TSA checkpoints at US airports continue to face pressure amid an ongoing partial government shutdown that is now nearly a month old.
Numerous airports are telling passengers to allow longer than usual to clear security, as staff shortages cause more congestion and longer lines.
On Friday, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport told travelers to arrive up to three hours before their flight. Photos and videos shared by travelers online showed lines stretching from the terminal building into the parking lot.
Ava Brendgord, a reporter for local NBC affiliate, KXAN News, shared a video of the line snaking out of the building at around 5 a.m. local time on Friday morning.
By 7 a.m., lines had returned to more normal levels, local news outlets reported.
Similar scenes played out at many other airports this week, and things could worsen over the weekend as Americans travel for Spring Break and TSA agents face their first $0 paycheck, increasing the likelihood they will skip work.
Though waits were nowhere near the three hours some passengers experienced at Houston Hobby Airport last weekend, there was significant congestion at some airports on Friday morning. One Business Insider employee traveling from LaGuardia saw a lengthy line, and at JFK, wait times exceeded 20 minutes at most TSA screening points.
Atlanta Airport, the world’s busiest by passenger numbers, said it expects to serve 250,000 travelers this weekend, and advised people to arrive three hours early.
How to check wait times
Travelers wait in line at New York’s LaGuardia airport.
Cadie Thompson/Business Insider
The easiest way to avoid the stress of missing your flight is to arrive as early as you can. Many airports are advising travelers this week to arrive up to three hours before their flight.
To check TSA wait times, many airports, including major hubs like Atlanta, Houston, JFK, Newark, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Denver, post them live on their websites.
These can also provide more specific insights. For example, DFW’s website shows the wait times at each checkpoint.
You can also use the MyTSA mobile app. It provides estimated wait times in 15-minute intervals based on average checkpoint data. The app, however, will use historical data if the live data cannot be retrieved. The TSA also says it is not “actively” managing its sites during the partial shutdown, and so the app may not always be updated.
For the first time in nearly six decades, the US Army is getting a new lethal hand grenade.
The Army cleared the new M111 Offensive Hand Grenade for full production this week. The new blast overpressure grenade is replacing the now-obsolete MK3A2 grenades, which were first adopted by the military in 1968, around the same time as the M67 fragmentation grenade.
The Capabilities Program Executive Ammunition and Energetics, together with US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center at Picatinny Arsenal, developed the new hand grenade, the first for the Army since Vietnam.
The M111 is made of plastic that is consumed during detonation. The older MK3A2 blast/concussion grenades, on the other hand, were made from asbestos, a carcinogenic substance that forced the service to put restrictions on the use of these grenades. The old M67 grenades are still in use.
The value of having a blast overpressure grenade is that it decreases the risk of unintentional fratricide, the accidental killing of one’s own troops at war, during close-quarters combat, but the limitations on the use of the MK3A2 meant soldiers only had the fragmentation M67 available to them in combat.
The M67 grenade propels metal fragments outward in all directions when it explodes. In tight indoor spaces like rooms or hallways, those fragments can bounce off walls or be blocked by furniture, reducing effectiveness and potentially hurting friendly troops.
The M111 grenade, similar to the MK3A2, works differently, instead producing a powerful blast and pressure wave less likely to be stopped by walls or obstacles, making it more effective inside buildings and other confined spaces.
“One of the key lessons learned from the door-to-door urban fighting in Iraq was the M67 grenade wasn’t always the right tool for the job. The risk of fratricide on the other side of the wall was too high,” said Col. Vince Morris, the Army project manager for close combat systems, in a service press statement.
Using blast overpressure instead, “can clear a room of enemy combatants quickly leaving nowhere to hide while ensuring the safety of friendly forces,” he said.
Soldiers can still use the M67 fragmentation hand grenade in open terrain, the statement said, but should rely on the newer version for “enclosed and restricted terrain.”
Blast overpressure weapons can be harmful for troops using them, and the US military has been grappling with the effects of these systems. Service members, as a result of their continuous work with artillery, breaching charges, and other heavy weaponry, have suffered traumatic brain injuries, which can come with debilitating effects.
