Building a Brain Rot IDE | Clad Labs YC F25

From middle school basketball teammates to Y Combinator founders building the world's first "brain rot IDE," Kevin and Richard's journey is a masterclass in persistence, pivoting, and having fun while building.

We discuss:

• How they met in middle school and reconnected to start building

• Richard's seven YC applications (and why only the last one counted)

• Getting rejected with "I hate this idea" and coming back stronger

• Building to 1.5M users, then pivoting 24 hours before their YC interview

• Why iteration speed matters more than coding speed or sales velocity

• Skipping ad impressions entirely and going straight to user acquisition

• The Chad IDE: integrating Tinder, TikTok, and gambling into your coding workflow

• Hiring two interns during YC and why they took the risk

• Why having fun is their most important metric

• Real advice: sell before you build, just do it, don't overthink frameworks

If you're a startup founder, someone who's applied to YC, or just love hearing authentic stories about the messy middle of building, this episode is for you.

About Clad Labs: Clad Labs is building the Chad IDE—an AI-powered development environment that keeps you productive during code generation by integrating entertainment directly into your workflow. They're also pioneering a new advertising model that skips impressions and goes straight to user acquisition for dev tools. https://cladlabs.ai

About ImagineAI: We build your B2B content pipeline so prospects find you, trust you, and book meetings before your competitors even get a reply. https://www.imagineai.me/

Learn more about Richard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-wang-39554994/

Learn more about Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lekevin2/

Learn more about Neo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neo-lky/

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe to Signal Line for more conversations with the builders shaping the future.

Timestamps
0:00 – Cold Open: Best YC Advice
0:41 – Welcome to Signal Line
0:53 – Who Are Kevin and Richard?
1:29 – How Two Middle School Friends Started Building Together
2:27 – The First Idea: AI Ads and RAG
3:19 – "I Hate This Idea" – Getting Rejected by YC
4:33 – Richard's Seven YC Applications
5:17 – The Pivot 24 Hours Before the Interview
6:35 – YC's Best Advice: Iteration Speed Over Everything
7:27 – YC's Worst Advice: They're Too Nice
8:05 – The Truth About Fundraising and Pivoting
9:08 – Why We Hired Two Interns During YC
10:12 – How to Convince People to Join Your Startup
11:16 – What the Chad IDE Actually Does
13:55 – The World's First Brain Rot IDE
14:33 – Our Go-to-Market Strategy: Have Fun
15:24 – No Framework, Just Vibes
16:17 – Where We Go to Think (Spoiler: Nowhere)
17:08 – Advice for Early Stage Founders