Off the record. By invitation. A private forum for Y Combinator alumni founders.
Independent community · Not officially affiliated with or endorsed by Y Combinator
The YC Founder Executive Forum is shaped by a small committee of Y Combinator alumni founders and operators. They set the tone, open the room, and decide who belongs.
Founder of Open Future Forum and Partner at IA Seed Ventures. Helped scale Turing.com to a $4B valuation as a C-level executive, and has written on AI and technology for Forbes, Inc, Time, and The Guardian. Author of Online Marketing: A User's Manual (Wiley).
Y Combinator alum (S22) and co-founder of a stealth AI startup in San Francisco. Previously a founding engineer at Dashdive, co-founder and CTO of Banabo Labs, and a platform engineer at T-Mobile. Studied computer science at Gonzaga University, builds in C++ and JavaScript, and is a firm believer that too many people are sleeping on IRL events.
Two-time Y Combinator alum, software engineer, and founder coach. He works with ambitious founders on the clarity, resilience, and purpose it takes to lead with impact and authenticity, writes widely on founder psychology, and publishes the Default Awake newsletter on the trends shaping how founders build.
The YC Founder Executive Forum gathers Y Combinator alumni founders and CEOs. It is part of Open Future Forum, and it runs on the same principle: everyone in the room is a giver.
There is no pitch, no agenda, no recording. The conversations are the ones founders can only have with peers who have shipped, raised, and been through the same batches.
The private dinner is the center of the forum. Around it, members gather in a handful of settings built for the way founders actually connect.
Sharp, off-the-record sessions on the questions founders are working through right now.
Smaller, relaxed gatherings where the conversation runs long and the introductions stick.
A full day with a small group of peers, the kind of time that builds real trust.
A signature Open Future Forum setting on the bay, where the room opens up away from the desk.
Private boxes at Giants games, a relaxed room for founders and their guests.
Practical working sessions on how AI is changing the way founders build, sell, and raise.
Gatherings are announced through Open Future Forum. Register, get reminders, and find the next room on the Forum Events page.
Upcoming YC Founder Executive Forum dinners and gatherings are listed with all Open Future Forum events.
View Forum EventsThe forum is built for founders who make the room better. The question is simple: does this person give more than they take?
Members are identified by how they show up, long before any invitation is extended. If the answer is yes, a personal note follows.
Like every Open Future Forum room, the YC Founder Executive Forum runs on Adam Grant's Give and Take: the most generous people in the room create the most value over time.
Members offer their honest read of the product, the raise, and the hard calls, without holding back for advantage.
The most valued act in the room is a warm introduction made without being asked.
This is not a quid pro quo network. The room holds the debt and pays it forward.
If you think you belong in the YC Founder Executive Forum, or know a YC founder who does, we'd like to hear from you. Membership is by invitation or referral, reviewed personally by Murray Newlands.
