Garry Tan

President & CEO of Y Combinator. Y Combinator funds hundreds of companies per year via web-based application and has an acceptance rate of less than 1%, lower than any other selective process of its kind. YC has funded 90 companies worth a billion dollars or more, each at the earliest possible stage (usually a few people even before launch), and about 10 to 20 companies per year that go through the program will go on to product market fit and become a Unicorn. Over $800B in market value has been created so far, and counting. Before becoming CEO, I was a partner at YC 2011-2015 and built major software including Bookface and Demo Day realtime video. 

I'm a designer, PM & engineer turned investor and helper to startups.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel at youtube.com/garrytan

Founder, board partner and advisor at Initialized Capital, an early stage venture capital fund that was earliest in Coinbase and Instacart. Previously managing partner where we grew it to $3.2B in assets under management and startups worth more than $200 billion in market value in 10 years. Forbes Midas List Top 100 Global VC 2019-2023, last at #6 in the world before returning to YC.

Before that, I cofounded Posterous and helped build it to a world-class website used by millions. (Acquired by Twitter) I also cofounded the engineering team for Palantir Technology's quant finance analysis platform, and designed the current Palantir logo and wordmark.

I love building things.

Specialties: user-centered design, project management, software engineering, interaction design, visual design, entrepreneurship, bootstrapping, branding, design, technical architecture, scaling

Cofounder

Easy, simple blogs for $5/mo forever. This is a replacement for Posterous.com, but now one that we intend to charge money for, and keep online for as long as possible. We needed a replacement, and other people do too.

Software engineering accounts for nearly 50% of all AI agent tool calls. Healthcare, legal, finance, and a dozen other verticals are barely touched, each under 5%. That's a hundred AI unicorns waiting to be built. 

https://lnkd.in/g7EAeeJg

Open article: Half the AI Agent Market Is One Category. The Rest Is Wide Open. by garryslist.org

Half the AI Agent Market Is One Category. The Rest Is Wide Open.

A developer used OpenAI’s codex to port the entire SimCity (1989) C codebase to TypeScript in 4 days—without reading a single line of code. This is vibe coding at scale. The brave new world awaits your prompt.

https://lnkd.in/g7EdH9n5

Open article: AI Just Ported SimCity in 4 Days Without Reading the Code by garryslist.org

AI Just Ported SimCity in 4 Days Without Reading the Code

One of the most important questions for founders is: How do I make sure agents know about my product and service and choose it? All the old tricks won’t work. 

People who figure this out will win big 

This is a good essay: https://lnkd.in/gGSU2HPR

A pundit called Asian students "grade grinders" destroying American schools. Reality: n=20,000 survey shows Asian American kids lead in sports (63%), arts (59%), AND community service. The real complaint? "They're too good and we can't compete."

https://lnkd.in/e7whkc_m

Open article: The New War on Asian American Excellence by garryslist.org

AI just moves the excuses out of the way. You don’t get to say “I can’t edit” “I don’t know how to code” or “I’m not technical” — Intelligence is officially too cheap to meter. Your taste is your evals. Your desire to win is your agency. Time to build.

https://lnkd.in/gs2MhDX5

Open article: AI Didn’t Kill Creativity. It Killed Your Excuses. by garryslist.org

AI Didn’t Kill Creativity. It Killed Your Excuses.

Red Robin’s stock collapsed from $92 to $3.61 after management saved on labor costs and lost 96% of their market value.

Chili’s invested in making the experience 10x better and posted 31% growth and is 50x the market cap.

A lesson for the AI age.

https://lnkd.in/gi4rP3q2

Open article: Red Robin Died by Spreadsheet. Don't Make the Same Mistake. by garryslist.org

Red Robin Died by Spreadsheet. Don't Make the Same Mistake.

Top 1% startup exits have grown from $1.4B to $20B over 20 years. This is what an ascending market looks like: more tech, more jobs, faster growth.

Imagine being zero-sum, wanting to destroy tech at a moment when tech capability is going parabolic.

https://lnkd.in/gxs_5dwW

Open article: Startup Exits Double Every Five Years by garryslist.org

The one skill everyone who uses AI needs to master in 2026. Meta-prompting: using an LLM to generate, refine, and improve the very prompts you use to get work done.

https://lnkd.in/g9mFEHDj

Open article: Metaprompting is a skill everyone who uses AI needs to master in 2026 by garryslist.org

Metaprompting is a skill everyone who uses AI needs to master in 2026

Open article: Boil the Ocean by garryslist.org

I found a paper that actually quantifies the amount of money that is lost by society because NIMBYism prevents NY, SF Bay Area from building enough housing for their highly productive workers: $8,775 for every worker in America every year. That's wages you would have had, and GDP the USA would have had.

Open article: NIMBYs Steal $8,775 From Every Worker by garryslist.org

Data Center NIMBYs Are Killing $1 Trillion in AI Infrastructure
Housing NIMBYs already reduced 36% of GDP. Now the same playbook is blocking the AI economy. The states that figure out how to share the upside will win the future.

https://lnkd.in/g5-jEJMh

Open article: Data Center NIMBYs Are Killing $1 Trillion in AI Infrastructure by garryslist.org

Data Center NIMBYs Are Killing $1 Trillion in AI Infrastructure

BART’s ‘Leave Them Be’ Order Burned the Transbay Tube

Two encampment fires shut down BART in seven days. BART knew about the RV site, had legal authority to clear it, but the board’s “leave them be” culture resulted in system disaster.

Open article: BART's 'Leave Them Be' Order Burned the Transbay Tube by garryslist.org

BART's 'Leave Them Be' Order Burned the Transbay Tube

Create Magic

We co-create magical experiences for our end-customers that "wow" in collaboration with our select partners.

