10 Days With Y Combinator Startups in London

[0:00][Music] [0:01]What separates the companies that change [0:02]the world from the thousands of startups [0:05]that never make it beyond their first [0:06]chapter? I saw it firsthand in Silicon [0:09]Valley. The intensity, the wins, the [0:13]failures. And now I've flown to London [0:15]to see if this city can compete on the [0:18]same stage. London has the talent, the [0:21]capital, and the ambition. But is it [0:24]enough to rival the valley? Over the [0:26]next 10 days, I'm diving into London's [0:29]top startups to find out. [0:37]>> Made it to the UK and I'm staying in [0:40]this tiny little room. Just a bed. It's [0:43]not It's not that tiny. It's actually [0:44]pretty good. Honestly, it is so [0:46]beautiful. Predictions for this trip, [0:48]it's going to be a fair bit different to [0:49]be honest. Uh especially to the San Fran [0:52]trip. My prediction is that a lot of the [0:54]people that we are going to meet very [0:57]late stage in their journey mid to late [0:59]stage I'll sit this down [1:03]now have been introduced to four [1:05]particular founders who are really keen [1:07]to jump on and some of them will be me [1:10]going to their offices capturing their [1:12]company what they're doing uh you know [1:14]kind of in the trenches still a little [1:16]bit and just catch up and hear their [1:18]journey from what I've been DMing with [1:20]these founders about their journey [1:22]journeys are nothing short of insane. So [1:25]they'll be able to share a lot of wisdom [1:27]on I guess how they successfully ran [1:29]their startups. [1:33][Music] [1:39]It is 6:27 a.m. I am going to hang out [1:43]with Dimmitri who is a client of ours [1:45]and a founder that I actually met [1:47]through doing this series. They're about [1:49]to go live with a huge product launch [1:53]and it's something that is a big risk [1:55]for them to take. I'm catching up with [1:57]him at a very very pivotal moment in the [2:00]product. They're in beta for what [2:02]they're doing. This is kind of like [2:03]those crucial weeks leading into the big [2:06]reveal. I'm going to find out what's [2:07]going on with him and how he's feeling [2:09]about everything and just the raw [2:11]reality of it. Yeah, we're going to go [2:13]from there. I can see you in there. [2:16]Well, [2:16]>> is that the den? I can get you. [2:18]>> Thank you, bro. [2:21]>> What's up, my guy? [2:23]>> Is this MTV? Welcome to my crib. [2:26]>> What's up, man? [2:27]>> How are you, man? [2:28]>> Good to see you. [2:29]>> Welcome to London. Don't tie it on. [2:37][Music] [2:44]Basically what we're doing is we have uh [2:46]instead of doing a launch video for [2:48]Wanda, we're giving access to 10 of our [2:50]users that are not necessarily video [2:52]editors or have experience in creating [2:55]launch videos with the intent of showing [2:58]because of how powerful Wanda is, they [3:00]would be able to create a very cool [3:02]launch video for us for the release of [3:05]Wanda. So these 10 people will be [3:07]creating this and we'll be documenting [3:09]their journey. Um, and then there's like [3:11]this grand finale that whoever creates [3:13]the best launch video by the end of the [3:16]uh by October 15th, which is launch [3:17]date, he they will get awarded with a a [3:20]prize of $25,000. [3:24][Music] [3:34]Nice to meet you. [3:35]>> So, we're here at the Wondercraft HQ. [3:39]So, this is like the spot, but not many [3:40]people are going to be here today [3:41]because there's a massive tube strike in [3:44]London, unfortunately. That's all right. [3:47]We're just going to hang out. We're [3:48]going to do our thing. And we'll come [3:49]back tomorrow anyway as well. [3:50]>> We'll come back tomorrow. But to be [3:51]fair, it's currently planned. The strike [3:54]is planned for tomorrow as well. [3:56][Music] [4:06]So, right now, um, we're working on the [4:10]first Rebel introduction. It's coming [4:12]together pretty well. Demi is very [4:14]focused right now listening to music. [4:17][Music] [4:25]>> Bye. [4:26]>> After you. [4:27]>> Thanks, man. [4:31]Okay, so it's the next day. Spent the [4:33]day with Wondercraft team yesterday. I [4:35]am riding bikes to get around the city. [4:38]I um I'm going back to the Wondercraft [4:41]HQ today with Demi and the team. Going [4:42]to meet one of the other co-founders, [4:44]Yousef. Now, uh I've mounted my little [4:48]mount here onto the bike. So, let's go [4:51]cycle and see if we can navigate through [4:53]traffic and not, you know, basically get [4:56]injured. [4:59][Music] [5:03]How's it going? [5:04]>> What's up? [5:05]>> Welcome back. Well, [5:11]>> it is way better. [5:13]>> I'm Yousef. I'm one of the co-founders. [5:16]I do more of the technical stuff, focus [5:18]on the product. Interesting time. We're [5:21]uh essentially adding a brand new [5:22]dimension to the platform which is video [5:24]which is super interesting because I [5:26]think it's an interesting chance to kind [5:28]of reimagine from scratch how video [5:30]production should be done. Uh or at [5:31]least like AI augmented video production [5:34]and it's very very interesting to kind [5:36]of