Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
YC and Together AI are partnering to bring the first dedicated YC GPU cluster online, giving YC startups easier access to the compute they need to build and scale. In this episode of Founder Firesides, YC's Ankit Gupta and Together AI co-founder and CEO Vipul Ved Prakash dig into why compute has become one of the biggest bottlenecks for modern AI companies. They’ll discuss how Together AI is helping more than 8,000 customers, from early-stage research teams to companies like Cursor, Cognition, and ElevenLabs, train, fine-tune, & run inference on AI models, and why flexible access to GPUs is becoming a competitive advantage for the next generation of founders.
Chapters:
00:00 — YC and Together AI Are Partnering on a GPU Cluster
00:26 — What Together AI Does
01:22 — From Research Labs to Cursor: Together's 8,000 Customers
01:58 — The Landscape of AI Native Startups at YC
03:24 — How Building an AI Company Has Changed Since 2018
04:56 — Why the Cost of Compute Keeps Going Up
05:29 — YC as the Biggest Seed Funder of Research Companies
07:07 — Why YC Chose Together AI
08:47 — Flash Attention, Mamba, and the Science of Production AI
10:43 — Compute Planning Advice for Early Stage Companies
12:39 — When Your Compute Bill Is Bigger Than Your Cash Balance
13:31 — How YC Companies Are Using the Cluster Today
14:24 — What's Next for the Partnership
Apply to Y Combinator: ycombinator.com/apply
Work at a startup: ycombinator.com/jobs
YC and Together AI are partnering to bring the first dedicated YC GPU cluster online, giving YC startups easier access to the compute they need to build and scale. In this episode of Founder Firesides, YC's Ankit Gupta and Together AI co-founder and CEO Vipul Ved Prakash dig into why compute has become one of the biggest bottlenecks for modern AI companies. They’ll discuss how Together AI is helping more than 8,000 customers, from early-stage research teams to companies like Cursor, Cognition, and ElevenLabs, train, fine-tune, & run inference on AI models, and why flexible access to GPUs is becoming a competitive advantage for the next generation of founders.
Chapters:
00:00 — YC and Together AI Are Partnering on a GPU Cluster
00:26 — What Together AI Does
01:22 — From Research Labs to Cursor: Together's 8,000 Customers
01:58 — The Landscape of AI Native Startups at YC
03:24 — How Building an AI Company Has Changed Since 2018
04:56 — Why the Cost of Compute Keeps Going Up
05:29 — YC as the Biggest Seed Funder of Research Companies
07:07 — Why YC Chose Together AI
08:47 — Flash Attention, Mamba, and the Science of Production AI
10:43 — Compute Planning Advice for Early Stage Companies
12:39 — When Your Compute Bill Is Bigger Than Your Cash Balance
13:31 — How YC Companies Are Using the Cluster Today
14:24 — What's Next for the Partnership
Apply to Y Combinator: ycombinator.com/apply
Work at a startup: ycombinator.com/jobs
