As Y Combinator (YC) focuses on the country's burgeoning startup ecosystem, this Silicon Valley startup accelerator is eyeing to tap into aspiring student entrepreneurs in India.  

Hosting a series of online talks at six campuses across the months of September and October, storied incubator will be in its virtual IIT tour.  From schools and institutions such as IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay and, IIT Roorkee. The talks would be initiated by YC partners and alumni founders from the respective schools. 

"YC partners will talk about myths around starting startups, some of the secret advantages of the YC community, war stories from starting their own companies as well as getting ready in college if they want to start a startup one day, while the founders will talk about their journey, fundraising and their stint at YC," said Kat Manalac, who is the Partner at Y Combinator.

Several schools provide strong computer science and engineering education, but very few know how to "teach startups", Manalac added.

"Giving students access to successful founders who are alumni of their schools and letting them ask questions accomplishes at least one important thing -- it provides students with an example, it shows them a pathway and it plants the seed that they too can build a huge company," she said.

For its first fully-remote Summer 2020 batch, Y Combinator has unveiled 14 startups and are currently accepting applications for the Winter 2021 batch.

Manalac said, "We've done talks at schools like MIT and Stanford for years, and we've found that it’s a great way for us to meet future founders. We've met hundreds of students that we’ve ended up funding."