The First Dedicated YC GPU Cluster - With Together AI

YC and Together AI are partnering to bring the first dedicated YC GPU cluster online, giving YC startups easier access to the compute they need to build and scale. In this episode of Founder Firesides, YC's Ankit Gupta and Together AI co-founder and CEO Vipul Ved Prakash dig into why compute has become one of the biggest bottlenecks for modern AI companies. They’ll discuss how Together AI is helping more than 8,000 customers, from early-stage research teams to companies like Cursor, Cognition, and ElevenLabs, train, fine-tune, & run inference on AI models, and why flexible access to GPUs is becoming a competitive advantage for the next generation of founders. Chapters: 00:00 — YC and Together AI Are Partnering on a GPU Cluster 00:26 — What Together AI Does 01:22 — From Research Labs to Cursor: Together's 8,000 Customers 01:58 — The Landscape of AI Native Startups at YC 03:24 — How Building an AI Company Has Changed Since 2018 04:56 — Why the Cost of Compute Keeps Going Up 05:29 — YC as the Biggest Seed Funder of Research Companies 07:07 — Why YC Chose Together AI 08:47 — Flash Attention, Mamba, and the Science of Production AI 10:43 — Compute Planning Advice for Early Stage Companies 12:39 — When Your Compute Bill Is Bigger Than Your Cash Balance 13:31 — How YC Companies Are Using the Cluster Today 14:24 — What's Next for the Partnership Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs

Ankit GuptahostVipul Ved Prakashguest

Jul 20, 202615mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: July 20, 2026
Duration: 15m
Channel: YC Root Access
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

YC and Together AI are partnering to bring the first dedicated YC GPU cluster online, giving YC startups easier access to the compute they need to build and scale. In this episode of Founder Firesides, YC's Ankit Gupta and Together AI co-founder and CEO Vipul Ved Prakash dig into why compute has become one of the biggest bottlenecks for modern AI companies. They’ll discuss how Together AI is helping more than 8,000 customers, from early-stage research teams to companies like Cursor, Cognition, and ElevenLabs, train, fine-tune, & run inference on AI models, and why flexible access to GPUs is becoming a competitive advantage for the next generation of founders. Chapters: 00:00 — YC and Together AI Are Partnering on a GPU Cluster 00:26 — What Together AI Does 01:22 — From Research Labs to Cursor: Together's 8,000 Customers 01:58 — The Landscape of AI Native Startups at YC 03:24 — How Building an AI Company Has Changed Since 2018 04:56 — Why the Cost of Compute Keeps Going Up 05:29 — YC as the Biggest Seed Funder of Research Companies 07:07 — Why YC Chose Together AI 08:47 — Flash Attention, Mamba, and the Science of Production AI 10:43 — Compute Planning Advice for Early Stage Companies 12:39 — When Your Compute Bill Is Bigger Than Your Cash Balance 13:31 — How YC Companies Are Using the Cluster Today 14:24 — What's Next for the Partnership Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs

SPEAKERS

Ankit Gupta
host
Y Combinator host/interviewer on YC Root Access.
Vipul Ved Prakash
guest
CEO and co-founder of Together AI.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of YC Root Access, featuring Ankit Gupta and Vipul Ved Prakash, The First Dedicated YC GPU Cluster - With Together AI explores yC and Together AI launch dedicated GPU cluster for startups YC and Together AI are partnering to provide the first dedicated YC GPU cluster, aimed at improving capacity access, pricing, and support for YC’s AI-native portfolio.

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