Ergo (YC W25)

A year ago, YC partners told us to "reach back out when you have a real product." Yesterday, Ergo (YC W25) was named one of YC's Top 100 Sales Startups. The irony isn't lost on me. When we first applied, Ergo (YC W25) was held together by Zapier workflows. Our demo was more screensharing a workflow builder than product. The feedback was polite but clear: come back when you've coded a real product. That rejection could have been the end. Instead, it became our North Star. We spent finals week at Georgia Tech ignoring exams and writing code until 4 AM. Two weeks of follow-ups, and 3 calls later, we earned our spot in W25. Not because we had the perfect pitch, but because we proved we could execute. Now we're processing tens of thousands of sales conversations weekly. Hundreds of sales reps from teams like Rho, Delve, Agency, and Warp use Ergo to eliminate the manual work that kills momentum. No more deals slipping through cracks. No more reps spending half their day updating CRMs. The goal was always simple: remove every ounce of manual work from the sales process so teams can focus on what matters: selling. Being recognized as a Top 100 Sales Startup feels surreal, but it's really just validation that we're solving the right problem. Thanks to the YC team, our customers, and everyone who believed in us when we were just Zapier workflows and ambition.

Announcing our $6M Series A and Magic Patterns 2.0. We’ve grown profitably, hit $1M ARR, and quietly built an AI design tool loved by product managers, designers, and website builders. Previously, designing software meant dragging and dropping rectangles, but today, 1,500+ product teams use us to go from idea to production, prompting features to life with their existing styles. Customers consistently tell us Magic Patterns is faster than competing products, thanks to our focus on prototyping use cases and code-first foundation. This round is led by Dalton Caldwell at Standard Capital with participation from Essence VC, Y Combinator, and angels from OpenAI. What’s next? We’re actively hiring for enterprise account executives, growth marketers, and more. A big thank you and welcome to all our new team members who joined recently! On Magic Patterns, you can: - Import your custom design system - Reuse components and your product's existing styles - Collaborate with teammates on a real-time canvas - Scale confidently with enterprise-first features Magic Patterns is free to try today with a new brand look.

We raised $15M to personalize education. Education has promised personalization for decades. We’re making it real. Our Series A is co-led by Basis Set and Patron, with participation from USC Viterbi School of Engineering, AME Cloud Ventures, Afore Capital, Y Combinator, Matt Pittinsky (founder of Blackboard), and many angels. Flint helps teachers bring AI into the classroom responsibly, creating lessons that adapt to every student’s needs, pace, and curiosity. With over 400,000 users across hundreds of schools, Flint is already helping educators personalize learning without adding to their workload. This new funding will allow us to expand our platform to millions of students worldwide and continue building an education system that is personal, transparent, and equitable. Because every student deserves learning that feels made for them. #Flint #Education #AI #Teachers #PersonalizedLearning #Learning #EdTech #FlintK12

At Ergo (YC W25) we just broke down thousands of founder sales calls. The top objection founders face is pricing, and most of you are tackling it the wrong way. Most founders respond by discounting, and over time, that trains you to believe your product’s overpriced. Here’s the correct way to handle a price objection: #1 Business Impact & Goals: Go back to what you learned during discovery, how does acquiring your product help your prospect reach their goals, and even deeper, what is the cost of not solving the problem they face right now? That Cost is usually higher than your price. #2 Quantifiable ROI What specific metrics does your solution impact, and which of those metrics is important to the customer? Is it top line revenue, time savings and efficiency of their team, or is it something much more specific? (for us % of stalled deals is a metric). Use these to calculate ROI of your product and show them. Ex: 5 reps x 10 hours/week x $50/hr = $2,500 weekly savings.  Pausing here to note, if it’s difficult for you to formulate #1 and #2, it’s a sign you aren’t doing proper discovery. You must understand these things in detail prior to discussing pricing. #3 Show How Other Customers Justified the Cost This provides another opportunity to show social proof, and helps sound less “salesy” or “sleezy”. You’re simply telling them how someone else thought about a similar decision, not “convincing” them. Position a current customer as the success story your prospect wants to mirror, naturally your solution then feels like the obvious path to get there. There’s a ton more objections that arise in founder-led sales, and most of you just aren’t tackling them the right way. Because of this, I made a resource called “The Objection Handling Playbook” that covers common objections, what they mean, and how to handle them. Comment “PLAYBOOK” if you want me to send it over.