| name | yc-insight-driven-bp |
| description | Y Combinator-style insight-first business plan framework. Minimalist 5–8 slide format built around a contrarian insight. Best for pre-seed to seed, accelerators, and angel investors. Trigger when users need a concise, founder-centric BP that leads with a unique worldview. |
| license | MIT |
Skill: YC Insight-Driven BP
Meta
- Style: Minimalist, insight-first, founder-centric
- Best For: Pre-seed to Seed; accelerators; angel investors; first-time founders
- Source: Y Combinator Demo Day + partner office hours
- Output Length: 5–8 slides, or 1-page memo
- Tone: Direct, conversational, slightly irreverent
Core Philosophy
Investors don't invest in businesses. They invest in insights — a truth about the world that you see and others don't.
"The best founders have a secret. They know something the rest of the world doesn't." — Paul Graham
YC decks are short because the insight should be so compelling that everything else is obvious.
The One-Sentence Test
Before writing a single slide, answer this:
What do you believe about the world that is true, but that most smart people disagree with?
This is your insight. Everything in the deck serves this insight.
Good Examples:
- "The best software companies will be built outside Silicon Valley."
- "AI won't replace doctors — it will replace the medical billing industry."
- "Cross-border B2B payments aren't a fintech problem. They're a compliance data problem."
Bad Examples:
- "We make the best project management software." (Not contrarian)
- "AI will change everything." (Too vague)
- "We have a better UI than our competitors." (Not an insight)
Slide-by-Slide Guide
Slide 1: The Insight (The Hook)
Goal: Make the investor lean forward.
Structure:
- The counterintuitive truth (1 sentence)
- Why most people are wrong (1 sentence)
- What this makes possible (1 sentence)
Good Example:
"Most people think cross-border payments are slow because of banking infrastructure. The real bottleneck is compliance data — sanction lists, KYC, trade documentation are checked manually by 3 different parties. If you automate compliance data sharing, settlement drops from 7 days to 4 hours without changing a single bank."
Bad Example:
"ChainLedger is a fintech platform for cross-border payments."
Check:
Slide 2: Problem (From the Insight)
Goal: Show the insight creates a massive, painful problem.
Structure:
- The old world (as seen through your insight)
- Who suffers most (be specific)
- The cost (quantified)
Good Example:
"Because compliance is manual and siloed, every cross-border transaction requires 3–5 intermediaries to re-verify the same data. Mid-market manufacturers importing from Asia spend 7 days and $2,500 per transaction on compliance overhead alone. Their 2-person finance teams are drowning."
Check:
Slide 3: Solution (The Inevitable Answer)
Goal: Show that once you see the insight, your solution is the only logical answer.
Structure:
- The mechanism (how you exploit the insight)
- The result (what changes for the customer)
- Why now (why wasn't this done before?)
Good Example:
"We built a shared compliance data layer. Instead of 3 banks independently verifying the same KYC, our network verifies once and shares the attestation. Result: settlement in 4 hours, compliance cost down 90%.
Why now? Open banking APIs + regulatory sandbox programs make data sharing legal for the first time."
Check:
Slide 4: Traction (Proof the Insight is Right)
Goal: Show early evidence that your insight is correct.
Structure:
- The metric that validates the insight
- Trend
- Customer quote (if available)
Good Example:
"In 6 months: 120 customers, $50k MRR, 12% MoM growth. But the key number: 94% of customers say 'we didn't know compliance was the bottleneck until we used ChainLedger.' This validates the insight."
Check:
Slide 5: Market (Size Through the Insight)
Goal: Show the insight opens a massive market.
Structure:
- Market size via the insight (not generic TAM)
- Expansion path (adjacent markets your insight unlocks)
Good Example:
"If compliance data is the real bottleneck, the market isn't 'cross-border payments' ($180B). It's 'compliance automation for trade finance' ($42B). And once we own compliance data, we can expand into trade credit, insurance, and supply chain finance."
Check:
Slide 6: Business Model (Keep It Simple)
Goal: Show you can make money. One model only.
Structure:
- How you charge (one sentence)
- Unit economics (if you have them)
- Why customers pay (value captured)
Good Example:
"0.15% per transaction + $2k/mo platform fee. We save customers $2,500 per transaction; they pay us $200. That's an 8x ROI."
Check:
Slide 7: Team (Why You See This)
Goal: Show why your background gives you unique access to this insight.
Structure:
- Founder story: How you discovered the insight
- Relevant experience: Not credentials, but proof you can execute
- Key hire: One person who validates the vision
Good Example:
"I ran payments compliance at Ant Group for 8 years. I watched $2B in settlements get delayed because 3 banks were checking the same data. My co-founder built the compliance API at Stripe. We literally built this before — now we're doing it for everyone."
Check:
Slide 8: The Ask
Goal: Be direct. YC founders ask for money like they ask for coffee.
Structure:
Raising $X.
To achieve [3 milestones].
Current runway: X months.
Good Example:
"Raising $1.1M pre-A.
3 milestones: $200k MRR, EU regulatory approval, 3 enterprise pilots.
Runway: 8 months."
Check:
The YC One-Page Memo Format
For very early stage (pre-launch), YC sometimes prefers a memo over a deck:
[Company] — [One-line description]
Insight: [What you believe that others don't]
Problem: [What broken thing your insight reveals]
Solution: [How you fix it]
Traction: [What evidence you have]
Team: [Why you]
Ask: [How much, on what terms]
Use of funds: [3 specific allocations]
Max 500 words. If you can't explain it in 500 words, you don't understand it.
Self-Review Checklist
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
- The "Me-Too" Insight: "AI is changing everything." Not contrarian enough.
- The Feature List: More than 3 features means you haven't found the core insight.
- The Credential Dump: YC doesn't care about your MBA. They care about what you built.
- The Hand-Wavy Market: "The market is huge." Reframe it through your insight.
- The Range Ask: "We're raising $1–2M." Pick a number.
YC-Specific Tips
- Demo if possible: A 60-sec screen recording beats 10 slides.
- Talk about users: YC partners want to hear "users love us because..."
- Be honest about risks: "We don't know if enterprise sales cycle is 3 or 6 months. We're testing both."
- Show iteration: "We started as X, but users kept asking for Y, so we pivoted."
- Know your numbers cold: If you say 12% MoM growth, be ready to explain the monthly breakdown.