The Army, along with other services, has sought to mitigate these risks.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Luana Ribeira, founder ofDauntless PR. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Little about my relationship with Al is traditional. For starters, Al was my former husband’s best friend. After my husband and I divorced, I moved to Portugal, where Al was living. I was planning on spending time with Al as a friend, but the second time we hung out, he called my ex to say, “There’s something here.” Luckily, my ex gave his blessing.
I started dating Al soon after, in 2017. In 2020, we moved to the UK, where I’m from. That’s when we decided to have separate bedrooms. We both were having trouble sleeping at the time, and enjoyed having our own space. We had a spare room, so Al started sleeping in there.
Eventually, we wanted even more space from each other. At the time, my two teenage daughters were living with us, and the house was loud. Al craved quiet, and that was fine with me — I wanted him to take care of himself. He converted an existing warehouse on our property into a bedsit (similar to a studio apartment). He slept there and used it when he needed quiet time to create art or watch TV.
We wanted different settings for our home
Last June, we moved back to Portugal, with our 4-year-old son, Celyn. By that point in our relationship, Al and I recognized that we live completely opposite lifestyles at home. I like creature comforts and wanted my dream lakeside home in Portugal. Al was interested in becoming even more self-sufficient, living off-grid if possible.
Al already owned about an acre of land in Portugal. He put a yurt on the land, and now lives there without running water and with only limited solar power. The one modern amenity I insisted on was wifi, so I can get a hold of him and Celyn.
I meanwhile rent a two-bedroom home with a pool. I can see a nearby lake from my windows. I’m still in a rural area, but nowhere near as rural as Al.
We follow a strict weekly schedule
We have a family schedule that might look familiar to separated parents, though Al and I are very much together. On Sunday nights, Al and Celyn go to the yurt. I work long days on Monday and Tuesday, and also have time to swim and make any appointments I need to.
On Wednesday morning, I pick Celyn up. That’s my favorite part of the week, seeing him run down the lane toward me. I have Celyn on my own until Friday night, when Al comes to spend the weekend with us. That family time always happens at my house, since it’s more comfortable.
Our weekends as a family are sacred to us. It’s also nice to have one-on-one time with our son and to have alone time built into the week.
This arrangement lets us be ourselves
Our homes are about 50 minutes apart right now. If something pops up with work, I can’t just send Celyn to his dad’s on a whim. Sometimes I feel like I’m driving all the time, so I’ll probably move closer to Al in the future.
Financially, there’s not a huge expense involved with having two homes. Al already owned his land. I’m the sole earner in our relationship, so I bought the yurt, and I finance projects on the land as they come up. Luckily, there are a few bills with an off-grid homestead.
I know this isn’t for everyone, but I’m glad that Al and I can do what’s right for us. We want to support each other, and don’t want to ask our partner to change who they are. Living apart gives us the space we need to be ourselves, while still being a family.
Alphabet’s chief executive just got a new equity pay package that, for the first time, ties a chunk of his payout to Waymo, the company’s robotaxi service.
In an SEC filing posted on Friday, the company awarded CEO Sundar Pichai a three-year equity cycle that could be worth up to $692 million if the CEO meets the board’s performance targets.
Much of the package remains unchanged from the CEO’s 2022 award, according to the filing. The new incentives revolve around the value of two of Alphabet’s “Other Bets”: Waymo and Wing Aviation, a drone delivery service.
According to the filing, Pichai could be awarded up to $260 million depending on the increase in Waymo’s per-unit value over a three-year period, as determined by the compensation committee — essentially, the board’s estimate of what a single Waymo equity unit is worth.
The company doesn’t list specific operational milestones Pichai will have to reach. A spokesperson for Alphabet declined to comment.
Every time Lloyd publishes a story, you’ll get an alert straight to your inbox!
Stay connected to Lloyd and get more of their work as it publishes.
In addition, the company granted the CEO Wing-linked equity units that could be worth up to $90 million, contingent on the company’s per-unit value over the next three years.
Tying Pichai’s compensation to Waymo and Wing is a signal that Alphabet no longer views the two entities as moonshot experiments but rather as assets representing valuable, scalable businesses
The board said in the filing that “incentivizing Mr. Pichai to focus his efforts on developing and scaling Alphabet’s later stage Other Bets, such as Waymo and Wing,” is in the best interests of Alphabet and its stakeholders.
