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RFS Playbook 2026. Every YC RFS, decoded.

YC publishes a Request for Startups each cycle — short paragraphs hinting at what they want funded. We turned each of the 15 categories in the 2026 RFS into a complete founder playbook: who the customer actually is, the wedge, the 8-week MVP path, pricing, the first 10 customers, and a 90-day action plan to first revenue.

Download the PDF — Free ↗$0 · No email required · 250+ pages

RFS categories

120

Buildable ideas

250+

PDF pages

The 15 RFS 2026 categories

Category	Why YC wants it
AI-Native Services	Replace agencies with software + agents — $400B services TAM in flux.
Personalized Medicine	Whole-genome sequencing is now $200. The application layer is wide open.
Company Brain	Every company is drowning in Notion/Slack/email. The 'OS for context' is unbuilt.
Discovery Engines	Search is broken. AI-native discovery for verticals (legal, science, e-commerce).
Counter-Swarm Defense	Cheap drones changed warfare. Detection, jamming, and kinetic counter-systems.
Dynamic Interfaces	Static UI is dying. Generative, per-user, per-task interfaces.
Space Electronics	Rad-hard chips, optical comms, on-orbit compute — all under-supplied.
Hardware Supply Chain	America forgot how to build. Software for contract manufacturers, sourcing, QA.
Industrial Space	In-orbit servicing, debris removal, manufacturing — the picks-and-shovels layer.
Inference-Time Compute	Test-time scaling > training scaling. New silicon, new serving stacks.
Robotic Assembly	Cobots + foundation models = the unlock for SMB manufacturing.
Civic Tech	Permitting, procurement, courts — billion-dollar government workflows still on paper.
Vertical AI Agents	Per-industry agents that do the job, not just suggest it.
Synthetic Biology	Foundation models for biology + cheap DNA = a Cambrian moment.
Energy Abundance	Geothermal, SMRs, grid software. The compute build-out needs 100GW of new firm power.

What every playbook contains

The Problem

Specific, financially quantified, described from the customer's perspective.

Why Now

What changed in 2025–2026 that makes this buildable today.

Target Customer

Exact job title, company size, budget authority, where to find them.

8-Week MVP Plan

Week by week: what to build, validate, and skip entirely.

Business Model

Pricing tiers, unit economics, revenue framing with real data.

First 10 Customers

Specific channels, messages, communities, outreach scripts.

Competitor Analysis

Who exists, what they charge, and the precise wedge to win.

3 Year-One Risks

What's most likely to kill this in 12 months, with mitigations.

90-Day Action Plan

Day by day, from zero to first paying customer. Sequenced, with decision gates.

Grab the playbook

Free. $0. No email gate.

The full 250+ page PDF on Gumroad. Set the price to $0 at checkout. We re-publish each YC batch.

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