the domain level. A `.ai` domain has become a signal: “this is an AI-native startup.” In combination with the streamgraph showing the rise of AI companies overall, the domain trend offers a behavioral clue about founder mindset. Not only are more startups building AI products—their first impression to the world is designed to emphasize it.36:T146c,chartEvolution = { const width = 975; const height = 300; const margin = {top: 40, right: 50, bottom: 20, left: 40}; const keys = streamData.keys.aiDetail; const globalData = streamData.overview; const minYear = d3.min(globalData, d => d.year); const maxYear = d3.max(globalData, d => d.year); const fullData = streamData.aiDetail.filter(d => d3.sum(keys, k => d[k]) > 0); const startDataYear = d3.min(fullData, d => d.year) || maxYear; // colorcode by sector const colorMap = { "Generative & LLM": "#a855f7", "Agents & Copilots": "#f97316", "Machine Learning": "#3b82f6", "Robotics & Phys": "#10b981", "General AI": "#9ca3af" }; const color = d => colorMap[d] || "#666"; let currentYear = maxYear; const container = d3.create("div") .style("position", "relative") const header = container.append("div") .style("padding", "10px 0 20px 10px"); header.append("h3") .text("The evolving meaning of 'AI'") .style("margin", "0"); header.append("div") .text("Distribution of AI sub-themes within YC batches. Drag the dashed line to replay history.") .style("color", "#666") .style("font-size", "14px"); const svg = container.append("svg") .attr("viewBox", [0, 0, width, height]) .style("overflow", "visible") .style("user-select", "none") .style("cursor", "col-resize"); const x = d3.scaleLinear() .domain([minYear, maxYear]) .range([margin.left, width - margin.right]); const y = d3.scaleLinear() .range([height - margin.bottom, margin.top]); const area = d3.area() .x(d => x(d.data.year)) .y0(d => y(d[0])) .y1(d => y(d[1])) .curve(d3.curveBasis); const noAiGroup = svg.append("g"); const layerGroup = svg.append("g"); const legendGroup = svg.append("g").attr("class", "legend") .attr("transform", `translate(${margin.left-24}, 10)`); keys.forEach((key, i) => { const g = legendGroup.append("g").attr("transform", `translate(${i * 125}, 0)`); g.append("circle").attr("r", 5).attr("fill", color(key)); g.append("text").attr("x", 10).attr("y", 4).text(key) .style("font-size", "11px") .style("font-weight", "bold") .style("fill", "#333"); }); svg.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(0,${height - margin.bottom})`) .call(d3.axisBottom(x).tickFormat(d3.format("d")).ticks(width / 80)); svg.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(${margin.left},0)`) .call(d3.axisLeft(y).ticks(5, "%")) .call(g => g.select(".domain").remove()); // cursor const cursorGroup = svg.append("g").style("pointer-events", "none"); const cursorLine = cursorGroup.append("line") .attr("y1", margin.top) .attr("y2", height - margin.bottom) .attr("stroke", "#333").attr("stroke-width", 2).attr("stroke-dasharray", "4 4"); const cursorLabel = cursorGroup.append("text") .attr("y", margin.top - 5).attr("text-anchor", "middle") .style("font-weight", "bold").style("font-size", "14px"); // drag behavior const drag = d3.drag() .on("start drag", function(event) { const [mx] = d3.pointer(event, svg.node()); const cx = Math.max(margin.left, Math.min(width - margin.right, mx)); const rawYear = x.invert(cx); const year = Math.max(minYear, Math.min(maxYear, Math.round(rawYear))); if (year !== currentYear) update(year); }); svg.call(drag); // update function update(year) { currentYear = year; const cx = x(year); cursorGroup.attr("transform", `translate(${cx}, 0)`); cursorLabel.text(year); const noAiEnd = Math.min(year, startDataYear); noAiGroup.selectAll("*").remove(); if (noAiEnd > minYear) { const x1 = x(minYear); const x2 = x(noAiEnd); const w = x2 - x1; if (w > 0) { noAiGroup.append("rect") .attr("x", x1) .attr("y", margin.top) .attr("width", w) .attr("height", height - margin.bottom - margin.top) .attr("fill", "#fafafa") .attr("stroke", "#ccc") .attr("stroke-width", 1.5) .attr("stroke-dasharray", "4 4"); if (w > 100) { noAiGroup.append("text") .attr("x", x1 + w / 2) .attr("y", margin.top + (height - margin.bottom - margin.top) / 2) .attr("text-anchor", "middle") .attr("dy", "0.35em") .attr("fill", "#aaa") .style("font-size", "13px") .style("font-weight", "500") .text("No AI startups"); } } } const filteredData = fullData.filter(d => d.year <= year); if (filteredData.length === 0) { layerGroup.selectAll("path").remove(); return; } const stack = d3.stack() .keys(keys) .offset(d3.stackOffsetExpand) .order(d3.stackOrderNone); const series = stack(filteredData); layerGroup.selectAll("path") .data(series, d => d.key) .join("path") .attr("d", area) .attr("fill", d => color(d.key)) .attr("opacity", 0.9); } update(maxYear); return container.node(); }37:T5be,However, the meaning of AI shifts dramatically as you move through the batches. Around 2020–2021, the distribution begins to rebalance: NLP and generative models grow, and agentic and copilot systems start to occupy a meaningful share of AI descriptions. Once LLMs and diffusion models hit mainstream awareness in 2022, the pattern in the visualization changes completely. The generative AI sub-theme surges upward, while earlier categories shrink in normalized percentage. AI stops being an internal technique and becomes the central value proposition of the product itself. This transition is important because it reflects how founders interpret technological possibility. **Earlier AI startups were constrained by narrow models and domain-specific datasets; newer AI startups assume general-purpose models as a starting point.