Sam Altman deserves credit for YC's turn toward hard tech. When he became CEO in 2014 he went out and recruited companies doing stuff like airliners and fusion, and hard tech startups have been some of the best in every batch since.

When Jessica and I spoke at YC last night there was a bright flash out behind the building. We were a bit nervous because there's a nuclear reactor startup in the batch that has a bunch of hardware back there. But apparently it was just a muni cable shorting out.

Meet the most promising companies from the latest @ycombinator batch 👀 One big takeaway: AI agents need more than intelligence. They need memory, identity, observability, compliance, insurance and power. My latest @Forbes deep dive 👇 forbes.com/sites/dariashunin…

.@ApolloAtomics builds the most compact nuclear reactors with the highest uptime and a deployment time of less than 24 months. Apollo took the pressurized water reactor technology that already powers 80% of the world’s nuclear plants and flipped one part, the steam generator, to make the plant an order of magnitude smaller without compromising power. Congrats on the launch, @AssilHalimi & Drew! ycombinator.com/launches/QXj…

Today, we are releasing new guidance to Federal agencies for establishing a National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power, as called for by President Trump’s EO on Ensuring American Space Superiority. Nuclear power in space will give us the sustained electricity, heating, and propulsion essential to a permanent presence on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. whitehouse.gov/wp-content/up…