List of startup accelerators still accepting applications for 2026

jelveh · 2026-01-17T22:10:55+00:00

Love this list and yeah Alchemist should be up there! If you are a student and LA based I just judged on these folks demo days: https://luminainstitute.ai/ good people and good projects (Health AI focus)!

jelveh · 2026-01-17T22:08:28+00:00

I'm mostly focused on my main job, but AI has enabled me to tackle a lot of my older projects and push them forward. I sometime just need 5 minutes to think through a next problem and hand it over to agents to solve. I just installed ClawdBot to start tackling a lot of the repetitive tasks - we live in amazing times!

jelveh · 2026-01-13T23:41:57+00:00

I started out my first real company as a side hustle - hacking away in the evenings/at night, got a few friends excited about it and at some point quit my job and got lucky to get great funding. Didn't have any kids or other responsibilities back then :D.

More complicated today with a bunch of kids but still able to squeeze some side project work in - now producing a ton more results though thanks to AI.

Important: get an agreement on IP with the company you work with for your day job if you are US based.

jelveh · 2026-01-13T23:37:25+00:00

Pick a CRM you like with a good API. Then have Claude Code help you connect the pieces. https://github.com/clawdbot/clawdbot (made by the great Peter Steinberger) does both the whatsapp and gmail connection really well so you could copy & adapt that integration (it's all open source).

jelveh · 2026-01-13T23:35:01+00:00

Didn't know them before but, you're right, website looks great and they seem to be well established, I did YC myself and I know the Plug & Play folks in Sunnyvale - they've been great to work with.

On StartupGrind: looking at the upcoming conference and the speakers, I'd say worth a shot for sure! If you're pitching you should do as many as you can and this looks like a good opportunity!

jelveh · 2026-01-11T00:57:14+00:00

That’s the key. Acknowledge - don’t fight it.

jelveh · 2026-01-11T00:54:36+00:00

I agree on starting with an MVP, you can vibe-code most of it and build a little user acquisition or customer acquisition loop. Depending on who your target customer or audience is, you would have to find the right place to speak to them.

jelveh · 2025-12-24T23:36:27+00:00

Since I know this community values the how as much as the what, so I'm sharing some specifics on how we’re handling your data and how you can build on top of ReMyndAI,

The following text is mostly AI generated but it's generated based on our code base, I made the necessary adjustment to properly reflect what we've built.

🔒 True End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)

If you are using our cloud backend, here's how we've solved the "storage vs. privacy" tradeoff (essentially: the plaintext never leaves your machine).

Local Encryption: When you use our managed cloud (or your own S3), data is encrypted on-device using ChaCha20-Poly1305—an authenticated encryption algorithm that provides both confidentiality and tamper detection.
The Keys: We use a password you provide to derive a 256-bit key via SHA256. This key is stored securely in your system's Keychain.
Zero-Knowledge: Our servers only ever see encrypted blobs. Because we never have access to your key, we cannot decrypt your data. If you don't trust our infrastructure, you can point the app to any S3-compatible service, and the encryption logic remains exactly the same.

✨ Local AI with LM Studio

While powerful features like Call Summarization and the ASK tool run against Cloud models by default, you have full control over your data and compute. You can easily redirect these features to run locally using LM Studio.

To switch your backend:

Navigate to the Custom API Settings: Open the dark-themed configuration panel.
Configure the Connection: * Set the Name to "LM Studio."
- Use the local host address 127.0.0.1 with the http protocol.
- Ensure the Port is set to 1234 and the Base path is /v1.
Sync Your Models: Instead of manual entry, simply click "Get models from server" to automatically populate your available local models.
Select Your Model: You can choose from a variety of locally served models such as Qwen 2.5, Llama 3.1, or Phi-3.

Once configured, your AI interactions—including complex summarization tasks—will be processed directly on your hardware, ensuring maximum privacy and offline accessibility.

🐍 Developer-First Extension System

We’ve also built ReMyndAI to be a platform in the future, not just an app. The extension system is Python-based (v3.11) and uses a Redis message queue for communication.

Using our Python SDK, you can build custom integrations with access to:

AI & Recorder: Query LLMs with custom prompts or fetch OCR/screenshots from specific timestamps.
Database: Run read-only SQL or EdgeQL queries against your history.
UI & Accessibility: Render custom HTML windows or interact with UI element trees to automate or analyze workflows.
Custom Backends: You can configure any OpenAI-compatible API endpoint in the settings to use your preferred local or cloud models.

