Precursor VenturesA classic pre-seed and seed stage venture capital firm

Is YC really to blame?

24 Nov 2025 · 1 min

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Precursor Ventures argues YC isn't uniquely responsible for the flood of agentic AI startups. The firm points out YC has always drawn founders chasing frontier ideas like portable nuclear reactors and aviation, and that the real issue is venture capital broadly being obsessed with the same trends.

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So yes, there is probably an overrepresentation of agentic AI companies in the last two YC batches. There is also an overrepresentation of agentic AI companies in the entire startup ecosystem. And while YC can attempt to shape who applies, the people who apply why. And if there's one thing I took away from the article, I think when YC said its best, it is actually pulling in people that are working on ideas on the frontier. Things that are not well understood. Portable nuclear reactor or aviation, or things that people people broadly don't believe are technically possible or aren't paying attention to. I think right now it's hard for me to criticize YC without criticizing the entire VC industry for being too over rotated. I.