Waymo, which began as a project inside Google’s moonshot factory in 2009, has driven over 200 million autonomous miles to date. This year, the company expanded its commercial service to 10 markets, serving riders in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando.
Wing is another moonshot factory venture that began in 2012. The company, which provides last-mile drone delivery services, became an independent Alphabet subsidiary in 2018. Wing announced in January that it would expand to more than 270 Walmart stores by 2027.
Pichai maintains a base salary of $2 million, unchanged since 2020, and will be awarded performance stock units (PSUs) tied to Alphabet’s total shareholder returns relative to the S&P 100. The max value of the PSUs could be worth up to $252 million.
There’s also a time-based equity package that will award Pichai $84 million, provided he stays with the company for the next three years.
With more than 20 trips to Walt Disney World, I’ve visited during every season and most months of the year — a June work trip, November family trip for our Disney wedding, a 5th birthday trip in May, and in the runDisney ChEAR squad with a friend in February.
This year was my fourth time visiting in the winter months of January/February, and it was just my husband and me. Despite some very chilly days, this trip confirmed it — winter is officially my favorite time to visit Disney World, especially when it’s a kid-free trip.
Winter is a time to explore the parks differently
In the months when avoiding heat and crowds is a priority, it’s best to arrive early, stay late, and avoid being outdoors during the hottest hours of the day.
It was summer inside Olaf’s character meet but outside it was only 40 degrees.
Courtesy of the author
When it’s cold, it’s kind of the opposite. We focused on the indoor attractions and spots with indoor queues in the morning.
At 11 a.m., we searched for opportunities to be in the brisk afternoon air and lovely sunshine.
Once the sun started setting and it started getting chillier around 4:30/5 p.m., we headed to eat, taking our time over meals at restaurants geared more toward adults, like Takumi-Tei at EPCOT.
We found rare characters, cold-weather costumes, and new Cast Members
Late January/early February is one of the start times for the Disney College Program, also known as DCP in Disney lingo.
Meeting rare characters in training is a perk of winter visits.
Courtesy of the author
Some of my favorite Cast Member interactions have been with excited, brand-new college kids in “Earning My Ears” ribbons. These Cast Members are proof that some of the biggest Disney fans work in the parks.
This is also a time to randomly meet rare characters because characters are being “warmed up” (Disney speak for training) for parades, shows, and character meet and greets.
On this trip, we had two character firsts at EPCOT — meeting both Geppetto from“Pinocchio” and the mice from “Cinderella.” Usually, the only place to see these characters is during a parade.
I got a wave from Geppetto and helped the mice search for Cinderella’s glass slipper.
EPCOT is also home to many outdoor character meet-and-greets. When the temperature drops, the cold-weather costumes come out — Alice dons a gorgeous cloak, Moana has sleeves with seashells, and Aurora gets a stunning pink fur trim on her gown.
We found a new favorite location for a nighttime show, California Grill
With the not-so-magical weather, we changed our plans for the nighttime show.
Even in a hat, gloves, and multiple layers, the chilly nighttime air coming off the lagoon at EPCOT for Harmonious and the cold seats at Hollywood Studio Fantasmic! weren’t appealing.
California Grill has a unique view of the Magic Kingdom fireworks
Courtesy of the author
Instead, we made our first visit to California Grill. Seeing fireworks fill the sky over Magic Kingdom, toasty warm with a goat cheese ravioli and a glass of Skywalker wine, was an experience I will happily repeat.
The best EPCOT Festival is for a few weeks and only in the winter
I’ve been to every one of the four annual EPCOT festivals multiple times.
EPCOT International Festival of the Arts is, without a doubt, my favorite. It’s the smallest, shortest, and least busy festival.
We visited the festival every day of our four-day trip. We climbed inside 3D chalk art, saw popular Disney artists, hopped inside scenes from Disney movies, and sampled sips and bites almost too beautiful to eat.
Thousands of people from all over the world come together to transform this mural to a colorful celebration of community.
Courtesy of the author
What I love most about the Festival of the Arts is the sense of community and inclusiveness.
We joined thousands of people from around the world to transform a wall into a colorful community art piece.
And, before leaving the park for the evening, we stood with other guests watching Spaceship Earth light up in rainbows while The Muppets sang “Rainbow Connection.”
