Live-in offices, air mattresses, and stacks of ramen: Inside the apartments of 6 young tech founders

Tech Insider : Business
Josh Sirota's air mattress is pictured on the floor of the Eragon office.
Six 20-something tech founders took Business Insider for an apartment tour. That includes Josh Sirota, who sleeps on an air mattress.

Josh Sirota

I dropped out of college at 22 and started a business. Here's how I raised over $50 million and got Mark Cuban to invest in it.

Tech Insider : Business, Crypto, Technology
A man with his hands in the pockets of his black coat standing by a window overlooking a city.
Chen said the first few years after he left college were the most challenging of his life.

Courtesy of Injective Labs

I left my job at BCG to found an AI startup. Here's how consulting prepared me to be a founder — and how it didn't.

Tech Insider : Business, Economy
Kevin Wu at the BCG office.
Kevin Wu got bored as a constant at BCG and left to found an AI startup.

Kevin Wu

YC partners say AI founders are closing huge deals fast by taking a page out of Palantir's early playbook

Tech Insider : Business
Garry Tan, the CEO of Y Combinator, is gesticulating with his hands and is mid-speech. He is wearing a smart watch with an orange band, a black collared button up, and blue jeans. He is sitting in a grey chair in front of a background with text that reads,
Garry Tan, an early Palantir employee, said AI founders should embed with customers.

Harry Murphy/Sportsfile for Web Summit via Getty Images

Brian Chesky reveals what he learned from a brutal early rejection email

Tech Insider : Business
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky
Chesky said that the early rejection contains a valuable lesson for founders.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

I mentor startups outside my Meta product job. I tell founders to take 3 steps to sell their AI vision.

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
Mahesh Chayel
Mahesh Chayel, a product management lead at Meta, told BI the three steps founders need to take to sell their AI vision.

Mahesh Chayel

Vibe coding is changing the way investors think about founders

Tech Insider : Business
VCs are looking for technical founders who can use AI
AI is changing what it means to be a technical founder.

Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images

I left Silicon Valley for Europe. Here's why I chose to launch my startup in Berlin.

Tech Insider
Left: Ivan Maryasin. Right: Berlin skyline
Maryasin chose Berlin because its tech scene was on the rise.

Ivan Maryasin ; Nikada/Getty Images.

The rise of Sam Altman, OpenAI's billionaire CEO

Tech Insider
Sam Altman Headshot
Sam Altman was well known in the startup scene in Silicon Valley.

Courtesy of Sam Altman

I lived in Silicon Valley, New York, and London as a founder. If you're looking for a place to build a business, there's one clear winner.

Tech Insider
Left: Amber Atherton, Right: San Francisco skyline
Amber Atherton currently lives in San Francisco.

Bethany Picone; georgeclerk/Getty Images

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