In what was already hinted a while back, Y Combinator has announced today, that its upcoming S2020 batch will be full-remote. This has been done, presumably, in the light of the existing coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns across the US.
Mentioning further details on how this remote batch would function, Y Combinator that said interviews for the batch will be remote, and office hours, evening talks, and meetups throughout the batch will all take place over video conferencing. Thiese meetups, office hours etc. will also be live on the accelerator’s online platform and forum for YC founders.
Interestingly, Y Combinator did have an online-only batch running experience during the last winter batch. The final month of that batch was shifted to being remote-only as coronavirus pandemic started to take a much tighter grip in the US.
“We are confident we can produce a great remote batch. We have learned a lot from the final month of the W20 batch (which was entirely online) and from a large number of international teams over the years who have only been able to attend portions of YC in person”, said YC CEO Michael Seibel.
Earlier in mid-March the accelerator had penned a blog post, hinting at possibilities of a remote-only batch. Nothing was confirmed at that time as Y Combinator waited for the the situation to evolve further and then take a decision. The 15 year old accelerator program, one of the most prestigious in the startup ecosystem, had then said that S20 batch will go as planned, remote-only or not.
