Harj Taggar
Managing Partner at Y Combinator
Harj Taggar is a Managing Partner at Y Combinator. He co-founded Auctomatic (YC W07), which Live Current Media agreed to buy in 2008, then joined YC in 2010 as its first non-founding partner. He co-founded Initialized Capital and later Triplebyte (YC S15), which he ran as CEO before returning to YC in 2020. YC says he has advised more than 1,000 companies.
- Venture capital
- Startups
- Technical hiring
Y Combinator
Triplebyte
- Now
- Managing Partner, Y Combinator1
- Co-founded
- Auctomatic (YC W07) and Triplebyte (YC S15)1
- Studied
- Jurisprudence, University of Oxford, 20061
- Advised
- More than 1,000 companies across 17 YC batches1
Experience
- Managing Partner2023 – now
YC says five companies he advised have gone public, and lists Coinbase, Benchling, GOAT Group, Instacart, PagerDuty, Amplitude and Gusto among the more than 20 YC unicorns he has worked with.1
- Group Partner2020 – 2023
Returned to YC as a partner in April 2020, announced on YC's blog by Geoff Ralston.9
- Partner2010 – 2014
Hired in 2010 and named a partner that November; Alexis Ohanian wrote that he was a major reason YC could fund 36 startups in its Summer 2010 batch. He moved to a part-time role in 2013.5
- Co-founder and CEO2015 – 2019
Ran the technical skills assessment company, used by employers such as Apple and American Express, which raised over $50 million in three rounds. He moved to an advisory role at the end of 2019.9
- Co-founder and General Partner2011 – 2014
His profile lists investments in Instacart, Coinbase, Opendoor, GOAT, Rippling and PlanGrid.2
- Co-founder and President2006 – 2008
Built tools that helped sellers trade online, including on eBay. Backers included Y Combinator, Chris Sacca and Paul Buchheit.4
Education
MA, Jurisprudence2
Recognition
Award · Institute of Physics2
Milestones
- Graduates from Oxford, where he studied jurisprudence1
- Auctomatic joins Y Combinator's Winter 2007 batch3
- Live Current Media agrees to acquire Auctomatic4
- Named a partner at Y Combinator, months after YC hired him5
- Co-founds Initialized Capital2
- Steps back to a part-time partner role at YC6
- Launches Triplebyte with Ammon Bartram and Guillaume Luccisano7
- Triplebyte raises $3 million from YC-linked investors8
- Returns to Y Combinator as a partner9
- Becomes a Managing Partner at Y Combinator2
- Karat acquires Triplebyte's technical assessment product and team11