As a seed accelerator since 2005, Y Combinator has been responsible for sculpting and introducing some of the finest start-up companies to the world. Twice a year they invest in many early stage startups with a minimal amount of funding. Those chosen then move to Silicon Valley for three months and work side-by-side with the Y Combinator team. During this time, the start-ups are being mentored on how to shape up their overall plan for implementation and action and how to pitch to investors. To fund their work,Y Combinator takes a small piece of equity in exchange for a small amount of money and entry into the program. A number of well-known startups have been born from Y Combinator’s programs including Reddit, Heroku and Airbnb just to name a few. Thousands of start-up hopefuls throw their hat in the ring each year, hoping their ideas will be picked up and funded through YC. In addition they also work with entrepreneurs who may not even have a start-up idea in mind. Through mentorship, advice and training on technical, business and fundraising topics they actually help them grow from inception to product to launch. For more information, visit: www.ycombinator.com/