** By 2024–2025, robotics experiences a parallel resurgence—companies build humanoid robots and general-purpose manipulators using pre-trained vision-language models rather than hand-coded behaviors, echoing the same foundational shift that transformed text and image generation. The visualization captures this philosophical shift: "AI" no longer means optimization or classification—it means creation, automation, and entirely new product experiences. In other words, the definition of AI evolves alongside the underlying capabilities of the models, and YC's batch data provides a clear quantitative fingerprint of that evolution.38:T2032,{ //configs const width = 975; const height = 500; const margin = {top: 40, right: 140, bottom: 20, left: 60}; // State const expanded = new Set(); const hiddenIndustries = new Set(); const container = d3.create("div") .style("position", "relative") .style("font-family", "system-ui, sans-serif"); const header = container.append("div") .style("padding", "10px 0 0 10px"); header.append("h3") .text("Survival of the Smartest?") .style("margin", "0"); header.append("div") .text("AI Intensity vs. Survival Rate by Industry (Post-2012)") .style("color", "#666") .style("font-size", "14px"); const svg = container.append("svg") .attr("viewBox", [0, 0, width, height]) .style("overflow", "visible"); const x = d3.scaleLinear().domain([0, 1]).range([margin.left, width - margin.right]); const y = d3.scaleLinear().domain([0.4, 1]).range([height - margin.bottom, margin.top]); const color = d3.scaleOrdinal(d3.schemeTableau10); const maxTotal = d3.max(scatterData.parents, d => d.total); const r = d3.scaleSqrt().domain([0, maxTotal]).range([2, 50]); svg.append("g").attr("transform", `translate(0,${height - margin.bottom})`) .call(d3.axisBottom(x).tickFormat(d3.format(".0%"))) .call(g => g.append("text").attr("x", width-margin.right).attr("y", -6).attr("fill", "#000").attr("font-weight", "bold").text("AI Intensity →").attr("text-anchor", "end")); svg.append("g").attr("transform", `translate(${margin.left},0)`) .call(d3.axisLeft(y).tickFormat(d3.format(".0%"))) .call(g => g.append("text") .attr("x", -margin.left) .attr("y", margin.top - 15) .attr("fill", "#000") .attr("font-weight", "bold") .attr("text-anchor", "start") .text("↑ Survival Rate")); const grid = svg.append("g").attr("stroke", "#ccc").attr("stroke-dasharray", "4 4"); grid.append("line") .attr("x1", x(0.5)).attr("x2", x(0.5)) .attr("y1", margin.top).attr("y2", height - margin.bottom); grid.append("line") .attr("x1", margin.left).attr("x2", width - margin.right) .attr("y1", y(0.8)).attr("y2", y(0.8)); grid.append("text") .attr("x", width - margin.right + 5) .attr("y", y(0.8)) .attr("dy", "0.32em") .attr("fill", "#999") .attr("font-size", "10px") .text("80% Survival"); const bubbleGroup = svg.append("g"); const tooltip = container.append("div") .style("position", "absolute").style("visibility", "hidden") .style("background", "white").style("border", "1px solid #333").style("padding", "12px") .style("border-radius", "6px").style("box-shadow", "0 6px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.15)") .style("pointer-events", "none").style("font-size", "12px").style("max-width", "260px").style("z-index", "10"); function update() { let visibleData = []; scatterData.parents.forEach(parent => { if (parent.name === "Unspecified") return; if (hiddenIndustries.has(parent.name)) return; if (expanded.has(parent.name)) { const children = scatterData.children.filter(c => c.parent === parent.name); const validChildren = children.filter(c => c.name !== "Unspecified"); visibleData.push(...validChildren); } else { visibleData.push(parent); } }); visibleData.sort((a,b) => b.total - a.total); const bubbles = bubbleGroup.selectAll("circle") .data(visibleData, d => d.type === "parent" ? d.name : `${d.parent}|${d.name}`); bubbles.join( enter => enter.append("circle") .attr("cx", d => x(d.aiIntensity)) .attr("cy", d => y(d.survivalRate)) .attr("r", 0) .attr("fill", d => color(d.parent)) .attr("fill-opacity", 0.8) .attr("stroke", d => d.type === "parent" ? "white" : "#9ca3af") .attr("stroke-width", d => d.type === "parent" ? 3 : 2) .attr("stroke-dasharray", d => d.type === "parent" ? null : "3,2") .style("cursor", "pointer") .on("click", (e, d) => toggleExpand(d)) .on("mouseover", function(e, d) { d3.select(this).attr("stroke", "#333").attr("stroke-width", 2).attr("stroke-dasharray", null); tooltip.style("visibility", "visible").html(getTooltip(d)); }) .on("mousemove", e => { const [mx, my] = d3.pointer(e, container.node()); tooltip.style("left", (mx+15)+"px").style("top", (my+15)+"px"); }) .on("mouseout", function(e, d) { d3.select(this) .attr("stroke", d.type === "parent" ? "white" : "#9ca3af") .attr("stroke-width", d.type === "parent" ? 2 : 1) .attr("stroke-dasharray", d.type === "parent" ? null : "3,2"); tooltip.style("visibility", "hidden"); }) .call(enter => enter.transition().duration(750).attr("r", d => r(d.total))), update => update.transition().duration(750) .attr("cx", d => x(d.aiIntensity)) .attr("cy", d => y(d.survivalRate)) .attr("r", d => r(d.total)) .attr("fill", d => color(d.parent)) .attr("stroke", d => d.type === "parent" ? "white" : "#9ca3af") .attr("stroke-width", d => d.type === "parent" ? 2 : 1) .attr("stroke-dasharray", d => d.type === "parent" ? null : "3,2"), exit => exit.transition().duration(500).attr("r", 0).remove() ); updateLegend(); } // toggle to expand function toggleExpand(d) { if (d.type === "parent") expanded.add(d.name); else expanded.delete(d.parent); update(); } const legend = svg.append("g").attr("transform", `translate(${width - 120}, ${margin.top})`); const industries = scatterData.parents .filter(d => d.name !== "Unspecified") .map(d => d.name).sort(); legend.append("text").text("Filter by Industry").attr("font-weight", "bold").attr("y", -10).attr("font-size", "11px"); const rows = legend.selectAll("g") .data(industries).join("g") .attr("transform", (d, i) => `translate(0, ${i * 18})`) .style("cursor", "pointer") .on("click", (e, ind) => { if (hiddenIndustries.has(ind)) hiddenIndustries.delete(ind); else hiddenIndustries.add(ind); update(); }); rows.append("circle").attr("r", 4).attr("fill", d => color(d)); rows.append("text").attr("x", 10).attr("y", 4).text(d => d).attr("font-size", "10px"); function updateLegend() { rows.style("opacity", d => hiddenIndustries.has(d) ? 0.4 : 1) .select("text").style("text-decoration", d => hiddenIndustries.has(d) ? "line-through" : "none"); } function getTooltip(d) { const isParent = d.type === "parent"; const titleStyle = isParent ? `font-weight:900; font-size:15px; letter-spacing:0.5px; text-transform:uppercase; color:${color(d.name)};` : `font-weight:bold; font-size:14px; color:${color(d.parent)};`; const subtitle = isParent ? `INDUSTRY` : `Subindustry of ${d.parent}`; return `

