In this episode of Frameworks for Growth, Vanta CEO Christina Cacioppo sits down with Garry Tan, President and CEO of Y Combinator, to explore how early-stage startups can find product-market fit in an AI age, when a startup idea is worth pursuing, and what it means to operate in “founder mode.”

Whether you're a founder, operator, or investor, this episode offers actionable startup advice and insight from one of the most influential voices in tech.

🔑 Topics covered (timestamps):

00:11 - Introduction

00:35 - What’s different about today’s tech landscape

02:15 - What does YC try to impress upon their founders

03:41 - Are there more pivots in YC

06:11 - Advice for founders building in AI

08:41 - Scaling with fewer employees

10:34 - What it means to be high agency

14:26 - Advising startups on design and taste

15:31 - Founders should work in call centers

17:24 - Vibe coding and knowledge work

18:42 - Will AI make it easier or harder to pick startups

23:01 - Are YC companies shrinking in size over time

24:29 - Running Initialized Capital vs. running YC

26:57 - Flow state at a startup vs. at big companies

27:30 - Why more billionaires is a good thing

28:23 - Frameworks and advice for startup founders

29:11 - Advantages of being a first-time founder

30:31 - Do things that don’t scale

31:51 - Knowing when you’ve found product market fit

32:38 - Garry on AI regulation

34:58 - Open source AI

36:31 - Garry on being a content creator

39:09 - What would a Garry Tan LLM get wrong

41:49 - Lightning round

43:43 - Letting people go at a startup

🚀 To learn more about Vanta helps startups scale, visit us at: vanta.com/startups