Software Consulting Company with clients such as Zappos and Deloitte Digital providing custom design, product, mobile, and back-end solutions as well as technical product management.

CEO and Founder

Deloitte Digital

Lead iOS Architect as a consultant for Deloitte Digital on a major e-commerce app redesign in SwiftUI, responsible for leading a team of over 8 developers through every phase of the project and interfacing with dozens of team members across the organization and client

Responsible for vendor relationships including Analytics, Marketing Tech, Loyalty Rewards Architecture, Paypal, Cybersource, Sales Force Commerce Cloud and Marketing Cloud, Tealium, Apple, One Trust, New Relic, After Pay, Curalate, and many more

Led data analytics mobile design and implementation, payments, & security

Grew e-commerce mobile application 4X growth in under 2 years

Lead iOS Architect

Zappos Family of Companies

Product owner for Zappos Circle Cash payments application and secure custom solution with BLE credit card transactions, custom cart checkout, transaction tracking, automatic tax calculation, and backend SAP accounting integration. Worked with Finance via MBD (Market Based Dynamics) and WorldPay to deliver a robust solution for direct payments with a focus on music festivals, pop-up shops, field sales, in-store, shipping, and internal payments between circles in the company.

Consultant

PunchCode

Mentor for coding school students as they learned development and began new careers in software

Mentor

Phusion, Inc.

Consumer mobile app company funded by The Mill accelerator and Progression Labs (selected out of 60 competing teams) in Downtown Las Vegas (Tony Hsieh's VegasTechFund) in 2014. Multiple app projects launched successfully including Samba Messenger, Flight Gear, SneakerCoin which is a top Jordan sneaker app with 200K users, and the next-gen version Destined.

YC Startup School 2018 & 2019 Graduate

Concierge Software Design

Blockchain development & design, javascript application and API development. Mobile and web design. System architecture, devops, smart contracts, and network security.

Worked on Stellar blockchain integration for issuance, wallet and transactions for the IND token for IndieParty.com that Launched at SXSW 2018.

Senior Software Engineer

Bred Ventures Inc.

Contributing to the iOS and Apple Watch version of PK Fitness, a tracking app for workouts with an innovative effort-based model using smart devices. PK Fitness is also built around a social network of people working out and sharing their experiences with tools to see distance, maps, calories, steps,  split times, and photos. Created by the former CTO of Dreamworks Animation, Ed Leonard, and Bryan Clay, the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal Decathlon Champion.

Senior Technical Consultant

Sports Challenge Network

As a top level executive, I was responsible for designing future product roadmap, center mobile solutions, and working with executive team on strategy. I worked with the tech team on execution and quality of existing products in the market.

I was the original designer and product architect of their flagship product Action Bowling, a skills-based virtual tournament platform where bowlers can compete for cash prizes around the world. We created Action Bowling out of Rolltech in 2015-2016, one of the earliest portfolio companies for the VegasTechFund. 

Based on the success of the platform, a merger was formed in 2016 with XBowling and SCN to create the largest mobile bowling technology company in the world. This is considered one of the few successful exits for a VTF company.

VP of Product

Rolltech

Responsible for iOS development, UI/UX, marketing, graphic design and product direction for one of the world's only automatic scoring and stat tracking platforms for Bowling.

Ran email and push marketing campaigns on the marketing team using automated systems, segmentation, and analytics to personalize offers and contests for Action Bowling

Rolltech was one of the first Vegas Tech Fund portfolio companies, won Startup of the Year in 2015, and grew Action Bowling platform to major revenue leading to exit to Sports Challenge Network in Atlanta, GA

Senior iOS Engineer, Product Designer

DreamWorks Animation

Developer on Ptch, an iOS app that lets users create mini-music videos out of their photo and video library. Acquired by Yahoo in December 2013.

Featured in ROLLING STONE:
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/blogs/gear-up/new-app-ptch-creates-mini-music-videos-20120719

FORBES:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorikozlowski/2012/07/19/dreamworks-startup-launches-living-media/

TECHCRUNCH,  Ptch teams with Paramount's Paranormal Activity:
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/28/ptch-paramount-paranormal-activity/

iOS Engineer

I'm an Entrepreneur, Product Leader, Developer, Architect, and Team Leader with deep technical expertise. MBA from Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and BS degree in Computer Science from Syracuse University. Certified Google PM, Fintech from Wharton, AI Product Management from Duke, and over 60 specializations from Gies Business School that span digital marketing, business strategy, finance and entrepreneurship.

Worked for firms with 4X Exits from 10M up to 200M. I’ve delivered outstanding work for Dreamworks Animation, Fox Sports, IBM, Zappos, Deloitte Digital, FLIR Systems (the global leader in infrared delivering solutions for the US Air Force, Navy, NASA with SECRET level clearance), Philips, HorsesForHeroes (non-profit for military families), Syracuse University, PK Fitness (run by former Dreamworks Anim CTO and Olympic Decathlon Champion), and many VC-backed startups. I'm a valuable member, mentor, and contributor of the Vegas Tech community since it started with Tony Hsieh's $350M investment in downtown Vegas in 2013.

I help companies of all stages grow to new heights with millions of users across over a dozen verticals including mobile video, image processing, photo sharing, social, messaging, gaming, sports, fitness, e-commerce, fashion, finance, crypto, payments, advanced infrared tech, and more. 

I'm always up for new challenges and helping others achieve their goals. Feel free to reach out anytime! You can get a visual glance at my portfolio here: https://brookshalladay.com

taplio

The Battle

Garry Tan

Brooks Halladay

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreGarry Tan's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Garry Tan

Brooks Halladay

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Garry Tan's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreGarry Tan's LinkedIn Performance