${d.name}

${subtitle}

AI INTENSITY

${(d.aiIntensity*100).toFixed(1)}%

SURVIVAL

${(d.survivalRate*100).toFixed(1)}%

Volume: ${d.total} companies

${isParent ? "Click to Explode 💥" : "Click to Collapse ↩"}

`; } update(); return container.node(); }39:T959,What emerges is more nuanced than a simple "AI = success" story. Consumer shows a linear relationship: as AI intensity increases, so does survival rate. This positive correlation might suggest that consumer startups genuinely benefit from AI adoption—perhaps because AI enables better personalization, content generation, and user engagement that directly translates to product-market fit in consumer markets. However, B2B tells a different story. Despite being the largest category by volume—the biggest bubble on the chart—B2B maintains roughly 87% survival across a wide range of AI intensities. When zoomed in, B2B sub-industries form a horizontal band around 80-90% survival whether their AI intensity is 20% or 60%. One possible way to explain this pattern is that, in B2B markets, survival depends more on sales execution, enterprise relationships, and solving clear business problems than on AI sophistication itself. The technology matters less than the fundamentals. In the upper-left quadrant, Government, Healthcare, Education, and Industrials cluster together with moderate AI intensity (around 25%) but survival rates consistently around 85%. When these bubbles are expanded, many of their sub-industries like Climate, Medical Devices, and Therapeutics maintain similarly high survival despite lower AI adoption. This might suggest that these sectors benefit more from regulatory moats, long sales cycles, and domain expertise than from cutting-edge AI. Fintech tells a similar story—its parent bubble sits around 90% survival with only ~25% AI intensity, and sub-industries like payments and lending maintain strong survival without heavy AI investment. **Overall, the relationship between AI and survival is industry-dependent, not universal.** If you draw a trendline across all bubbles, there is indeed a modest positive relationship—higher AI intensity correlates with better survival overall. However, this aggregate pattern masks dramatically different dynamics within each sector as what we have described above. In short, _AI is neither universally beneficial nor universally irrelevant._ Its impact depends entirely on market structure: it's a differentiator in consumer, a commodity in B2B, and largely orthogonal to success in regulated industries. Product-market fit still matters most, but *how* AI contributes to that fit varies dramatically by sector.3a:T483,
## So, where is all the AI happening? For most of the past decade, the geography of YC startups followed a clear trend: dispersion. Startups were once concentrated almost entirely in Silicon Valley and Boston (where YC was founded), then began spreading across the U.S. and internationally. Remote work, cheaper cities, and the globalization of developer talent loosened the Bay Area’s gravitational pull. By 2016, the startup landscape looked far more distributed than at any point in YC’s history. The map below visualizes this geographic shift through hexagonal tiles, where each tile represents a cluster of YC companies in a region. Tile size corresponds to the total number of companies, while color indicates AI dominance (the percentage of companies in that region identified as AI startups). _Use the Play button to watch how geography evolved over time, or drag the year slider. The granularity slider adjusts tile size: lower values show city-level detail, while higher values aggregate into broader metro areas and regions. Hover over any tile to see specifics, including the exact AI percentage and company count for that location._3b:T309e,{ // plotting for hexbin geography // configs const width = 975; const height = 660; const controlHeight = 60; const mapHeight = height - controlHeight; // animation slidebar const start = 2005; const end = 2024; const speed = 800; let selectedYear = end; let hexRadius = 30; let timer = null; const container = d3.create("div") .style("position", "relative") .style("width", "100%") .style("max-width", `${width}px`) const header = container.append("div") .style("padding", "10px 0 10px 10px"); header.append("h3") .text("Geographic distribution of YC startups in the US") .style("margin", "0"); header.append("div") .text("AI dominance by region over time (2005-2024). Tile size shows company volume, color shows AI concentration.") .style("color", "#666") .style("font-size", "14px"); const svg = container.append("svg") .attr("viewBox", [0, 0, width, height]) .style("display", "block") .style("width", "100%") .style("height", "auto"); const controlsG = svg.append("g").attr("class", "controls"); controlsG.append("rect") .attr("width", width) .attr("height", controlHeight) .attr("fill", "#fff") // .attr("stroke", "#e5e7eb") // .attr("stroke-width", 1); const playButton = controlsG.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(10, 12)`) .style("cursor", "pointer"); playButton.append("rect") .attr("width", 60) .attr("height", 32) .attr("rx", 4) .attr("fill", "#2563eb"); const playText = playButton.append("text") .attr("x", 30) .attr("y", 20) .attr("text-anchor", "middle") .attr("fill", "white") .attr("font-weight", "bold") .attr("font-size", "12px") .text("Play"); // year controls controlsG.append("text") .attr("x", 85) .attr("y", 20) .attr("font-weight", "600") .attr("font-size", "11px") .text("Year"); const yearValueText = controlsG.append("text") .attr("x", 85) .attr("y", 40) .attr("font-weight", "bold") .attr("font-size", "15px") .attr("fill", "#2563eb") .text(selectedYear); const yearSliderFO = controlsG.append("foreignObject") .attr("x", 120) .attr("y", 22) .attr("width", 260) .attr("height", 25); const yearSliderContainer = yearSliderFO.append("xhtml:div") .style("padding", "0 8px"); const yearSlider = yearSliderContainer.append("xhtml:input") .attr("type", "range") .attr("min", start) .attr("max", end) .attr("value", selectedYear) .attr("step", 1) .style("width", "100%"); // granularity controls controlsG.append("text") .attr("x", 450) .attr("y", 20) .attr("font-weight", "600") .attr("font-size", "11px") .text("Granularity"); const granularityValueText = controlsG.append("text") .attr("x", 450) .attr("y", 40) .attr("font-weight", "bold") .attr("font-size", "13px") .attr("fill", "#059669") .text("Regional"); const granularitySliderFO = controlsG.append("foreignObject") .attr("x", 520) .attr("y", 22) .attr("width", 240) .attr("height", 25); const granularitySliderContainer = granularitySliderFO.append("xhtml:div") .style("padding", "0 8px"); const granularitySlider = granularitySliderContainer.append("xhtml:input") .attr("type", "range") .attr("min", 5) .attr("max", 30) .attr("value", hexRadius) .attr("step", 1) .style("width", "100%"); // map const projection = d3.geoAlbersUsa().scale(1280).translate([width / 2, mapHeight / 2]); const path = d3.geoPath(projection); const mapG = svg.append("g").attr("transform", `translate(0, ${controlHeight})`); mapG.append("path") .datum(topojson.feature(us, us.objects.nation)) .attr("fill", "#f0f2f5") .attr("d", path); mapG.append("path") .datum(topojson.mesh(us, us.objects.states, (a, b) => a !== b)) .attr("fill", "none") .attr("stroke", "#ffffff") .attr("stroke-width", 1.5) .attr("stroke-linejoin", "round") .attr("d", path); const hexGroup = mapG.append("g").attr("class", "hex-layer"); const legendX = 20, legendY = mapHeight - 40; const legendGroup = mapG.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(${legendX}, ${legendY})`) .attr("class", "legend-group"); const defs = svg.append("defs"); const aiGradient = defs.append("linearGradient").attr("id", "ai-gradient"); aiGradient.selectAll("stop").data(d3.range(0, 1.1, 0.1)).enter().append("stop") .attr("offset", d => `${d * 100}%`) .attr("stop-color", d => d3.interpolateYlGnBu(d * 2)); legendGroup.append("rect") .attr("width", 250) .attr("height", 12) .style("fill", "url(#ai-gradient)") .attr("stroke", "#999") .attr("stroke-width", 0.5); legendGroup.append("text") .attr("x", 0) .attr("y", -5) .text("AI Dominance (% of Companies)") .style("font-size", "12px") .style("font-weight", "bold"); legendGroup.append("text") .attr("x", 0) .attr("y", 26) .text("0% (Non-AI)") .style("font-size", "10px") .style("fill", "#666"); legendGroup.append("text") .attr("x", 250) .attr("y", 26) .text("50%+ AI") .style("font-size", "10px") .style("fill", "#666") .attr("text-anchor", "end"); const tooltip = container.append("div") .style("position", "absolute") .style("visibility", "hidden") .style("pointer-events", "none") .style("z-index", "10") .style("background", "rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.98)") .style("padding", "10px") .style("border", "1px solid #ddd") .style("border-radius", "4px") .style("box-shadow", "0 2px 4px rgba(0,0,0,0.1)") .style("font-size", "12px"); // data const companiesData = (typeof yc_companies_json !== 'undefined') ? yc_companies_json : []; const citiesData = (typeof usCities !== 'undefined') ? usCities : []; const cityLookup = new Map(); citiesData.forEach(c => { if (c.country === "US" && c.admin1) { const key = `${c.name.toLowerCase().trim()}, ${c.admin1.toLowerCase().trim()}`; cityLookup.set(key, [parseFloat(c.lng), parseFloat(c.lat)]); if (c.name.toLowerCase() === "new york city" && c.admin1 === "NY") { cityLookup.set("new york, ny", [parseFloat(c.lng), parseFloat(c.lat)]); } } }); function isAICompany(company) { const text = `${company.name} ${company.one_liner || ''}`.toLowerCase(); return aiKeywords.some(keyword => text.includes(keyword)); } const geocodedCompanies = companiesData.map(d => { const locations = d.all_locations || ''; const locationList = locations.split(';'); let year = null; if (d.batch) { const match = d.batch.match(/\d{4}/); if (match) year = parseInt(match[0]); } if (!year && d.launched_at) year = new Date(d.launched_at * 1000).getFullYear(); const isAI = isAICompany(d); for (let loc of locationList) { const parts = loc.split(",").map(s => s.trim()); let city = null, state = null; if (parts.length >= 3 && parts[parts.length - 1] === "USA") { city = parts[0]; state = parts[1]; } else if (parts.length === 2 && parts[1].length === 2) { city = parts[0]; state = parts[1]; } if (city && state) { const key = `${city.toLowerCase()}, ${state.toLowerCase()}`; const coords = cityLookup.get(key); if (coords) { const projected = projection(coords); if (projected) { return { name: d.name, city, state, year, isAI, one_liner: d.one_liner, website: d.website, x: projected[0], y: projected[1] }; } } } } return null; }).filter(d => d !== null); // rescaling and cutting off at 0.5 for better vis const aiScale = d3.scaleSequential() .domain([0, 0.5]) .interpolator(d3.interpolateYlGnBu); function update() { const hexbinGenerator = d3.hexbin() .x(d => d.x) .y(d => d.y) .radius(hexRadius) .extent([[0, 0], [width, mapHeight]]); const allBins = hexbinGenerator(geocodedCompanies); const globalMaxCount = d3.max(allBins, d => d.length) || 1; const sizeScale = d3.scaleLog().domain([1, globalMaxCount]).range([3, hexRadius - 1]); const filteredData = geocodedCompanies.filter(d => d.year !== null && d.year <= selectedYear); const bins = hexbinGenerator(filteredData); bins.forEach(bin => { bin.aiCount = bin.filter(d => d.isAI).length; bin.aiRatio = bin.aiCount / bin.length; const cityCounts = {}; bin.forEach(c => cityCounts[c.city] = (cityCounts[c.city] || 0) + 1); const sortedCities = Object.entries(cityCounts).sort((a,b) => b[1] - a[1]); bin.regionName = sortedCities.length > 0 ? sortedCities[0][0] : "Unknown Region"; }); hexGroup.selectAll("path") .data(bins, d => `${Math.round(d.x)},${Math.round(d.y)}`) .join( enter => enter.append("path") .attr("transform", d => `translate(${d.x},${d.y})`) .attr("d", d => hexbinGenerator.hexagon(sizeScale(d.length))) .attr("fill", d => aiScale(d.aiRatio)) .attr("fill-opacity", 0.9) .attr("stroke", "#333") .attr("stroke-width", 0.5), update => update .attr("transform", d => `translate(${d.x},${d.y})`) .attr("d", d => hexbinGenerator.hexagon(sizeScale(d.length))) .attr("fill", d => aiScale(d.aiRatio)), exit => exit.remove() ) .style("cursor", "pointer") .on("mouseover", function(event, d) { d3.select(this).attr("stroke", "white").attr("stroke-width", 2).raise(); const bgColor = aiScale(d.aiRatio); const rgb = d3.rgb(bgColor); const luminance = (0.299 * rgb.r + 0.587 * rgb.g + 0.114 * rgb.b) / 255; const textColor = luminance > 0.5 ? "#000" : "#fff"; tooltip.style("visibility", "visible") .html(`

