41% of YC Startups Automate Unwanted Tasks
A Stanford study recently found that 41% of YC startups focus on automating tasks that customers actually prefer to do manually — a trend I personally won’t endorse.
In my view, this percentage is likely even greater outside of YC and highlights a common blind spot fueled by Silicon Valley hype.
Here are some possible reasons behind this:
1.) YC tends to attract younger, more analytical founders who often lack deep industry experience and sometimes struggle with creative problem-solving.
2.) The program favors technical founders who think primarily in terms of “how can I build this?” rather than “how can this generate revenue, fit seamlessly into users’ routines, and account for human nuances?” This mindset can cause them to overlook important human-centered design aspects.
3.) YC’s media content heavily promotes “build AI now” messaging targeted at university students and young professionals with limited real-world experience. It’s easy to see how this encourages automating tasks that people actually enjoy doing.
Example:
Customer inputs 500 data entries daily.
AI startup says: “We’ll automate your client calls!”
What’s your take?
Replies
Yeah, I’ve seen that too: in the heat of finding a problem to solve, sometimes the “efficiency” mindset ignores the fact that people actually like certain tasks because they build trust, connection, or control.
It’s easy to default to “can we automate?” instead of “should we?” when you’re deep in the build. I think the real win (as in some outstanding startups I've seen) is blending automation with the human touch so you get speed without losing the parts people value.
@dheerajdotexe Yes, in this age of AI, everyone is increasingly focused on efficiency and the desire to speed up every process. So, the first thing that comes to mind is how to automate, and everyone seems to believe that automation will lead to efficiency.
But efficiency doesn't necessarily lead to results, especially when it comes to things that require deep human involvement, which is something people often overlook.