Request for Startups: Government 2.0 - Michael Seibel

Hello, my name is Michael Seibel, and I'm the CEO of Y Combinator's accelerator. Today, I'm here to introduce a new request for startups.

Request for startups is a project that we do to inspire founders to apply to YC with new and interesting ideas. Today's request for startups is Government 2.0. Specifically, we're looking for startups that are helping address problems in society that you would expect government to solve, but they clearly are not.

Why it's important for us to publish this RFS is because I think a lot of people believe that Silicon Valley is actually not interested in making the world a better place. What we've learned through experience is that investors here are actually ridiculously excited to support founders who have a larger social mission.

To be clear, you have to be building a real business. It has to actually be a for-profit business because we invest in tech companies. You should be leveraging software in an important way. We have many examples of this in the past that have come through YC, including startups that help give people access to food stamps, that help keep people access to health care, that help with mass incarceration, and many more.

If your sole goal is not to get richer, to build a big company, but to actually make the world a better place or your community a better place, we are interested in funding you. Thank you very much.