${d.regionName}

AI Dominance: ${Math.round(d.aiRatio * 100)}%

AI Companies: ${d.aiCount} of ${d.length}

`); }) .on("mousemove", function(event) { const [mx, my] = d3.pointer(event, container.node()); tooltip.style("left", (mx + 15) + "px").style("top", (my + 15) + "px"); }) .on("mouseout", function() { d3.select(this).attr("stroke", "#333").attr("stroke-width", 0.5); tooltip.style("visibility", "hidden"); }); } function updateGranularityLabel(val) { if (val <= 12) return "City-level"; else if (val <= 22) return "Metro area"; else return "Regional"; } function stop() { if (timer) { clearInterval(timer); timer = null; playText.text("Play"); playButton.select("rect").attr("fill", "#2563eb"); } } function advanceYear() { selectedYear++; yearValueText.text(selectedYear); yearSlider.property("value", selectedYear); update(); } function startTimer() { playText.text("Pause"); playButton.select("rect").attr("fill", "#dc2626"); // Execute immediately before starting interval advanceYear(); timer = setInterval(() => { if (selectedYear >= end) { stop(); } else { advanceYear(); } }, speed); } playButton.on("click", () => { if (timer) { stop(); } else { if (selectedYear >= end) selectedYear = start; startTimer(); } }); yearSlider.on("input", function() { stop(); selectedYear = +this.value; yearValueText.text(selectedYear); update(); }); granularitySlider.on("input", function() { hexRadius = +this.value; granularityValueText.text(updateGranularityLabel(hexRadius)); update(); }); update(); return container.node(); }3c:T45a,**But AI breaks this pattern.** When we isolate AI companies, a different dynamic emerges: a re-centralization of startups back into the Bay Area and New York. While most other categories continued to decentralize geographically, AI startups increasingly cluster in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Boston, and New York. The trend is especially pronounced post-2021, when the AI boom hit (notice how these regions become much bluer after 2021 in the visualization). This shift suggests that geography still matters when a new technological frontier emerges. AI requires access to specialized talent, proximity to researchers, dense founder communities, and early partners willing to test frontier products. The Bay Area offers all of these in unusually high concentration. So while the broader startup world is becoming more distributed, AI is moving in the opposite direction—gravitating back to the region where previous waves of innovation began. **The result is a dual narrative: software startups overall are more nationwide than ever, yet the companies pushing the frontier of AI are clustering more tightly.**3d:T644,
## Now, can you tell me what an AI startup is? The answer, as it turns out, evolves over time. In 2015, an "AI startup" meant computer vision pipelines and fraud detection—narrow tools that optimized existing workflows. By 2022, it meant generative models and autonomous agents—products where AI became the core value proposition. Today, it increasingly means a company that exists in San Francisco, brands with a .ai domain, and assumes foundation models as infrastructure rather than innovation. But our analysis reveals something more fundamental: the question itself may be less important than understanding where and how AI creates actual competitive advantage. Consumer startups show clear correlation between AI adoption and survival. B2B companies thrive regardless of AI intensity. Regulated industries succeed with minimal AI, protected by domain expertise and structural moats. The technology matters less than the market it serves. Y Combinator's transformation captures this shift in real time—from 0% AI companies in 2005 to over 75% in 2024. Whether this represents a genuine paradigm shift or merely the latest hype cycle will only become clear in retrospect. But the data suggests something structural has changed. The garage startup building a photo-sharing app has been replaced by founders in San Francisco fine-tuning models and hunting for product-market fit. **An AI startup, then, is not defined by its technology alone. It's defined by its era, its geography, its market structure, and ultimately, whether it survives long enough for the definition to matter.** 3e:T2878,{ const isAICompany = (d) => { const searchText = [ d.name, d.industry, d.simpleSubindustry, d.description ].filter(Boolean).join(" ").toLowerCase(); return aiKeywords.some(keyword => searchText.includes(keyword)); }; let showAI = true; let showNonAI = true; let selectedSubindustry = "All"; const allSubindustries = ["All", ...[...new Set(dataWithSubindustries.map(d => d.simpleSubindustry))].sort()]; const width = 800; const height = 700; const controlHeight = 60; const chartHeight = height - controlHeight; const radius = chartHeight / 2 - 25; const dotRadius = 6; const angleScale = d3.scaleLinear() .domain([0, 360]) .range([0, 2 * Math.PI]); const radiusScale = d3.scaleSqrt() .domain([0, 1]) .range([5, radius]); const container = d3.create("div") .style("position", "relative") .style("width", "100%") .style("max-width", `${width}px`) .style("height", "auto") const header = container.append("div") .style("padding", "10px 0 20px 10px"); header.append("h3") .text("Logo color distribution by sub-industry") .style("margin", "0"); header.append("div") .text("Logo colors mapped to hue-saturation space. Diamonds indicate AI companies, and circles are non-AI.") .style("color", "#666") .style("font-size", "14px"); const svg = container.append("svg") .attr("viewBox", [0, 0, width, height]) .style("background", "white") .style("width", "100%") .style("height", "auto") .style("overflow", "visible"); const controlsG = svg.append("g").attr("class", "controls"); controlsG.append("rect") .attr("width", width) .attr("height", controlHeight) .attr("fill", "white") // .attr("stroke", "#e5e7eb") // .attr("stroke-width", 1); controlsG.append("text") .attr("x", 10) .attr("y", 10) .attr("font-weight", "600") .attr("font-size", "11px") .text("Filter by Sub-industry:"); const filterFO = controlsG.append("foreignObject") .attr("x", 10) .attr("y", 18) .attr("width", 200) .attr("height", 30); const filterSelect = filterFO.append("xhtml:select") .style("width", "180px") .style("padding", "4px 8px") .style("font-size", "11px") .style("border", "1px solid #ccc") .style("border-radius", "4px") .style("background", "white") .on("change", function() { selectedSubindustry = this.value; updateData(); }); filterSelect.selectAll("option") .data(allSubindustries) .join("option") .attr("value", d => d) .text(d => d); const legend = controlsG.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(250, 30)`); const aiLegendGroup = legend.append("g") .style("cursor", "pointer") .on("click", () => { showAI = !showAI; updateVisibility(); }); aiLegendGroup.append("rect") .attr("x", -dotRadius) .attr("y", -dotRadius) .attr("width", dotRadius * 2) .attr("height", dotRadius * 2) .attr("fill", "#fff") .attr("stroke", "#000") .attr("stroke-width", 2) .attr("transform", "rotate(45)"); const aiText = aiLegendGroup.append("text") .attr("x", 15) .attr("y", 0) .attr("dy", "0.35em") .style("font-size", "12px") .attr("fill", "#333") .text("AI-related"); const nonAILegendGroup = legend.append("g") .attr("transform", "translate(120, 0)") .style("cursor", "pointer") .on("click", () => { showNonAI = !showNonAI; updateVisibility(); }); nonAILegendGroup.append("circle") .attr("cx", 0) .attr("cy", 0) .attr("r", dotRadius) .attr("fill", "#fff") .attr("stroke", "#333") .attr("stroke-width", 0.5); const nonAIText = nonAILegendGroup.append("text") .attr("x", 15) .attr("y", 0) .attr("dy", "0.35em") .style("font-size", "12px") .attr("fill", "#333") .text("Not AI related"); const chartG = svg.append("g") .attr("transform", `translate(${width/2}, ${controlHeight + chartHeight/2})`); chartG.append("rect") .attr("x", -width/2) .attr("y", -chartHeight/2) .attr("width", width) .attr("height", chartHeight) .attr("fill", "white") const guides = chartG.append("g").attr("stroke", "#e0e0e0").attr("stroke-dasharray", "3 3"); [0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1].forEach(tick => { guides.append("circle").attr("r", radiusScale(tick)).attr("fill", "none"); }); d3.range(0, 360, 45).forEach(tick => { const angle = angleScale(tick); guides.append("line") .attr("x1", 0).attr("y1", 0) .attr("x2", Math.cos(angle - Math.PI/2) * radius) .attr("y2", Math.sin(angle - Math.PI/2) * radius); }); const labels = chartG.append("g") .style("font-size", "14px") .attr("fill", "#888") .style("pointer-events", "none"); const colorNames = [ {deg: 0, text: "Red"}, {deg: 60, text: "Yellow"}, {deg: 120, text: "Green"}, {deg: 180, text: "Cyan"}, {deg: 240, text: "Blue"}, {deg: 300, text: "Magenta"} ]; colorNames.forEach(c => { const angle = angleScale(c.deg) - Math.PI/2; const labelR = radius + 10; labels.append("text") .attr("x", Math.cos(angle) * labelR) .attr("y", Math.sin(angle) * labelR) .attr("dy", "0.35em") .attr("text-anchor", "middle") .text(c.text); }); const nodesGroup = chartG.append("g"); function updateData() { const filteredData = dataWithSubindustries.filter(d => { return selectedSubindustry === "All" ? true : d.simpleSubindustry === selectedSubindustry; }); const nodes = nodesGroup.selectAll("g") .data(filteredData, d => d.id || d.name); nodes.join( enter => { const g = enter.append("g") .attr("transform", d => { const angle = angleScale(d.hsl.h || 0) - Math.PI/2; const r = radiusScale(d.hsl.s); return `translate(${Math.cos(angle) * r}, ${Math.sin(angle) * r})`; }) .attr("class", d => isAICompany(d) ? "ai-company" : "non-ai-company") .attr("opacity", 0); g.each(function(d) { if (isAICompany(d)) { d3.select(this).append("rect") .attr("x", -dotRadius) .attr("y", -dotRadius) .attr("width", dotRadius * 2) .attr("height", dotRadius * 2) .attr("fill", d.color) .attr("stroke", "#000") .attr("stroke-width", 2) .attr("transform", "rotate(45)"); } else { d3.select(this).append("circle") .attr("r", dotRadius) .attr("fill", d.color) .attr("stroke", "#333") .attr("stroke-width", 0.5); } }); return g.transition().duration(500).attr("opacity", 0.9); }, update => update .transition().duration(500) .attr("transform", d => { const angle = angleScale(d.hsl.h || 0) - Math.PI/2; const r = radiusScale(d.hsl.s); return `translate(${Math.cos(angle) * r}, ${Math.sin(angle) * r})`; }), exit => exit.transition().duration(300) .attr("opacity", 0) .remove() ); nodesGroup.selectAll("g") .on("mouseover", function(event, d) { const shape = d3.select(this).select(isAICompany(d) ? "rect" : "circle"); if (isAICompany(d)) { shape.transition().duration(100) .attr("width", (dotRadius + 4) * 2) .attr("height", (dotRadius + 4) * 2) .attr("x", -(dotRadius + 4)) .attr("y", -(dotRadius + 4)) .attr("stroke-width", 3); } else { shape.transition().duration(100) .attr("r", dotRadius + 4) .attr("stroke-width", 1.5); } tooltip.style("visibility", "visible") .html(`

