Chris Sesi

@josh_coyne @nejatian @chintanparikh94 @vineets1600 @apostolos_delis Thank you Josh! Learned so much over the years from you. Appreciate everything!

@nejatian @chrissesi @chintanparikh94 @vineets1600 @apostolos_delis Congrats guys!

We've acquired Audrion - among the most impressive teams in YC's Fall 2025 batch. An AI pilled techncial team attacking a very hard problem. Their team will lead our mortgage product. Welcome @chrissesi, @chintanparikh94, @vineets1600 and @apostolos_delis to Opendoor.

During my time @Opendoor, @chintanparikh94 was easily one of my favorite engineers to collaborate with. Smart, opinionated, deeply cares about the customers. When he said he’s leaving Secureframe to start a newCo with @chrissesi, I immediately asked where do I wire - even before they joined YC. It was a short but really fun journey to work with them - and @Opendoor is getting (again) a truly phenomenal team!

@nikunj @Opendoor @chintanparikh94 We couldn’t ask for a better friend or partner! Thank you for the guidance throughout our journey.

Excited to share that Audrion (YC F25) has been acquired by Opendoor. We’re continuing the mission to make homeownership simpler and more accessible with @nejatian and the team. Grateful to our early supporters at A*, Mercury Fund, FPV, and many others who believed in us from the beginning. And to @ycombinator, especially our partners, Tom Bloomfield and Grey Baker, thank you for shaping how we build and think. It is clear YC is the best place for founders to build. If anyone is on the fence, I highly recommend you take the leap and apply.

@nejatian @chintanparikh94 @vineets1600 @apostolos_delis It’s been almost a decade since I first reached out to Kaz. It was impossible to pass up the opportunity to work alongside him and the rest of the Opendoor team. We’re excited to continue the mission!

@nikunj Not all hero’s wear capes

Ok it's getting truly banana town in VC and startup land. And, I think the people who will get HURT the most in this might be the early employees. So here are some things you must absolutely know and questions for you to ask as you enter job hunting season in January.. 1) Headline valuation is NOT the real valuation: Leave alone the hypey valuation and 200x multiples which in itself is an issue, what's happening in startup land is even worse. We are seeing startups raise in "tiered" rounds in rapid fashion. For example, startup raises most of the round at $300M valuation and then a tiny bit at the $800M valuation. Sometimes from the same investor. Now, all the PR articles will say $800M valuation, and your options will be priced accordingly, but that's NOT the price that the investors paid since they got most of the ownership at the $300M valuation. So ask the founders if there was a round before the last round and what was that. Or how much of the money went in the latest round. 2) Headline revenue is NOT the real revenue: I've ranted on this enough so won't go further but ARR as a metric is completely f*cked (not all revenue is equal). Make sure you do your diligence with the founders and ask them to tell you exactly what the revenue is. And while you are at it, also ask about margins. If they are shy, or don't elaborate, then RUN - because if they are not being straight with you now, they are not going to be straight with you later. It's actually ok to be a negative margin company (truly) but ask them to walk you through why they believe they'll get to be a decent business. 3) Understand ALL the math re: options, 409a, preferred price, total outstanding shares: If you want a primer, you can read the slides here (this is NOT financial advice as the slides say): pitch.com/public/49751b1… 4) Pref stack reigns supreme: Recently a company that was valued at $1B+ was acquired by a large company. The X timeline was flooded with congrats messages to the founders and the employees. You know what's the sad reality? The acquisition price was lower than the $$ that was raised from the company which means the founders and the employees made $0 from the acquisition. Why? Because investors get preferred shares and they get paid out first. 5) Being an early employee is STILL awesome: I have worked at four startups - first two effectively went to zero. It was still awesome and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. The learning, the team and the thrill of working on a hard problem is SO fun. And I didn't know any of this stuff when I joined my first startup. I have a LOT more thoughts on this, but wanted to get this out there so people understand what's happening!