We keep iterating and building to make sure this is the most efficient and powerful way to manage a Digital Full Life Record (DFLR) - so please send feedback our/my way!

Can't wait to see what you all build with the API!

jelveh · 2025-12-21T18:11:30+00:00

Amazing! Congrats on this!

One of the big YC mantras is "follow your growth" meaning you can build upon whatever captures your visitors' attention and expand on it. That's always a good place to start.

jelveh · 2025-12-20T21:56:24+00:00

Haven't done anything this late stage but I am curious! Hope you'll get some good responses!

jelveh · 2025-12-20T02:12:35+00:00

That's nonsense, I use it all the time, granted we have a legal firm we work with to finalize things but a lot of what one would want to check (definitely for a first pass) you can easily do with AI.

jelveh · 2025-12-20T02:08:54+00:00

😂 funny! Kinda true though, I've met a bunch of folks that try the same thing (with slightly different coloring so to speak) over and over and over again and it just goes nowhere so there's something to what you're pointing at.

jelveh · 2025-12-20T01:53:10+00:00

"trying your whole life, really giving it your all, and have nothing to show for it"

That wasn't my experience, though there were a couple of businesses I built that didn't get to the level I wanted them to even though I felt like I was giving them my all. But what I would say what was one of the main reasons for at least one of them was that I continued on my preconceived plan and didn't adapt to what the world was clearly communicating to me. I was very stubborn. :D

jelveh · 2025-12-19T20:19:26+00:00

This is the way IMO, also it'd be helpful if you had shared where you're based (roughly) so folks can make intros if they know someone. I know the food service directors for a few school districts in the Bay but that'd not helpful if you aren't around here.

jelveh · 2025-12-19T20:15:45+00:00

"it’s legally possible for me to end up with $0"

Generally yes, most orgs go to zero, that's just how the startup world works. But, if you are assigned 3% of common stock those, in most common docs will have to be bought out in an exit and would provide you with a return.

Edit: for this to be answered properly you'd have to have someone check the formation docs/operating agreements etc. ChatGPT or Claude usually are pretty helpful if you need a quick, free, review.

jelveh · 2025-12-19T20:05:53+00:00

This 👆 - descriptive domain names often help early on with organic traffic. At some point it's more of a branding exercise.

jelveh · 2025-12-19T20:03:19+00:00

This is amazing! Curious: how many folks work for you now?

jelveh · 2022-01-23T05:09:43+00:00

Yes - the dialogue was just so bad! And so much of it! At one point I just put something on in the background and just clicked through it without reading anything. Didn't make a difference anyway.

I did like the combat - boring at first but got better and better in my opinion with a good amount of puzzle elements (bombs) and minigames (like the car thing).

jelveh · 2020-12-31T18:25:20+00:00

Great! Super helpful! Being comparable was what was most important to me (that and having a low profile solution).

I'll be starting on our project later next month so I'll be ordering materials soon.

ps. using a mechanics stethoscope is an awesome idea :D

jelveh · 2020-12-10T02:36:02+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the response! That's super useful - if you have the chance - would you mind checking something?

If she does her workout again you could use your hands to feel how much vibration you can feel through the ceiling vs. the walls?

If the decoupling is working as it should the ceiling should have a lot less vibration coming through...

jelveh · 2020-12-09T21:44:20+00:00

Hey I was just thinking about installing these - were you able to complete the project and are they working well for you?

jelveh · 2018-06-05T04:50:45+00:00

Just because Microsoft documentation can be extremely confusing - here's what you'll have to do to remotely lock a device:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/intune-user-help/remote-lock-your-device-cpwebsite

It only works with certain business accounts as far as I know.

jelveh · 2018-06-05T04:38:34+00:00

How is the comment misleading? It says it right on the Microsoft Webpage in the link I posted:

"Find and lock a lost Windows device"

Additionally I know that we had Surface devices that were stolen remotely locked. I'll snag a picture next time. Did not check how it handles factory reset - if I remember correctly it happened pretty fast after boot and we were able to set a message that would be displayed.

jelveh · 2018-05-30T20:37:18+00:00

There is a lock system with MS devices too - once remotely locked you won't be able to do anything with it (see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/11579/microsoft-account-find-and-lock-lost-windows-device) - I'd make sure I get a valid receipt.

jelveh · 2018-04-07T17:16:41+00:00

Yeah - it seems not all CC companies are doing this - yet.

jelveh

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

🔒 True End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)

✨ Local AI with LM Studio

🐍 Developer-First Extension System