${d.name}
${d.simpleSubindustry || d.industry} ${isAICompany(d) ? '
AI Company' : ''} `); }) .on("mousemove", function(event) { const [mx, my] = d3.pointer(event, container.node()); tooltip .style("left", (mx + 15) + "px") .style("top", (my + 15) + "px"); }) .on("mouseout", function(event, d) { const shape = d3.select(this).select(isAICompany(d) ? "rect" : "circle"); if (isAICompany(d)) { shape.transition().duration(100) .attr("width", dotRadius * 2) .attr("height", dotRadius * 2) .attr("x", -dotRadius) .attr("y", -dotRadius) .attr("stroke-width", 2); } else { shape.transition().duration(100) .attr("r", dotRadius) .attr("stroke-width", 0.5); } tooltip.style("visibility", "hidden"); }); updateVisibility(); } function updateVisibility() { nodesGroup.selectAll("g").style("display", d => { const isAI = isAICompany(d); if (isAI && !showAI) return "none"; if (!isAI && !showNonAI) return "none"; return null; }); aiLegendGroup.style("opacity", showAI ? 1 : 0.3); nonAILegendGroup.style("opacity", showNonAI ? 1 : 0.3); aiText.style("text-decoration", showAI ? "none" : "line-through"); nonAIText.style("text-decoration", showNonAI ? "none" : "line-through"); } const tooltip = container.append("div") .style("position", "absolute") .style("visibility", "hidden") .style("background", "rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.95)") .style("color", "#333") .style("padding", "8px") .style("border", "1px solid #ccc") .style("border-radius", "4px") .style("font-size", "11px") .style("box-shadow", "0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.15)") .style("pointer-events", "none") .style("z-index", 100) .style("width", "120px") .style("text-align", "center"); updateData(); return container.node(); }3f:T924,streamData = { const themes = { "Social & Mobile": ["social", "friend", "share", "local", "mobile", "app", "network", "connect", "community"], "On-Demand & Gig": ["delivery", "uber", "ride", "service", "booking"], "Crypto & Web3": ["crypto", "blockchain", "bitcoin", "nft", "token", "web3", "dao", "wallet"], "B2B & Infra": ["infrastructure", "cloud", "data", "workflow", "enterprise", "saas", "management"], "AI & Automation": ["ai", "artificial intelligence", "machine learning", "automated", "robot", "autonomous", "agent", "llm", "generative", "copilot"] }; const aiSubthemes = { "Generative & LLM": ["generative", "llm", "gpt", "diffusion", "transformer"], "Agents & Copilots": ["agent", "copilot", "assistant"], "Machine Learning": ["machine", "learning", "computer", "vision", "predictive", "model"], "Robotics & Phys": ["robot", "drone", "hardware", "sensor", "vehicle"], // "General AI": ["ai", "artificial", "intelligence", "smart", "automated"] }; const raw = (yc_companies_json || []).map(d => { let year = null; if (d.batch) { const match = d.batch.match(/\d{4}/); if (match) year = parseInt(match[0]); } if (!year && d.launched_at) year = new Date(d.launched_at * 1000).getFullYear(); return { year, tokens: (d.one_liner || "").toLowerCase().split(/\W+/) }; }).filter(d => d.year && d.year < 2026); // filter out entries with no valid year function aggregate(categories) { const years = raw.map(d => d.year); const minYear = Math.min(...years); const maxYear = Math.max(...years); const counts = new Map(); for (let y = minYear; y <= maxYear; y++) { const row = { year: y }; Object.keys(categories).forEach(k => row[k] = 0); counts.set(y, row); } raw.forEach(d => { const row = counts.get(d.year); if (!row) return; Object.entries(categories).forEach(([cat, keywords]) => { if (d.tokens.some(t => keywords.includes(t))) { row[cat]++; } }); }); return Array.from(counts.values()).sort((a,b) => a.year - b.year); } return { overview: aggregate(themes), aiDetail: aggregate(aiSubthemes), keys: { overview: Object.keys(themes), aiDetail: Object.keys(aiSubthemes) } }; }40:T708,scatterData = { const aiTags = new Set(["Artificial Intelligence", "AI", "Generative AI", "Machine Learning", "Computer Vision", "NLP", "LLMs", "Deep Learning"]); const indMap = new Map(); // Parents const subMap = new Map(); // Children (yc_companies_json || []).forEach(d => { let year = null; if (d.batch) { const match = d.batch.match(/\d{4}/); if (match) year = parseInt(match[0]); } if (!year && d.launched_at) year = new Date(d.launched_at * 1000).getFullYear(); if (!year || year <= 2012) return; const indName = d.industry || "Other"; let subName = d.subindustry || d.industry || "General"; if (subName.includes("->")) subName = subName.split("->")[1].trim(); if (!indMap.has(indName)) { indMap.set(indName, { name: indName, type: "parent", parent: indName, // Parent is self for color consistency total: 0, ai: 0, alive: 0, companies: [] }); } const indNode = indMap.get(indName); const subKey = `${indName}|${subName}`; if (!subMap.has(subKey)) { subMap.set(subKey, { name: subName, type: "child", parent: indName, total: 0, ai: 0, alive: 0, companies: [] }); } const subNode = subMap.get(subKey); [indNode, subNode].forEach(node => { node.total++; if ((d.tags || []).some(t => aiTags.has(t))) node.ai++; if (d.status !== "Inactive") node.alive++; if (node.companies.length < 5) node.companies.push(d.name); }); }); const calc = (d) => ({ ...d, aiIntensity: d.ai / d.total, survivalRate: d.alive / d.total }); return { parents: Array.from(indMap.values()).filter(d => d.total >= 5).map(calc), children: Array.from(subMap.values()).filter(d => d.total >= 5).map(calc) }; }41:T70f,function computeBatchDomainStats(data, tld1, tld2) { const enrichedData = data.map(d => ({ batch: d.batch, name: d.name, website: d.website, tld: extractDomainSuffix(d.website), isExactMatch: isExactMatch(d.name, d.website) })); const batches = [...new Set(enrichedData.map(d => d.batch).filter(b => b))]; const batchStats = batches.map(batch => { const companies = enrichedData.filter(d => d.batch === batch); const total = companies.length; if (total === 0) return null; const tld1Companies = companies.filter(d => d.tld === tld1); const tld2Companies = companies.filter(d => d.tld === tld2); const pctTld1 = (tld1Companies.length / total) * 100; const pctTld2 = (tld2Companies.length / total) * 100; const pctTld1Exact = tld1Companies.length > 0 ? (tld1Companies.filter(d => d.isExactMatch).length / tld1Companies.length) * 100 : 0; const pctTld2Exact = tld2Companies.length > 0 ? (tld2Companies.filter(d => d.isExactMatch).length / tld2Companies.length) * 100 : 0; const totalExact = pctTld1Exact + pctTld2Exact; const normTld1Exact = totalExact > 0 ? pctTld1Exact / totalExact : 0; const normTld2Exact = totalExact > 0 ? pctTld2Exact / totalExact : 0; return { batch: batch, pctTld1: pctTld1, pctTld2: pctTld2, pctTld1Exact: pctTld1Exact, pctTld2Exact: pctTld2Exact, normTld1Exact: normTld1Exact, normTld2Exact: normTld2Exact, total: total, sortKey: parseBatchSortKey(batch) }; }).filter(d => d !== null); batchStats.sort((a, b) => { if (a.sortKey[0] !