just look at the tools available and [5:38]figure out how to couple these things in [5:40]a way that make it a like kind of a [5:43]seamless like easy to use product that [5:45]you don't think about. [5:46]>> All right, I got to run. See you, Will. [5:50]>> See you, Will. [5:51]>> Bye. Nice to hang out, dude. [5:52]>> Bye. Lovely to meet you all. [5:54]>> Nice to meet you. [5:54]>> I'll see you guys soon. Thanks for [5:56]having me. [5:57]>> Bye. [5:58]>> Okay. Next day. Today I'm going to catch [6:02]up with Patrick Sharp. Patrick is the [6:04]founder of Artificial Societies. They're [6:07]a YC backed company. They are [6:10]essentially like a testing environment [6:12]for creatives and advertising. So [6:15]essentially they're building like [6:16]artificial humans and artificial [6:17]audiences through reflected human [6:20]behavior. Really, really niche, really [6:22]cool, very very valuable, especially in [6:25]our industry, you know, the industry [6:26]that I've been in for the last 6 years. [6:28]I am going to walk in there with no [6:31]knowledge and ask all the questions and [6:32]we're going to find out together from [6:34]Patrick himself. [6:35]>> Hey man, how are you? [6:37][Music] [6:40]Thank you so much. Hey guys, I'm Will.

[6:42][Music] [6:51]So, I'm now about to use artificial [6:53]societies to figure out what subject [6:55]line I I should use to update all of our [6:57]customers that we now have surveys. And [6:59]I need to figure out which subject line [7:01]is going to get the best uh clickthrough [7:03]and response rates. [7:05]>> How long does that take to find out? [7:07]>> Yeah, like no time at all. Not [7:09]>> really. What's it saying? So, [7:13]What I do to start is like as a starting [7:16]point, I'm going with a subject line [7:18]like today we're launching surveys on [7:20]artificial societies, [7:21]>> right?

[7:22]>> I'm going to simulate that and see how [7:23]it performs and then I'm going to see [7:25]how different versions perform and [7:27]hopefully we can find the one that has [7:28]the highest uh potential success rate. [7:32]Wild. And James is saying 80 87% [7:37]kind of like accuracy towards like real [7:38]life basically. [7:40]>> 86. [7:41]>> There you go. 86. [7:42]>> I'm sure that makes a massive [7:44]difference, but that is insane. [7:47]>> Yeah. Let me try it. [7:48]>> Wow. [7:49]>> Okay. [7:54][Music] [8:01]I don't think I don't think [8:02]>> on our cupboards. We try and write [8:04]quotes and we kind of change them every [8:07]now and again to keep them fresh. The [8:08]moment we only have one up which says [8:10]expect good things. Basically if you [8:12]believe that good things will happen to [8:14]you then they will like you have to [8:16]almost have like this like lucky person [8:19]syndrome and just believe that you are [8:21]lucky. Apparently people that believe [8:23]that they're lucky we're more likely to [8:25]spot money on the ground than people [8:26]that didn't believe they were lucky. And [8:28]so the more you just believe things are [8:30]possible they happen. And for us, we're [8:32]not a rocket ship right now, but we just [8:34]trust that if we keep doing good things [8:36]over and over again, that good things [8:38]will happen for us. [8:39]>> Guys, thank you for having me. I really [8:42]appreciate it. [8:43]>> It's been a pleasure. An absolute [8:44]pleasure. [8:45]>> Thanks for coming around. [8:46]>> Thank you. And if you were to kind of [8:47]sum this experience up in maybe one [8:50]sentence or one word, what would it be? [8:54]>> Exposing. [8:57]>> Exposing. [8:58]>> Do you feel Do you feel exposed? [9:01]Ah, no, it's good. It's It's nice to [9:02]welcome you into our little home and our [9:04]you know, this is where we're building [9:06]something that we think could uh change [9:08]the world. So, it's nice to invite you [9:09]in [9:10]>> and uh yeah, I'm very much looking [9:11]forward to this episode coming out. I [9:13]feel like it's going to be very [9:14]interesting. [9:14]>> Yeah, I'm likewise. Excited to see how [9:17]it shapes up. [9:18]>> Okay, so I'm on my way to kind of the [9:22]heart of Kensington in London and I'm [9:25]catching up with Jeremy Hindel. uh and I [9:28]got introduced to him on WhatsApp from [9:31]another founder here in the UK which is [9:33]awesome. We're going to be chatting all [9:34]things his story. um he has had a pretty [9:39]incredible journey across a few [9:41]different startups and I can't really [9:44]speak to it before I catch up with him [9:46]but from everything we've been talking [9:47]about on WhatsApp and even you know if [9:49]you search up his LinkedIn profile and [9:51]look at his website and you'll see a you [9:53]know very eclectic mix of different [9:55]paths that he's taken over the last few [9:57]years to get to where he is now. Let's [10:00]see what it's actually like. Should be [10:01]pretty cool. [10:04][Music] [10:17][Music] [10:24]So for those who don't know who you are, [10:26]who is Jeremy Hindle? [10:28]>> Who is Jeremy Hendle? I'm a serial [10:29]entrepreneur. I've worked in the uh [10:31]computer games industry initially. Uh [10:33]then I went into uh real estate and I [10:35]implemented a lot of technology there. [10:36]Had a lot of success there. Made some [10:38]people a lot of money. Then after that I [10:40]went back into the computer games [10:40]industry again. Always very early on [10:42]pushing boundaries. So I was one of the [10:45]earliest really strong Unity 3 develop [10:47]3D developers. I um was one of the first [10:49]Oculus Rift engineers before Oculus was [10:51]acquired by Meta. I was building online [10:53]training environments and stuff like [10:54]that way before it was even like a thing [10:57]which people could buy as a product. And [10:59]then uh after that I uh went through YC [11:02]in summer of 2017 built an application. [11:05]We were in the first ever AI batch um AI [11:08]group not batch. So there was only like [11:10]15 of us I think maybe 12 of us. [11:21][Music] [11:27]really good founder in Europe would be [11:28]really different to a really good [11:29]founder in America. Really good founder [11:31]from 2017 is really is very different to [11:33]a really good founder in 2025 because [11:35]the ecosystem and what people are [11:37]perceiving the consensus is different [11:39]>> and so the games you need to play are [11:40]different. Uh and I say games because [11:42]they are games at the end of the day a [11:43]lot of the things that founders have to [11:44]do annoyingly are actually not about [11:47]making your company better. A large part [11:50]of what YC actually does, which is to [11:51]their testament a very good thing they [11:52]do, and I hope they still stick to it, [11:54]is to remind founders that the most [11:56]important thing about what they're [11:57]building is their company. And the [11:59]privileges that YC give them interact [12:01]like easier access to money and better [12:03]access to network should be used so they [12:05]can spend more time focusing on their [12:06]company instead of all of these games [12:08]you have to play elsewhere to grow your [12:11]company because you're convincing people [12:12]of your valuation and it largely won't [12:14]make any difference if your company is a [12:15]success. you know, which is a massive [12:17]issue with European venture, for [12:18]example, where valuations are [12:20]significantly lower and requirements for [12:23]hitting different milestones are [12:24]significantly higher to the point that [12:26]it will often cause companies to operate [12:28]in a way which is not that beneficial in [12:30]the long term and it will cause founders [12:31]to focus on the wrong things. So, YC [12:33]will concentrate on those things. [12:35]>> Okay, wrapped up my conversation and my [12:38]day with Jeremy. We went about 2 hours [12:40]over. Not surprised to be honest. We [12:43]just had so much stuff to talk about and [12:46]cover. Long story short, there's a lack [12:48]of capital for founders here in the UK [12:51]and UK is not really known as a place [12:54]for startups and founders. San Francisco [12:56]is, the US is, you know, New York, San [12:59]Francisco, and I had the same experience [13:01]in Australia, albeit we're a much [13:03]smaller and newer country. Now, we're on [13:05]our way to catch up with Gabriel and his [13:08]co-founder from Coin Rule. We're here to [13:11]find out what's going on for them and uh [13:13]what are they launching? What are they [13:15]working on? Um they've been in the game [13:16]for a few years now, so really [13:18]interested to see what's kind of really [13:20]happening in the behind the scenes of [13:22]their world. Let's jump on another [13:24]Sander [13:25]and get this going. [13:28]Let's do it. [13:30][Music] [13:37]>> Hey Gabrielle, how are you man? [13:39]>> Cool. [13:40]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Also the other guy. [13:42]>> Cool. Okay. [13:47]>> This is my third startup and probably 10 [13:49]years ago I just made peace with myself. [13:51]I was like yeah I'm an entrepreneur. [13:53]This is what I'm going to do. In fact [13:54]when we talk in the company sometime you [13:57]know about selling you know exiting you [13:59]know we have received some offers in the [14:00]past and I was like yeah okay we sell it [14:03]but there what I want to do you know I'm [14:05]going to start a new company where here [14:06]like you know we have a a dream team. uh [14:08]all the processes are in place, the [14:10]admins are in place so we can actually [14:12]try to build new products from this [14:14]platform. That's for me like you know [14:16]it's the best ever because yeah I think [14:17]that's what I want to do in the for the [14:19]rest of my life. When I wake up in the [14:20]morning I feel blessed. I feel like [14:22]super lucky of being able to to actually [14:24]build company, create value, uh being [14:27]able to manage my own schedule and also [14:29]take care of the team. I really like the [14:30]people management part. Uh I I love [14:32]that. Yeah. Even if sometime you know [14:34]they see you as the the manager or the [14:36]founders you don't get the same love [14:38]back but uh I love to do that so I don't [14:41]think I'll go back to any other like [14:43]corporate job ever [14:47]>> bad person [14:51]Google ads.

