2025 is shaping up to be the "year of AI agents". We've put together a list of startup ideas that we think are especially promising— some draw attention to trends that are already in full swing, and some of them are where we think things are going next. ycombinator.com/rfs
Full-stack AI companies @snowmaker If you build a great AI accountant, why sell it to legacy accounting firms when you could start an AI accounting firm and beat them? We think founders will increasingly choose to do just that, and we're excited to fund more of these full-stack AI companies.
More Design Founders @aaron_epstein As AI tools make coding easier, great design and taste matter more than ever. That's why more designers should become founders. Don't just design products – create companies.
Voice AI @gustaf Phone calls with businesses haven’t changed in decades—until now. Voice AI bots, powered by LLMs, are finally as good as humans. It’s the autonomous car moment for voice.
AI for Scientific Advancement @sdianahu AI is transforming how physical things are made. Many scientific tools haven’t changed in decades, but test-time compute is now enabling new startups to solve complex problems in fields like chemistry, biology, and materials science.
AI Personal Assistant @t_blom It’s high time we had AI personal assistants. Imagine an AI that has perfect understanding of your emails, projects, and scheduling preferences — and can take actions on your behalf. Apply to YC if you’re working on this idea!
@ycombinator @sdianahu Is there anyone building an AI company to pinpoint the root cause of severe Autism?
@ycombinator @sdianahu This is awesome ai for science could be huge
@ycombinator @sdianahu Have you seen @ExScienceAI ? They casually went public with system capable of end to end scientific discovery. They proved it with an autonomously generated discovery in cognitive science. Even crazier the system experimented on humans to get the required data. 🤯
@ycombinator @sdianahu Completely agreed. A great example is @ExScienceAI who proved an end to end system capable of generating scientific discoveries. If that wasn't wild enough, the system experimented on humans to collect the req data. They've uploaded the autonomously generated manuscript.
@ycombinator @sdianahu I’d love to see more AI tools that can look at the design or architecture of something and figure out how to bring the cost down by analyzing materials, simplifying processes, or suggesting cheaper alternatives without sacrificing quality.
@ycombinator @sdianahu Looks sharp! Perfect vibe for startup ideas.