== b.sortKey[0]) return a.sortKey[0] - b.sortKey[0]; return a.sortKey[1] - b.sortKey[1]; }); return batchStats.slice(0, -2); }42:[{"id":"36cb602e0c4c0aeb8d68adf70c6c4ec4018aa52c031216e5fac48f142710734b15044182f8c32eb5f7e3023b402c9a2299d1e4310a47ebdc14b0a6dabe32765c","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/36cb602e0c4c0aeb8d68adf70c6c4ec4018aa52c031216e5fac48f142710734b15044182f8c32eb5f7e3023b402c9a2299d1e4310a47ebdc14b0a6dabe32765c","name":"all.json","type":"application/json","lastModified":1764534181814.132,"size":9320178}] 2f:{"id":"9bebbcdf418bf693","slug":"what-even-is-an-ai-startup","title":"What even is an \"AI startup\"?","thumbnail":"bf657fabb926bae08194a46a7bd497f60d4df11f79830338519c35f6845d0087","access_level":"public","create_time":"$D2025-10-15T18:04:06.118Z","update_time":"$D2025-12-07T06:52:08.000Z","view_time":null,"first_public_time":"$D2025-10-15T18:04:06.118Z","fork":false,"stars":4,"starred":false,"owner":{"type":"team","id":"8684a2d6a29e4c6b","login":"jiajuma","name":"Jiaju Ma","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/a8d57db7e87a28add05fb5b21b86cd29a6dc3051d5ccfe6fc7a6e3e37eab9073","tier":"pro_2024"},"version":1074,"publish_version":null,"role":null,"authored":false,"authors":[{"type":"individual","id":"86d01536d4c4f270","login":"jiajuma","name":"Jiaju Ma","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/ae18a541021894a24457432b236c450cc704279da8ac2e08fb098331bee79799","tier":null},{"type":"individual","id":"f4031058ec965e5c","login":"jihyeon-je","name":"Jihyeon Je","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/880c4538bdd8957f8464e747117e3e673905af49d83e39ee0177456ac544d43f","tier":null}],"members":[{"type":"team","id":"8684a2d6a29e4c6b","login":"jiajuma","name":"Jiaju Ma","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/a8d57db7e87a28add05fb5b21b86cd29a6dc3051d5ccfe6fc7a6e3e37eab9073","tier":"pro_2024","role":"editor"},{"type":"individual","id":"86d01536d4c4f270","login":"jiajuma","name":"Jiaju Ma","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/ae18a541021894a24457432b236c450cc704279da8ac2e08fb098331bee79799","tier":null,"role":"editor"}],"comments":[],"custom_thumbnail":false,"trashed":false,"subscribed":null,"forks":2,"collection":null,"type":"notebook","body":{"title":"What even is an \"AI startup\"?","cells":[{"id":465,"value":"# What even is an \"AI startup\"?\n\nby [Jiaju Ma](https://majiaju.io/) and [Jihyeon Je](https://jihyeonje.com/)","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":462,"value":"$31","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":828,"value":"$32","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":309,"value":"$33","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":589,"value":"**What's striking is not just the growth in absolute numbers but the consistency of the trend. Almost every batch since 2022 shows not only more AI companies, but a larger share of the total.** The traditional archetype of the YC startup has effectively been eclipsed by AI assistants, generative tools, and automation platforms. YC hasn't simply added more AI; its intake has been structurally reshaped by it.\n\nThis means something deeper: the accelerator is acting as an early detector for shifts in founder behavior. If YC is a leading indicator for future venture formation, then the dominance of AI in recent batches suggests the next decade of startup creation will be fundamentally different from the decade before. ","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":557,"value":"$34","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":591,"value":"$35","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":822,"value":"
\n## But, what does \"AI\" even mean?\nWhen founders described their companies as \"AI startups\" in 2015, they almost always meant something concrete: computer vision pipelines, predictive analytics, fraud detection, recommendation systems. These were applied machine-learning problems built on relatively small datasets and classical models. From 2015 to 2018, autonomous driving represented one of the first high-capital AI bets where companies promised to replace human labor entirely rather than optimize workflows.\n\n_In the visualization below, you can drag the dashed line around to see how \"AI\" means different things over time._","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":475,"value":"$36","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":595,"value":"$37","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":604,"value":"
\n## When everyone uses AI, does anyone win?\n\nWe previously saw the sharp rise in AI-based companies, but that raised a deeper question: are these startups genuinely leveraging AI for an advantage, or is \"AI\" simply a buzzword used to attract investors? To answer this, we examined how AI intensity correlates with real-world outcomes—specifically, startup survival rates across different industries.\n\nThe bubble chart below plots each industry by its AI adoption (percentage of companies that describes themselves with AI keywords) and survival rate (percentage of companies that are still active today), with bubble size representing the total number of companies. _Large bubbles show top-level industries; click any bubble to explode it into sub-industry categories. Click on the exploded bubbles to collapse. You can also show and hide bubbles by industry on the right._","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":329,"value":"$38","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":839,"value":"$39","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":606,"value":"$3a","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":572,"value":"$3b","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":863,"value":"$3c","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":868,"value":"$3d","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":115,"value":"
\n## Afterword - what dominant logo colors reveal about startups\n\nBefore you leave this page, here is an extra piece of visualization to look at: all the company logos! The visualization below maps each YC company's logo color onto a hue-saturation wheel, where angle represents color and distance from center represents saturation intensity. _Use the dropdown to filter by sub-industry, and click the legend items to show or hide AI-related companies (diamonds) versus non-AI companies (circles). Hover over any shape to see the company logo._","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":629,"value":"$3e","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":1063,"value":"**Despite positioning themselves as cutting-edge and transformative, AI startup logo color distribution is nearly identical to the broader startup population.** There's no distinct visual rebellion, no distinct aesthetic separating an AI company from a SaaS tool or fintech platform. The technology may be revolutionary, but the branding follows convention. Founders building the future reach for the same design playbook as everyone else.\n\nThis mirrors a broader pattern throughout our analysis: AI companies aren't as different as the hype suggests. They cluster in the same coastal cities, follow similar business models, and, apparently, shop at the same Pantone catalog. The revolution is technical, not cultural. Even in the world's most innovation-focused accelerator, predictability wins. Style follows substance—and both follow well-worn paths.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":25,"value":"

