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Requests for Startups: Energy

1 points by NarcisMirandes ↗ HN
YC has published the Requests for Startups. https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs I like it. At the same time there are some things that I think are missing, one of them is energy. This is especially important in the AI era but it was also before for more general reasons. A cheap and reliable access to energy is a important factor to the development of many other sectors in a region.

There are many projects to solve the energy problem: fusion, space, nuclear... But this is far from being solved. Why doesn't YC mention energy in that list?

7 comments

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idontwantthis
Much harder to reach $1 billion value in less than 5 years if you have to move megatons of actual molecules around and deal with markets.
geremiiah
Energy markets are also much easier to quantify, thus harder to build a hype machine around.
NarcisMirandes
As Paul Graham says, we should be ambitious and optimistic. Energy is a big problem to solve. Perhaps the most important next problem? As @hodder says, YC is not the best place to build this. So, it is reserved for the big ones? What could be the solution? How to incentivize the creation of more in this field?
hodder
The ideal VC startups are low capex, high ROIC companies.

Energy almost universally requires massive capex to achieve a dime in revenue, and capital intensity never really subsides. YC has funded energy focused startups in the past (eg. Oklo and Helion), but it certainly cannot compete with the kind of scale and ROIC you can achieve in the digital world. Energy is difficult for seed investors.

NarcisMirandes
Ok. It makes sense. YC is not the best place for this kind of companies. Let's see if I understand your point and also to clarify for other people:

- Low capex = the startup doesn't need much money invested in physical assets such as factories, machinery, warehouses, or equipment.

- High ROIC = high Return on Invested Capital. The company generates a lot of profit relative to the capital it needs to operate.

- A VC wants a startup that can grow enormously without requiring enormous amounts of additional capital. YC focus on VC money.

Correct?