Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan wants to bring the famed accelerator’s Demo Day presentations back as in-person events by the end of the year.
During Tan’s opening remarks during Wednesday’s YC summer cohort Demo Day, he said this week’s Demo Day presentations will, “knock on wood,” be the final ones held entirely online. Tan added that the accelerator’s first fall cohort Demo Day, which will take place on December 4, will include an in-person element.
Demo Days are like the graduation events for startups that complete its program, where they pitch their products to investors and others in the tech ecosystem. Tan said that in-person seats will be limited and reserved for decision-making investors who have invested at least $50,000 into YC companies within the last two years.
“Think about it this way, you all now have four must-be-at events per year in San Francisco where you can catch up with friends and see the future all at the same time,” Tan said of the planned in-person event to the VCs watching online.
This switch back to in-person Demo Days is a logical move. While both the accelerator program and its Demo Days went to an online, virtual format in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program itself returned to being an in-person event and has been so for two years now. Meanwhile, YC has been an instrumental part of encouraging more startups to locate themselves in the Bay Area generally, and San Francisco in particular. In addition to its accelerator program, it throws numerous other in-person events for its alumni and the startup community.
Y Combinator recently expanded the number of startup cohorts each year from two to four, adding both a fall and spring batch. The first fall cohort kicks off on September 29. YC’s first spring program will launch in 2025.