\n

\n

\n## Appendix","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":658,"value":"\n### Dataset\nIn this article, our data is obtained from this [public, unofficial API](https://github.com/yc-oss/api?tab=readme-ov-file) for accessing data on companies funded by Y Combinator. It is automatically updated daily via a GitHub Action that fetches information from the Y Combinator website's Algolia search index, rather than scraping the site directly.\n\nThe dataset specifically includes publicly launched companies that have a presence on the YC directory. It offers comprehensive metadata such as company names, batch years, industry classifications, tags, and one-liner descriptions.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":669,"value":"### Imports, variables, and functions","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":655,"value":"yc_companies_json = await d3.json(\"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yc-oss/api/main/companies/all.json\")","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":39,"value":"d3 = require(\"d3@7\", \"d3-hexbin@0.2\", \"d3-tile@1\")","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":231,"value":"data = FileAttachment(\"all.json\").json()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":679,"value":"$3f","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":723,"value":"$40","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":27,"value":"topojson = require(\"topojson-client@3\")","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":43,"value":"usCities = await fetch(\"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lutangar/cities.json/master/cities.json\")\n .then(r => r.json())\n .then(cities => cities.filter(c => c.country === \"US\"));","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":359,"value":"us = fetch(\"https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/us-atlas@3/states-10m.json\").then(r => r.json())","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":120,"value":"extractColor = (url) => {\n return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {\n const img = new Image();\n img.crossOrigin = \"Anonymous\";\n img.src = url;\n \n img.onload = () => {\n try {\n const canvas = document.createElement(\"canvas\");\n canvas.width = 1; \n canvas.height = 1;\n const ctx = canvas.getContext(\"2d\");\n // draw the image squeezed into 1x1 pixel to get the average\n ctx.drawImage(img, 0, 0, 1, 1);\n const [r, g, b] = ctx.getImageData(0, 0, 1, 1).data;\n resolve(d3.rgb(r, g, b));\n } catch (e) {\n resolve(d3.rgb(\"#ccc\"));\n }\n };\n \n img.onerror = () => resolve(d3.rgb(\"#eee\")); // Fallback for broken links\n });\n}","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":202,"value":"\nfunction extractDomainName(url) {\n if (!url || typeof url !== 'string' || url.trim() === '') return null;\n \n const urlStr = url.startsWith('http') ? url : 'http://' + url;\n let domain;\n try {\n domain = new URL(urlStr).hostname.toLowerCase().replace(/^www\\./, '');\n } catch (e) {\n return null;\n }\n \n const parts = domain.split('.');\n return parts.length >= 2 ? parts[parts.length - 2] : null;\n}\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":207,"value":"function extractDomainSuffix(url) {\n if (!url || typeof url !== 'string' || url.trim() === '') return null;\n \n const urlStr = url.startsWith('http') ? url : 'http://' + url;\n let domain;\n try {\n domain = new URL(urlStr).hostname.toLowerCase().replace(/^www\\./, '');\n } catch (e) {\n return null;\n }\n \n const parts = domain.split('.');\n return parts.length >= 2 ? '.' + parts[parts.length - 1] : null;\n}\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":210,"value":"\nfunction normalizeName(name) {\n if (!name || typeof name !== 'string') return '';\n return name.toLowerCase().replace(/[^a-z0-9]/g, '');\n}\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":212,"value":"\nfunction isExactMatch(companyName, domainUrl) {\n const normalizedCompany = normalizeName(companyName);\n const domainName = extractDomainName(domainUrl);\n \n if (!normalizedCompany || !domainName) return false;\n return normalizedCompany === domainName;\n}","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":218,"value":"// sort by year\nfunction parseBatchSortKey(batchStr) {\n if (!batchStr || typeof batchStr !== 'string') return [9999, 9999];\n \n const match = batchStr.trim().match(/^([A-Za-z]+)\\s+(\\d+)$/);\n if (!match) return [9999, 9999];\n \n const seasonWord = match[1];\n const yearStr = match[2];\n const year = parseInt(yearStr);\n \n const seasonMap = {\n 'SPRING': 0,\n 'SUMMER': 1,\n 'FALL': 2,\n 'WINTER': 3\n };\n \n const seasonOrder = seasonMap[seasonWord.toUpperCase()];\n return [year, seasonOrder !== undefined ? seasonOrder : 9999];\n}\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":223,"value":"\nfunction batchToShortLabel(batchStr) {\n if (!batchStr || typeof batchStr !== 'string') return batchStr;\n \n const match = batchStr.trim().match(/^([A-Za-z]+)\\s+(\\d+)$/);\n if (!match) return batchStr;\n \n const seasonWord = match[1];\n const yearStr = match[2];\n const year = parseInt(yearStr) % 100;\n \n const seasonMap = {\n 'SPRING': 'S',\n 'SUMMER': 'Sum',\n 'FALL': 'F',\n 'WINTER': 'W'\n };\n \n const seasonAbbr = seasonMap[seasonWord.toUpperCase()] || seasonWord[0].toUpperCase();\n return seasonAbbr + year.toString().padStart(2, '0');\n}","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":226,"value":"$41","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":364,"value":"companies = data.map(d => ({\n ...d,\n year: new Date(d.launched_at * 1000).getFullYear(),\n isAI: d.tags.some(tag => \n tag.toLowerCase().includes('ai') || \n tag.toLowerCase().includes('artificial intelligence') ||\n tag.toLowerCase().includes('machine learning') ||\n tag.toLowerCase().includes('llm')\n ),\n isSaaS: d.tags.some(tag => tag.toLowerCase().includes('saas')) || \n d.subindustry?.toLowerCase().includes('saas'),\n team_size: d.team_size || 0\n}))\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":375,"value":"allTags = [...new Set(companies.flatMap(d => d.tags || []))].sort()\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":377,"value":"allIndustries = [...new Set(companies.map(d => d.industry).filter(Boolean))].sort()\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":1043,"value":"aiKeywords = ['ai', 'artificial intelligence', 'machine learning', 'ml', 'deep learning', \n 'neural network', 'llm', 'large language model', 'gpt', 'generative',\n 'computer vision', 'nlp', 'natural language', 'robotics', 'automation', 'agent'];","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":379,"value":"allYears = [...new Set(companies.map(d => d.year))].sort((a, b) => a - b)\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":389,"value":"filterPresets = [\n { label: \"SaaS\", type: \"tag\", value: \"saas\" },\n { label: \"AI\", type: \"tag\", value: \"ai\" },\n { label: \"Machine Learning\", type: \"tag\", value: \"machine learning\" },\n { label: \"Fintech\", type: \"tag\", value: \"fintech\" },\n { label: \"Healthcare\", type: \"tag\", value: \"healthcare\" },\n { label: \"E-commerce\", type: \"tag\", value: \"e-commerce\" },\n { label: \"Education\", type: \"tag\", value: \"education\" },\n { label: \"Enterprise Software\", type: \"tag\", value: \"enterprise\" },\n { label: \"Consumer\", industry: \"Consumer\" },\n { label: \"B2B\", industry: \"B2B\" },\n { label: \"Hardware\", type: \"tag\", value: \"hardware\" },\n { label: \"Robotics\", type: \"tag\", value: \"robotics\" },\n { label: \"DevTools\", type: \"tag\", value: \"developer tools\" },\n { label: \"Analytics\", type: \"tag\", value: \"analytics\" },\n { label: \"API\", type: \"tag\", value: \"api\" }\n]\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":385,"value":"function matchesFilter(company, preset) {\n if (!preset) return false;\n if (preset.type === 'tag') {\n return company.tags?.some(tag => tag.toLowerCase().includes(preset.value.toLowerCase()));\n } else if (preset.industry) {\n return company.industry === preset.industry;\n }\n return false;\n}\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":266,"value":"mutable selectedTld1 = \".com\"\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":269,"value":"mutable selectedTld2 = \".ai\"\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":281,"value":"// extracting all domains\navailableTLDs = {\n const enrichedData = data.map(d => ({\n tld: extractDomainSuffix(d.website)\n }));\n \n const tldCounts = {};\n enrichedData.forEach(d => {\n if (d.tld) {\n tldCounts[d.tld] = (tldCounts[d.tld] || 0) + 1;\n }\n });\n \n return Object.entries(tldCounts)\n .filter(entry => entry[1] >= 10)\n .sort((a, b) => b[1] - a[1])\n .map(entry => entry[0]);\n}","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":122,"value":"dataWithColors = {\n const validCompanies = yc_companies_json.filter(d => \n d.small_logo_thumb_url && \n d.small_logo_thumb_url.startsWith(\"http\") &&\n d.industry // Ensure industry exists\n );\n\n const limit = 5000; \n const subset = validCompanies\n .sort((a, b) => (b.team_size || 0) - (a.team_size || 0))\n .slice(0, limit);\n\n const processed = await Promise.all(subset.map(async d => {\n const color = await extractColor(d.small_logo_thumb_url);\n const hsl = d3.hsl(color);\n return { \n ...d, \n color: color, \n hsl: hsl \n };\n }));\n\n return processed;\n}","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"},{"id":145,"value":"dataWithSubindustries = dataWithColors.map(d => {\n const raw = d.subindustry || \"\";\n const parts = raw.split(\"->\");\n const simpleSub = parts[parts.length - 1].trim();\n return {\n ...d,\n simpleSubindustry: simpleSub || \"Unspecified\"\n };\n})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined"}],"files":"$W42","stdlib":"1","titling":"auto"}} 30:"$2f:body"