This trip, we were prepared for the cold weather
Almost every winter trip to Disney, I have come home with an impulse purchase made while freezing in the park.
There’s the blanket from the EPCOT Mexico pavilion we huddled under during the fireworks in November, and the Mickey sweatshirt bought at a very chilly late-night Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. I have two hoodies from my last trip in February — it was so chilly, I wore both at the same time.
Wearing items purchased for an Alaska Disney Cruise in Orlando was a surprisingly fun first
Courtesy of the author
Not this time! We were prepared for the cold, and instead of a suitcase full of cute vintage-inspired Disney dresses — my usual park look — I packed packable puffer jackets and gloves, and got creative with Disney-esque layers.
Multiple guests and Cast Members complimented my Minnie Ear beanie and Mickey-inspired red and black puffer jacket layers — items I got for an Alaska Disney Cruise that I never thought I’d wear in Florida, but looked great in front of the magical glow of Spaceship Earth.
I didn’t know what chocolate ganache was before watching reruns of an old Food Network pre-teen baking championship with my kids. But I did spot an opportunity to talk with them about how one contestant kept building her cake after it crumbled. We talked about the word perseverance.
That’s the thing about “screen time” as a modern parenting panic: the same rectangle can either be a sedative or a springboard.
But my wife and I are still fairly new at this — our kids are under 5 — so we talk with other parents about evolving opinions on the use of phones, tablets, computers, and TVs.
From those conversations and our own parenting experience, we’re slowly realizing that it’s not about screen time, but more about what type of content we’re letting our kids watch.
We try to keep screen time to a minimum in our house
My wife, kids, and I live in a Philadelphia rowhome. We’ve kept TV out of our bedrooms and devices out of our daily routine. On trips in the car, bus, and subway, we rely on music and games (I’ve come to loathe “I spy”).
Every time Christopher publishes a story, you’ll get an alert straight to your inbox!
Stay connected to Christopher and get more of their work as it publishes.
In good weather, we enjoy long walks and frequent visits to our neighborhood rec center. Forced into boredom at home, our kids have developed their own imagined worlds: singing karaoke on the couch, lava-ringed obstacle courses, and preparing elaborate meals in a play kitchen.
But especially on freezing days, when you’re stuck indoors, and everyone’s energy is somehow both too high and already spent, screens help. What’s become clear to me is that a screen’s value depends on what we watch.
Governments are cracking down on youth screen time
In recent years, the global discourse has turned aggressively anti-screen.
Governments are now intervening not just in social media but in screens more broadly. France, for example, has prohibited screen exposure for kids under 3 in childcare settings, and Virginia has moved to make schools “cell phone-free.”
Meanwhile, theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics has long advocated against the simplistic yardstick of screen time, noting there isn’t enough evidence for a single universal time limit, emphasizing family context and habits instead.
It’s more important to me to monitor what my kids are watching than how much
It seems to me that no one can agree on what the maximum screen time should be for children, so that’s why I’m focusing less on time and more on the content.
Watching a kids’ baking show as a family, especially when we can connect the events to our own lives, can be healthy. I’ve seen the positive effects of a great show on my own kids.
For parents of young kids, the difference between cartoons like “Bluey” and “Cocomelon” is obvious: In one, characters develop over seven to 10 minutes, and in the other, brightly colored, computer-animated characters sing hypnotically rhythmic songs in short bursts.
This holds true for older kids, too. With the right guardrails, I think that screens can be genuinely social and developmental, like collaborating with friends in a shared Minecraft world, building a Roblox obstacle course over a week, or editing a goofy video together that takes planning and patience.
I see “good” screen time often involves characters, cause-and-effect, enough plot for us to talk about it together, and a bonus for when it’s social. I don’t see why there should be a time limit on any of that.
We were racing to keep up with our packed family schedule. Days blurred into school, work, gymnastics, birthdays, and dinner parties — energizing in theory, exhausting in reality. We were scraping by.
I remember peak multitasking: listening to my 6-year-old read aloud while making breakfast, and trying to finish putting on eyeliner while the eggs finished cooking in the pan.
My husband and I longed for wide-open days to actually connect, but school holidays were never long enough to decompress. We could see how easily the years might slip by, buried in logistics, until suddenly the kids were packing for college.
