Standing Up For Startups - YC Goes To D.C.

TL;DR

Y Combinator is in Washington, D.C., advocating for "little tech" (emergent startups with high potential) to ensure founders have a seat at policy tables historically dominated by big tech. Core policy fights include access to talent (high-skilled immigration, national noncompete ban), access to markets (anti-self-preferencing legislation like the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and Open

Key insights

• Little tech is defined as emergent tech with the most potential to improve lives, not companies that stay small forever; it’s a counterposition to big tech.
• Big tech has had a seat at the table in Washington for 15+ years, driving policy, while little tech has been absent; policymakers themselves ask why startup founders don’t show up.
• A national ban on noncompetes (currently via FTC rule, working through courts) is needed; California’s de facto ban is credited with unlocking significant innovation.