Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan warns engineering and business college students: This mindset may land you in jail
, CEO of startup accelerator
Y Combinator
, has issued a stark warning to engineering and business students: adopting a 'fake it till you make it' mindset. Tan emphasised that that such a mindset, if taken too far, can lead to severe legal repercussions, including jail time.
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Speaking at Y Combinator's
AI Startup School
during a live recording of the Lightcone Podcast, Tan criticised some academic entrepreneurship programs that promote deceptive practices. 'We're very worried about them because what we're coming to understand is they are teaching you to lie,' he said. 'That's a waste of time — and you're gonna go to jail.'
Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan's warring for engineering and business college students
Tan directly criticized unnamed university
entrepreneurship courses
, suggesting they might be fostering an environment where students feel encouraged to bend the truth in their pursuit of startup success.
He emphasised that while ambition and innovation are important, they must be grounded in honesty and integrity.
Tan referenced disgraced tech founders Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX) and Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos), both convicted for fraud and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. He warned the students that who follow the same path of exaggerating traction, misleading investors, or fabricating product capabilities they have the risk of ending in jail.
'They don't represent us!' Tan declared, distancing Y Combinator's ethos from the high-profile scandals that have tarnished Silicon Valley's reputation.
Tan and his colleagues argued that many college entrepreneurship courses offer a 'cheap facsimile' of real startup life. Jared Friedman, YC's managing director, said these programs often teach rigid formulas and encourage hype over substance. 'Anytime you try to bottle up entrepreneurship and teach it as a college course, what you end up with is a method, not a company,' he said.
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They also criticized institutions for restricting access to AI tools like Cursor, an AI-powered code editor, which they believe are essential for modern startup development.
Tan has also asked the budding entrepreneurs to go for transparency, build real products, and avoid shortcuts. 'Software is the most empowering thing in the world. Why do you have to lie?' he asked. His message: success should be earned through innovation and integrity, not illusion.
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