We wanted to freeze time. So we hatched a plan to leave our “normal” life for a year and have a wild adventure together as a family.
We came up with a plan
In July 2024, we rented out our London home, stored our belongings, and took the bus to Heathrow with two backpacks and a carry-on.
We weren’t wandering aimlessly. We planned to live in three locations, traveling for five weeks before and after each stop.
I pivoted my marketing consultancy toward travel writing and speaking, while my husband’s academic research guided our shortlist of places we wanted to live. His research enabled legal residency which allowed the girls to attend school. We chose Japan, the US, and the Netherlands, staying three to four months in each.
We picked Tsukuba, Japan, to immerse ourselves in a completely unfamiliar culture; Great Neck, New York, near where we’re both from, to give our daughters a taste of American life and spend rare time with family; and Leiden, the Netherlands, to experience its bike- and water-centered lifestyle.
Residency came with a lot of admin.
Lucas had a plan to homeschool her daughters in Japan (pictured), but ended up sending them to a local school.
Provided by Lisa Lucas
For Japan, we had originally planned to homeschool. Our 8-year-old surprised us by asking to attend a local Japanese school, despite only knowing a few phrases she had picked up during the three weeks we spent traveling around the country.
The school welcomed both girls. Like their classmates, they walked to school alone, changed into indoor shoes, helped serve lunch, and cleaned the classrooms.
In New York, we lived with family outside the city. The girls rode a yellow school bus for the first time, while my husband commuted by train. It was a stark contrast to London — no uniforms, more complicated mornings, and the sobering reality of active-shooter drills.
In Leiden, the girls attended a small international school. Students biked along canals and tended their own garden plots as part of a Dutch gardening program.
Their daughters enjoyed cycling while living in Leiden, the Netherlands.
Provided by Lisa Lucas
We packed light
Living out of backpacks forced minimalism. I loved escaping the endless to-do list of home life and focusing on actually living.
I wore a single black maxi dress almost every day in Asia — biking through alleys or hiking through the jungle — and it somehow worked.
If anything, I’d bring even less next time. With fewer possessions, our mental bandwidth expanded. We could focus on fun, without guilt.
Parenting on the road
When we first told the girls about our plan, our youngest cried. They loved their friends, their teachers, and the rhythm of school. They couldn’t imagine leaving and not coming back. We tried tempting them with volcanoes and snorkeling in Indonesia.
They came around, somewhat. They loved most moments, but they also always wanted to go home. We promised it would only be a year.
The family spent time exploring other parts of Asia, including a trip to Mount Bromo, a volcano in Indonesia.
Provided by Lisa Lucas
Our priority was making them feel safe and secure. We talked about adaptability as a life skill, but we also held them close and reminded them they were loved.
Most days, we’d say, “We’re still on the trip,” and it made us feel like a team. The girls learned how to be the new kid, make friends, and settle into unfamiliar rhythms. They learned you can reinvent your life more than once.
The intensity bonded us. We had waterfalls to ourselves, watched wild snow monkeys, and made friends who invited us to visit them in Cozumel. I celebrated my usually grim January birthday on a Thai beach.
In the US, we were present for heavy family moments, including my grandfather’s passing.
We were still on the trip — until we weren’t
Returning to London after 13 months felt surreal. Our 6-turned-7-year-old kissed the ground at Heathrow.
The trip changed us. It gave us shared memories — Hokkaido cream, a road trip from New York to Miami, sunsets from an Alpine hut — but more importantly, it clarified what matters: slow time together, not renovations or packed calendars.
We’re happy to be home, blender included. But we’re already dreaming about our next extended adventure.
Do you have a story about taking a gap year that you want to share? Get in touch with the editor: akarplus@businessinsider.com.
When I was in junior high, I had a family history project. I didn’t know it then, but that project would spark a lifelong interest in my heritage.
In 2018, my wife (who is Cuban with Spanish ancestry) and I took a road trip through snow-capped Spanish mountains, meeting new family members that I never knew existed. When we met these relatives, we all grew close.
My wife and I then wanted to reconnect with our Spanish heritage in a whole new way. We decided that the best way to do so would be to travel to Spain for long stretches, with our toddlers.