@shivanijpatel Congrats! Great video!!

hardware support should start at the device, not the ticket. your devices speak in logs, error codes, and packets. Telemetron listens, runs diagnostics, and automates troubleshooting so customers can get faster responses

@ycombinator @SfTensor @BenKoska @tom_koska Congrats. This team is crushing it!

SF Tensor (@sftensor) is building infrastructure for training foundation models, letting researchers focus on research and forget that the infrastructure layer even exists while saving 70% in training costs. ycombinator.com/launches/Ojq-s… Congrats on the launch, @benkoska, @tom_koska, and @lukkoska!

@hiddnest @AsideAI Congrats @hiddnest !!

While roy dropped out of columbia, we spent 7 yrs building a pre-IPO stage b2b saas startup. Introducing @AsideAI, an AI agent that gives sales reps suggestions and coaching during the call.

@ycombinator @getdomeapi @kurushdubash @princeofbothell Excited to be building with Dome! This is one of the best teams I have seen in YC!

Dome (@GetDomeAPI) is a unified API for prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi. Trade and analyze data across multiple platforms with one simple API. ycombinator.com/launches/OiX-d… Congrats on the launch, @kurushdubash & @princeofbothell!

@ycombinator @gofixpoint Congrats all!

Fixpoint (@gofixpoint) automates hiring vetted experts—doctors, lawyers, PhDs, coders, etc—for AI training data and evals. They handle sourcing and vetting so customers can focus on creating quality data and benchmarking AI. ycombinator.com/launches/Og8-f… Congrats on the launch, @dbmikus and @jakubonchain!

@ycombinator @imagineagi @skygodkingdom @neo_lky The best!!

Imagine AI (@imagineagi) builds your B2B content pipeline. They clone you → your expertise, your voice, your insights → into high-fidelity personas. 10M driven across clients. $5M deal landed from a single optimized post. Congrats on the launch, @skygodkingdom & @neo_lky!

@ycombinator @PatentWatchai Congrats!!

Patent Watch (@PatentWatchai) is building AI for patent infringements. Upload your patents and find infringing products so you can sell licenses or litigate. It generates detailed claim charts in 20 minutes instead of months, showing exactly which products infringe and how. ycombinator.com/launches/Oeb-p… Congrats on the launch, @astroe777 & @stroe_andy!

@ycombinator @_everestai @yolandaaacao @spenmcke Congrats! Some of the best founders I have ever met! There’s a huge opportunity to help MSPs and this is the team to unlock it.

Everest (@_everestai) builds AI support engineers for outsourced IT providers, who service IT for 90% of SMBs. Everest helps them resolve tickets faster and increase margins. Congrats on the launch @yolandaaacao and @spenmcke! ycombinator.com/launches/OdG-e…

@ycombinator @lukebbutton @James_R_Chen @BryantLe18 Congrats!!

Fernstone is an AI-powered insurance brokerage for businesses. Their platform handles the back and forth with carriers, autonomously files paperwork, and instantly responds to customer requests. Congrats on the launch, @lukebbutton, @James_R_Chen, and @BryantLe18!

@ycombinator @hyperspell @conor_ai @maebert Let’s go!!

Hyperspell (@hyperspell) gives AI agents memory. It connects to Slack, Gmail, Notion, and Drive, so agents get context and remember what they learn. Congrats @conor_ai and @maebert on the launch! ycombinator.com/launches/Ocs-h…

@conor_ai @hyperspell Great launch! Congrats!!

make your AI agents so good, they might replace you @hyperspell gives AI memory and context across all your tools

Cranston AI (@cranston_ai) does your company’s bookkeeping & taxes with AI. Their agents pull in context from across the business and, after human review, file a full corporate tax return with the IRS. ycombinator.com/launches/OZ8-c… Congrats on the launch @seanob & @MaxMinsker!

@patagucci_girl Let’s go!

some personal news: last week was my last at uniswap 🫡 after an incredibly LIT 2.5 years there, it’s time for something new! so proud of and thankful for my time there. ive made some lifelong friends and learned how to build world class apps. love for uniswap always ❤️❤️❤️🦄🦄