[14:57]So the most rewarding part of the [14:59]journey definitely has been uh being [15:02]able to actually help users. U it sounds [15:05]like kind of obvious but like seeing [15:07]people who use your product and they [15:09]actually really get product value out of [15:11]it. It's incredible. We have customers [15:13]who've been using us for years and years [15:15]uh who have like my WhatsApp number and [15:18]like the the fact that they keep you [15:20]know coming back. It's such a like trust [15:22]that they put into us. I mean we are a [15:24]financial application right? So people [15:26]really trust us essentially with their [15:28]investment strategies and like the [15:30]they're really like important part of [15:34]what they're doing and the fact that [15:36]these people trust us so much is [15:38]mind-blowing. Like I I I'm grateful for [15:40]that every single day of running the [15:43]company. All right, good morning. Next [15:46]day just waiting for my Uber and I'm [15:48]heading to go meet a guy called Vasili. [15:51]He was also someone uh that I got [15:54]introduced to as far as uh our WhatsApp [15:56]chat's concerned. He's basically hired [15:59]six people in the last two weeks for his [16:01]new venture which is insane. So I'm [16:04]going to catch up with him at probably [16:06]another very pivotal moment in you know [16:09]a founders's journey which is really [16:11]exciting. So um he has already been [16:14]through YC he's already launched a [16:17]company I believe he's exited a company [16:20]and now he's starting again but this is [16:23]particularly around consulting coaching [16:25]uh in the AI space that's as kind of the [16:29]higher level as much as I know I'm [16:31]really curious to hear if he has the [16:33]same ideas and opinions about the [16:37]current climate in the UK with startups [16:39]and also what's happening with VCs and [16:41]lack of access to capital for startups [16:44]when there's a kind of a disparity in [16:47]the fact that there's a lot of wealth [16:48]here too. So just waiting for my Uber [16:50]and then I am off at the races and we [16:54]get to go see and meet Vasili. [16:57][Music] [17:04]>> Hello. [17:06]>> Oh good. [17:09]>> Oh my god. [17:12]What's up? How's the week been? [17:16]>> Yeah. So far so good. [17:23]All right.

[17:26][Music] [17:30]I think if you are into this um if you [17:34]like it um then [17:38]you can almost like relax and let go of [17:40]the stress because you will inevitably [17:42]get to the point of being really good [17:44]after about 10,000 hours or something. [17:46]Um so just like putting your reps in. [17:49]Um, and that idea is relaxing because [17:52]sometimes people think like [ __ ] I need [17:55]to find the best idea to work on right [17:57]now or I need to find like the best [18:00]entry to the market or I need to find um [18:03]something the best you know uh and that [18:06]often puts people that put me in [18:08]analysis for years like and I like [18:11]overthinking and trying to find the [18:13]option. What I didn't realize and what [18:16]this is Andreas Karpathy's uh Andre [18:18]Karpathy's idea uh he was asked like how [18:20]to do what advice would we give to [18:23]somebody who wants to like get into [18:24]machine learning how to do that in the [18:25]best way and he said there is no best [18:27]way because if you are doing this if [18:30]you're serious about it then no matter [18:33]the entry point you will explore all the [18:35]paths um and you will still learn it and [18:39]master it and the entry point almost [18:40]doesn't matter so you should just relax [18:42]and play and That's the best advice that [18:44]I could have given to myself about 7 10 [18:48]years ago.

[18:50]>> After 10 days inside London startup [18:52]scene, [18:54]>> one thing is clear, [18:57]>> this city is brimming with ambition. [19:01][Music] [19:05]>> From bold product launches to founders [19:07]betting it all on new ideas, the energy [19:10]here is undeniable. [19:13]But London is still fighting against an [19:15]ecosystem that doesn't yet match Silicon [19:17]Valley scale. The question isn't whether [19:20]it can rival the valley today, but how [19:23]far it can go tomorrow. [19:25]And for me, this journey is just [19:28]beginning. [19:29][Music]