For the past three years, we’ve spent two-month stints in Europe as a growing family.
At first, we thought long-term travel sounded impractical — and expensive
When my daughter was 2 years old, she had a 45-minute meltdown at the Miami International Airport. While we were resolving a ticketing issue for our baby boy, our daughter was throwing a loud tantrum. We endured many side-eyes from soon-to-be passengers (one of them snapped at us), and eventually, an airline employee frantically asked us to make it stop.
I thought we would never travel again, but the idea of an extended trip kept lingering in our minds.
On shorter trips, we pushed through and learned tricks that made travel easier, like using inflatable beds that rest on plane seats, small trinkets to play with, and plenty of snacks. With time, we knew we had a shot.
The author’s toddlers love traveling in Spain.
Courtesy of John Paul Hernandez
We now stay in Spain for 2 months at a time
Thanks to the flexibility of freelancing and some practice in penny pinching, we learned we could travel to Spain for two months for about the cost of a typical family Disney trip.
A trip to Disney for a family of four can cost $6,000 to $10,000 a week. An extended trip to Spain, I quickly learned, ranged from $4,220 to $4,900 for an apartment in the central parts of major cities.
When we book an apartment for a month or two in Spain, for example, we get rates much lower than for a shorter trip because Airbnb offers discounts on longer stays.
To get the family to Europe, we collect airline miles from credit card offers and fly mostly for free.
While on the trip, we rely on public transportation and shift our stay from a “tourist” experience to living like a local to continue saving money.
This worked for our trips in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
We lived like locals in Spain
When we transitioned from visiting to living in Spain, we focused on the town we were in and the people around us. We didn’t eat out for every meal, but cooked traditional dishes with local ingredients.
Our neighbors became friends, and our kids played at parks with familiar faces. Eventually, these friends invited us to their homes, and we stayed in touch after our trips.
To explore the country, we focused on different regions. For example, in year one we stayed in the Comunidad Valenciana, then on other trips in the País Vasco and Andalucía.
Once we were in these regions, we focused mainly on our home base and explored the nearby cities on weekend trips.
Our kids have gained a lot so far
Our toddlers are now willing to try different foods without hesitation, no matter where we are. They understand and use words they normally wouldn’t hear at home in the US.
As they get older in school, some of the places and events they learn about will be personal because they’ve been there and touched the stones.
My son learned to walk in Spain and has had all of his birthdays there. Spain also became a base for exploring other countries thanks to cheap, short flights.
More families can do this than you’d think
Our experiences in Spain have inspired many of our friends and family. I’m helping a cousin and a neighbor plan similar trips with their children.
With budgeting and smart planning, it’s much more affordable than two-week vacations in many parts of the US.
I’m not sure how long we’ll be able to do extended stays like this, but I do know these memories will be ingrained in our family.
They’ve helped shape my kids’ lives (our third child is on the way), and they continue to inspire us even at home in the US — by cooking Spanish meals, enjoying the present through walks, and lingering over late-night, hourslong dinners.
John Paul Hernandez is a marketing writer for tech companies. He’s based in Florida’s Treasure Coast. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Quang Hoang, the 37-year-old cofounder and CEO of Vybe, who lives in San Francisco. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
We started 10 years ago. We were out of college and wanted to solve a problem that we experienced ourselves. When you’re a student, you don’t have that many problems.
When we were interns, we had a lot of expense reports, but we would lose receipts and lose money. When you’re a student, you don’t have much money. One of the first problems we wanted to solve was: Let’s build a mobile app to save your receipts, a bit like Expensify.
Slack released its first API at the time. Now, we could create a bot. That was our pitch to YC: This is a new thing called a Slack bot. During the interview, they installed the Slack bot, and it pinged everyone in the YC Slack. Everyone started to use it. We got in.
It was 2016. At the time, it was in Mountain View. Sam Altman was still a partner. We had some office hours with him.
The core principle remained the same, but everything felt way less streamlined and processed than it is today. For example, the dinners were way more family-style. There weren’t any visible employees. Some of the partners were cooking sometimes. Paul Graham was there.
We still were 100 people total in the batch, which is probably 3x less than it is today. Everything was in-person. We came from France and rented a house. It was a big difference to be in Mountain View when you’ve never lived in the US, than when you already live in San Francisco, and you do YC for the second time.
