{"id":668952,"date":"2025-05-13T22:20:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T19:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/y-combinator-says-google-is-a-monopolist-that-has-stunted-the-startup-ecosystem\/"},"modified":"2025-05-13T22:20:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T19:20:19","slug":"y-combinator-says-google-is-a-monopolist-that-has-stunted-the-startup-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/y-combinator-says-google-is-a-monopolist-that-has-stunted-the-startup-ecosystem\/","title":{"rendered":"Y Combinator says Google is a \u2018monopolist\u2019 that has \u2018stunted\u2019 the startup ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fabled startup investor and accelerator Y Combinator has some choice words for Google in an amicus brief it just submitted in the U.S.\u2019s monopoly case against the search giant.<\/p>\n

In the brief<\/a>, YC charged that Google is a \u201cmonopolist\u201d that has \u201cstunted\u201d the U.S. startup ecosystem by making VC firms like itself hesitate to fund web search and AI startups in what it calls a \u201ckill zone\u201d around Google.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoogle has chilled independent firms like YC from funding and accelerating innovative startups that could otherwise have challenged Google\u2019s dominance,\u201d YC wrote in the filing. \u201cThe result is a landscape that has been artificially stunted and stagnant.\u201d<\/p>\n

YC\u2019s brief says it\u2019s currently seeking to fund startups developing question-based and agentic AI tools that could transform how people interact with information on the internet. But YC says there\u2019s a \u201cclear risk\u201d that Google will use its monopoly power to slow down the future of those markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGoogle has effectively frozen the web search and text advertising markets for over a decade,\u201d YC wrote.<\/p>\n

The brief, filed May 9, was spotted<\/a> on X by VC Sheel Mohnot, the general<\/a> partner of Better Tomorrow Ventures and a prolific social media<\/a> poster.<\/p>\n

But YC isn\u2019t calling for an immediate breakup of Google, as its CEO Garry Tan made clear in a reply to Mohnot.<\/a><\/p>\n

Rather, YC is arguing Google should curb practices it considers anti-competitive, like paying App<\/a>le billions of dollars to make Google the iPhone\u2019s default search engine. It also wants Google to do things it argues would help startups, like opening up Google\u2019s search index so others can train LLMs on it.<\/p>\n

For perspective, Google\u2019s search algorithms have been its highly prized secret since its inception. For YC to ask the government to force Google to open it up to competitive LLMs is almost like demanding the government make Microsoft Windows open source, or forcing Amazon to freely deliver packages for competitors.<\/p>\n

If Google doesn\u2019t implement such changes within a five year timeframe, then YC advocates for the government to force Google to divest or spin out parts of itself. YC CEO Tan characterized<\/a> this idea in an X post as a \u201cspinoff hammer\u201d threat.\u00a0He also posted that \u201cwe love Google\u201d but wants \u201clittle tech\u201d to succeed, too, in a separate X thread<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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YC released an amicus brief re: US v Google yesterday. <\/p>\n

We love Google and what it represents as a paragon of US-led tech and innovation. We also want to make sure the excesses of big tech make way for tomorrow’s little tech.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Garry Tan (@garrytan) May 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

To recap, last year Google lost a massive antitrust case over its dominance of the search market. While Google appeals the decision, the U.S. government is mulling potential punishments (\u2018remedies\u2019) that Google might be required to implement, such as spinning off Chrome. Those remedies are expected to be delivered<\/a> by August 2025.<\/p>\n

YC\u2019s stance may come as a surprise to those who have followed its latest partnerships with Google: most notably, Google Cloud gave YC startups access to a dedicated cluster of Nvidia GPUs last year. Google co-founder Larry Page also made a rare in-person appearance to speak at a YC event in December.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Google has also acquired at least two YC-backed startups: Flutter in 2014, and Fridge in 2011.<\/a> It also invested in YC startup Infisical through its Gradient fund in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, YC is also closely tied to OpenAI, which is now directly competing against Google on search. OpenAI\u2019s CEO Sam Altman used to run YC, while OpenAI was the first group affiliated<\/a> with YC Research.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something Mohnot pointed to<\/a> on X, writing that the biggest beneficiary of YC\u2019s proposed remedies, by far, would be OpenAI, rather than YC\u2019s famously early stage startups, while commenting that the amicus brief \u201cpaints Google as more powerful than it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

TechCrunch asked YC how it would respond to this critique, and whether it has any specific examples of areas that it probably would have funded had it not been for Google. So far, YC hasn\u2019t responded to our comment request.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Google didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment about YC\u2019s amicus brief, either. However, it argued<\/a> in a blog post last year that the DOJ\u2019s proposals are \u201cradical and sweeping\u201d and would hurt consumers, business, and developers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n