Nicolas Dessaigne

Nicolas Dessaigne is a Group Partner at Y Combinator (YC) and co-founder of Algolia, a prominent search API service. He participated in YC's Winter 2014 batch with Algolia, which has since grown to be valued at over $2 billion and is utilized by millions of developers worldwide.13

Career and Contributions

Dessaigne co-founded Algolia in 2012, where he served as CEO until 2020, leading the company through significant growth and scaling up to 350 employees. He remains actively involved in Algolia's success as a Board Director.14 Under his leadership, Algolia raised substantial funding, including $110 million from investors like Accel and Salesforce, and has been instrumental in providing search-as-a-service solutions for major companies such as Slack and Twitch.23

Role at Y Combinator

Since becoming a Group Partner at YC in 2021, Dessaigne has contributed his extensive entrepreneurial experience to assist new startups. He has conducted over 2,000 office hours and has been involved in mentoring numerous companies through six YC batches, helping them navigate the challenges of startup growth.134 His insights are particularly valuable given his own experiences as a founder, where he emphasizes the importance of technical talent and team collaboration in startup success.3

Education

Dessaigne holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Nantes, which complements his technical expertise and entrepreneurial endeavors.14

Originally from France, he currently resides in El Cerrito, California, with his wife and three children.15