YC Demo Day, Polymarket, Steven Bartlett, OpenaixThrive & Vertical AI
The last 2 weeks in startups: YC, billionaires, and what VCs actually buy
Happy Sunday everybody, here’s this week’s recap.
These past 2 weeks have been insane, let’s got through some of the highlights.
Let’s dive in 🔥
The content:
YC F25 Demo Day Breakdown: My 11 Picks
Polymarket’s Founder Became the Youngest Self-Made Billionaire
The 5 Signals Pre-Seed VCs Look for in Founders (and How to Market Them)
The Evolution of McKinsey of AI: OpenAI Partners with Thrive Holdings
The Rise of Neolabs: Where the Next AI Breakthroughs Will Come From (11 Labs to Follow)
The Vertical AI Playbook: 200 Vertical AI Startups Across Sectors
27 Most Promising AI Startup Pitch Decks Backed by Top Investors in 2025
I met Steven Bartlett in SF’s Founders Inc
1. YC F25 Demo Day Breakdown: my 11 picks
Last week I flew to SF for YC Demo Day. I invested in several companies this batch and it wa great meeting them in person. SF is just great and had a lot of fun.
Also organised a run with some founders and investors in the morning. It was super cold but was great!
2. Polymarket’s founder became youngest self made billionaire
I had been hearing so much about predictive markets and knew so little that I just had to do a deep dive on Polymarket. Fascinating topic with endless possibilites.
3. The 5 signals preseed VCs look for in founders and how to market them
I was a young founder not so long ago and I remember not undertanding at all how investors make decisions. After many years as a founder and an investor, these insights can help be way better at fundraising.
4. The evolution of Mckinsey of AI --> OpenAI partners with Thrive Holdings
OpenAI is doing everything it can to not die. And their strategy right now is partnering with more and more corporations that can give them revenues no matter the cost. They just evolved their consulting playbook with this partnership with Thrive.
5. The Rise of Neolabs: Where the Next AI Breakthroughs Will Come From & 11 AI Labs to follow
Neolabs are weird type of company that is trending in this AI boom and it’s super valuable to understand the different Neolabs to have a sense of where the future is going to.
6. The Vertical AI Playbook & 200 Vertical AI Startups Across Sectors
Over the last 12 months we’ve seen a clear pattern: some of the biggest outcomes in AI are coming from vertical AI that lives inside specific workflows.
The so called AI wrappers that have endured have built not only on top of LLMs but also own the workflow, get network effects and build data moats.
So I decided to breakdown the Vertical AI Playbook and curate a number of Vertical AI startups in different sectors 🔥
7. 27 Most Promising AI Startup Pitch Decks Backed by Top Investors in 2025
8. I met Steven Bartlett in SF’s Founders Inc
Had the luck to spend some time with Steven Bartlett in SF and learn about his life story. Some of it here!
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