Quang Hoang pitched investors on his Slack bot startup at Demo Day in 2015.
Quang Hoang
The former company was bought two years ago by Coda, which was acquired by Grammarly. Then, I discovered vibe coding. I decided that Notion, Airtable, Coda, and Retool are going to be the incumbents, and that a new category of vibe-coding platforms are going to emerge.
One of the partners at YC is also a friend, Nicolas Dessaigne. He said, “You should apply to YC.” It was a big opportunity cost to leave the company that acquired me, and having something like YC is a bit reassuring.
The fundamentals are still the same. You still have to talk to users, code, and grow. You still have to grow every single week at a steady percentage growth. It was 5-10% at the time; today it’s more like 10, 12, 15%.
You have more and more young founders. It’s not something that happened in the past 10 years; it probably happened in the past two years. I was one of the old folks. It was also my second company. Many are first-time founders.
I think it was already the case that you want young founders that don’t know limits and don’t have anything that would prevent them from thinking really big. With AI, it’s the same thing.
A constant debate that you have less when you’re a first-time founder is: Should I ship this, or should I double-check it? As a younger, first-time founder, you might have less experience with technical depth because you might not have worked with bigger companies before. You say: Let’s ship this.
The batch sizes don’t feel that different. The interaction you have with your batch is through weekly dinners, group office hours, individual office hours, and Demo Day. You also have some workshops here and there. If you are 300 or 400 people in the batch, it doesn’t change that much if you’re in subgroups.
Sometimes there are events, like when Sam Altman comes to talk, or the CEO of Perplexity or Cursor, where you need to have the whole batch. But, it’s conference style anyway. You have 400 people in a room, sure, but if it’s 150 or 400, it’s the same.
Quang Hoang’s second Demo Day, this time for Vybe.
Quang Hoang
The themes changed a lot, obviously. It was a lot of mobile apps and cloud. Today, it’s a lot of AI. The brand of YC helps a lot. The brand is probably 10x better today than it was 10 years ago.
Demo Day was way more important at the time than it is today. It feels more like an anchor date. It gives urgency to investors: if you don’t invest in the hot startups now, they will meet with thousands of investors two weeks from now, and you might just lose your opportunity.
Good investors all invest before Demo Day. It’s just an anchor date to create a timeline for the investor and the startup.
If you ask me: Are you happy that you went back to YC? The answer is super straightforward. It’s 100% yes.
When “Toy Story” premiered in 1995, the enemy was plastic. In its latest chapter, it’s pixels.
More than 30 years after Woody worried about being replaced by Buzz Lightyear, the franchise is ready to take on a bigger threat: the screen.
The official trailer for “Toy Story 5” was released on Thursday and shows the toys vying for Bonnie’s attention against a frog-themed tablet named Lilypad. Bonnie is the young girl to whom Andy gave his toys when he left for college at the end of “Toy Story 3.”
In the clip, Bonnie receives the device in a package and is almost instantly absorbed, scrolling and tapping with a glazed look as her analog toys watch from the sidelines.
It all builds to a face-off between Jessiethe cowgirl doll and Lilypad. Jessie says, “You’re not even listening to me,” only for the tablet to coolly reply, “I’m always listening.”
Every time Amanda publishes a story, you’ll get an alert straight to your inbox!
Stay connected to Amanda and get more of their work as it publishes.
Jessie, voiced by Joan Cusack, has been in charge since Woody left at the end of “Toy Story 4.” Now, as Bonnie’s attention drifts elsewhere, the gang brings their old — and now balding — leader back.
“I don’t know, Jessie,” Woody says in the trailer. “Toys are for play, but tech is for everything.”
The film is set to be released on June 19, with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen returning to voice Woody and Buzz, respectively.
The storyline taps into a broader debate playing out in real life, as parents and experts wrestle with how screens are reshaping childhood.
Too much screentime has been linked to delays in social skills development, as well as problems with attention and behavior. Those concerns have prompted some governments to move toward banning social media use for children under 16.
The last installment in the Pixar franchise, “Toy Story 4,” was released in 2019. It surpassed $1 billion at the global box office and won an Oscar for best animated feature.
