Nowadays (YC S23)

One of our first customers paid $500 out of her own pocket to plan a 15-person offsite—because her boss expected her to pull it off on top of her full-time job. That’s when we knew we were solving a massive problem. Before then, my sister Anna Sun and I had both spent way too much time planning large-scale events—Anna as class president at MIT, and me coordinating team events at Google and Facebook. We knew firsthand how manual and time-consuming corporate event planning still was, and it was clear that teams everywhere were facing the same pain. So we set out to make it 10x easier. Nowadays (YC S23) automates everything from vendor outreach to budget management, so teams can actually focus on the event—not the back-and-forth. Since launching last year, we’ve already booked $7M+ worth of events for companies like Google, Notion, and Amazon—and we’re just getting started. Thanks Rippling for sharing our story! We’re lucky to have you powering our back office so we can stay focused on building :)

One of my favorite parts of working with founders is seeing how seemingly small, personal frustrations can turn into massive business opportunities. For co-founders Anna Sun and Amy Yan, that moment came fast. One of their earliest customers was so desperate for help planning an offsite that she personally paid $500 out of her own pocket—just to get it done. That’s when they knew they were onto something. Today, their startup Nowadays (YC S23) automates the heavy lifting of corporate event planning by reaching out to venues, managing vendors, and handling negotiations, all without the manual back-and-forth. In less than a year, they’ve already booked over $7M worth of events for companies like Google, Notion, and Supabase. It’s been amazing watching their journey. At Rippling, we love helping founders like Anna and Amy stay focused on building (not back-office busywork) so they can scale faster. Learn more about Anna’s journey in our latest founder spotlight below.

So excited to welcome Emily Zhang as a Founding Product Engineer at Nowadays (YC S23)! ?? Emily is a design-focused technologist and event planner at heart, graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a CS degree and a minor in Design. She’s led large-scale events as President of MIT Pi Beta Phi, Director of MIT xFair, and President of MIT MINCE. At Nowadays, Emily will shape our product from the ground up, building user-centric features, optimizing internal tools, and bridging engineering with real-world event execution. Welcome to the team, Emily!

Thanks to Danny Sheridan and the entire Fern (YC W23) team for trusting us with your offsite, and huge congrats again on hitting all your goals! ????

Nowadays (YC S23) reached #1 Product of the Day on Product Hunt! ?? Thank you to everyone who supported our launch - it means the world to us. Look out for a post soon where I’ll share tips to prepare for a successful Product Hunt launch and what the launch did to our metrics. In the meantime, wishing a Happy Lunar New Year to everyone celebrating! ?? 新年快乐! ????

We just launched on Product Hunt and are aiming for #1! ?? Show some love with a like / comment: https://lnkd.in/eG32ZJZM ?? Since launching last May, we’ve helped teams like Google, Nebius, and Cube plan 100+ events worldwide. This launch introduces an all-new set of tools: 1/ Need to book flights for 150 teammates coming from 24 countries? Try our group flight estimator! 2/ Managing deposits for hotels, dinners, and activities? Check out our streamlined payments to automate deposits and credit card charges for all venue and vendor bookings. 3/ Becky canceled last minute? Attendees can update their bookings in one place, instantly notifying all vendors and the event organizer. 4/ Searching for private dining walking distance near your NYC office? Explore options with our interactive maps. Which of these features would make your event planning easier?

Last weekend, we threw Cafe Nowadays for our friends, and wow—it was such a blast! ?? It was the perfect way to bring everyone together after the holidays. ?? Huge shoutout to our awesome team at Nowadays — Emily Zhang Joyce Yuan Harry Yuan Anna Sun —for baking up a storm and brewing some incredible drinks. From a make-your-own boba station to a full pastry spread to a 'Decorate Your Own Nowadays Dog' station, we really had it all. You guys showed that hosting awesome events is totally our bread and butter. ??? Bringing people together is what we love to do, so throwing this event felt like the perfect way to share that. It’s just who we are at Nowadays (YC S23)—helping make awesome events happen!

Happy Holidays from the Nowadays (YC S23) team!! ?? Here's a snapshot of our team hard at work, spreading holiday cheer to our amazing customers :) Wishing you the best for you and your family during this holiday season! ?? - Amy Yan, Anna Sun, and Annie Chen

This week, we’re celebrating three incredible companies that embody hard work, adaptability, and a vision for the future – and have secured the funding to match. 1?? Next Sense has snapped up €11.5M in Series A funding to tackle one of the real estate industry’s biggest challenges: decarbonisation. With cutting-edge smart building technology, they’re reducing energy use by up to 40% per project. A huge step forward for sustainability – well done to Ferdinand Grapperhaus and the team. 2?? Nowadays (YC S23), founded by powerhouse sisters Anna Sun and Amy Yan, this YC alum is transforming event planning with AI. Fresh off a $2M seed round, Nowadays automates venue and vendor sourcing, making it easier than ever to organize large-scale events. With big names like Google and Amazon already on board, we can't wait to see them grow! 3?? Elin.ai is addressing the mental health crisis facing Gen Z with their AI-powered app. Their €1M pre-seed round will help expand internationally and enhance their support tools for issues like anxiety and eating disorders. A vital mission - keep it up Jan Romportl, Petr Stanislav and Jiri Horacek. We love seeing startups making such a positive impact! Congratulations all! ?? #startups #fundingnews #techinnovation

Y Combinator alum Nowadays (YC S23), founded in 2023 by sisters Anna Sun (CEO) and Amy Yan (COO), just raised $2M to automate event planning with AI. Their platform uses LLM models (including OpenAI and Anthropic) and a database of 400,000 global venues to handle vendor outreach, bid collection, and contract organization—saving event planners hours of work. The idea stemmed from the sisters’ personal frustration organizing large events. After getting into YC, Amy quit her Google job to join Anna in building the platform. Nowadays targets events with budgets over $20,000, charging 5% of the event budget or offering annual subscriptions. Already trusted by Google, Amazon, and Notion, the startup has booked over $4M in events and is gaining traction through word of mouth. Backed by YC, Basis Set Ventures, and others, Nowadays is on its way to redefining how large events are planned with AI. #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #DigitalMarketing #TechTrends? #AI #VentureCapital #Ecommerce #Leadership #BusinessGrowth Discover the latest success story at The Founders! ?? Dive into inspiring startup journeys, tips, and insights. Don't miss out – subscribe now and support the innovators shaping our future! ?? www.thefounders.news If you spot any inaccuracies, please let us know so we can correct them. Your feedback helps us improve. Thanks!?