[ryankicks]

In May 2022 [updated], YC did tell their startups to better control their spend. It wasn't intended for public consumption, but it did get on TC:

https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/19/yc-advises-founders-to-pla...

We did see a lot of our YC startups stop/slow down hiring at that time and throughout the summer. It has picked up since, as a function of 1.) a new batch of YC startups graduating, 2.) raising a healthy seed round and 3.) hiring a few early employees.

OP told me his experience was more recent, and that's a big time gap between the memo and now. I can't speak to any specifics, but I do think all startups (and definitely YC ones) are continually re-evaluating their business position: revenue, projected growth and corresponding headcount. And with a pull-back in industry spending during a downturn (and more expected going into 2023), vendors/sellers/startups will all have to re-adjust their 2023 plans pretty quickly.

Poor fiscal planning isn't an excuse for what happened to OP. It does shed light on how some companies (including YC startups) are continually trying to adapt during this downturn.

Note: The above comments about industry spend isn't from anything in particular I'm seeing from our YC startups, but rather from having worked at B2B startups twice previously during downturns -- and personally being on both sides of the equation (as seller and buyer of SaaS software).

[that_guy_iain]

This May. It was 2022.