This $1.5 Trillion Industry Still Runs on Paper and Fax Machines

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

May 11, 2026

Duration

28m

Channel

YC Root Access

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Grocery stores do more volume than restaurants and hotels, and most of them still run on clipboards. In this episode of Founder Firesides, YC's Aaron Epstein sat down with Brandon Hill, the co-founder and CEO of Vori, a modern operating system for grocery stores. They discussed renting a refrigerated truck to save a botched dairy order, building AI agents that automatically update items on the shelf when costs change, and why Vori's $22 million Series B is a bet on the future of independent retail. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Aaron Epstein

  host

  Host of YC Root Access who interviews founders about their companies and YC journey.

• Brandon Hill

  guest

  Founder of Vori, building software (POS + AI/automation) for grocery stores.

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of YC Root Access, featuring Aaron Epstein and Brandon Hill, This $1.5 Trillion Industry Still Runs on Paper and Fax Machines explores vori modernizes grocery stores with AI-driven POS and management platform Vori is building an end-to-end operating system for grocery stores, expanding from an initial inventory reordering wedge into POS, payments, inventory, marketing, and dynamic pricing.

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