Blog
Writing from Lobster.
Long-form essays from Lobster Capital, published on Substack.
Lobster Capital1 min readThe YC for Hardware is YC
On S26's hardware boom and underwriting early stage deep tech
September 15, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readOn “Side Equity”, and What It Means for YC
What a fund actually holds when a portfolio company is bought with stock
September 8, 2026- Lobster Capital1 min read
Can the YC Playbook Scale?
How Dalton Caldwell is replacing warm intros, pitch decks, and terms sheets. Rebuilding the real founder-first investment model.
September 2, 2026 
Lobster Capital1 min readWhere is the bottleneck in founder conversion?
On frontier expansion and the importance of what is waiting downstream for founders
August 25, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readFrom $1M to $100M ARR in 7 Months: Why We Invested in Pocket
The fastest YC hardware company to reach this milestone is building the voice-capture layer beyond the screen.
August 19, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readYC Set a Standard, and Nothing has Matched it Yet.
On the YC bar created, and what it would take to clear it
August 13, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readWhat Happens when the Number we Trust Breaks?
Why the “Company Brain” model is testing Lobster’s traction filter, and what we are doing about it…
August 5, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readThe Vintage Problem
Why LP's concerns about vintage concentration are legitimate, partially wrong, and ultimately yours to solve
July 29, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readAre You Underwriting Lobster Capital, or Just Underwriting YC?
Why Lobster is not just a “beta” within YC and the same as any other YC-focused fund.
July 24, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readThe Future of VC is Lean
Why Smaller VCs will outperform Platform Funds
July 15, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readStage is Dead: Why YC Is the Perfect Archetype for Modern Investing
In 1976, a panel of French judges blind-tasted a lineup of wines and ranked a California bottle above the best of Bordeaux.
July 8, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readHow the Best YC Funds are Getting Deals
The best YC deals don’t get discovered at Demo Day.
July 1, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readWhat the Anti-YC Narrative Reveals About Investors
When an investor tells a founder to skip Y Combinator, they are not offering friendly advice.
June 24, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readWhy Everyone is Wrong about YC in 2026
What the Industry is Getting Wrong about Y Combinator
June 16, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readThe Fastest Wealth Creation in History: $0 to $2.7 Billion in 3 Years
Four people in their mid-20s just became billionaires.
June 12, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readWhy most LPs never see the YC deals that matter
Every YC batch ships a few hundred companies.
June 10, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readWhat the OpenAI/YC Deal Changes for Investors
Sam Altman’s “mic-drop moment” offer of $2M to an entire YC cohort has raised a number of questions across the early-stage investment industry.
June 9, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readLobster Capital - May 2026 Update
Of the 41 companies in Fund I, 10 now have a credible path to returning the entire fund on their own. That’s the headline from May, and it’s why I wanted to get this…
June 1, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readThe Co-Founder Paradox: Are Investors Missing a Trick?
There exists a paradox in investor preference for co-founded startups: 65% of startup failure is because of founder conflict, making it the #1 predictor of failure.
May 27, 2026
Lobster Capital1 min readAre YC founders building on the wrong side of the model layer? Here's how we know.
Founders building AI-native companies today have unconsciously slotted into one of two positions:
May 21, 2026
