YC excels when we support founders dedicated to building for others, including strong open source developers like those at Continue and various others.
Recently, a startup in our current cohort, PearAI, faced online criticism for their inappropriate approach to open source, specifically in how they forked Continue. Out of loyalty to YC companies, I initially supported PearAI without full knowledge of the situation. Upon review, the criticism was justified, and I collaborated with PearAI’s group partner and founders to address the issue.
Ty Dunn and Nate Sesti, co-founders of Continue, graciously provided a way forward for PearAI and all developers through their transparent communication and dedication to open source. PearAI has issued an apology, removed the controversial repositories, and is taking steps to rectify their errors.
I sincerely apologize to the founders of Continue, the YC community, and the open source community for not responding more thoughtfully.
Additionally, I want to clarify some points:
- Continue is not a fork of VS Code, contrary to the misinformation reported by TechCrunch. Continue is an independent project, developed from scratch as an extension for VS Code and JetBrains, easily installable from their respective marketplaces.
- Continue is the hub of a dynamic open source community centered on amplified.dev, advocating that tools for coding with LLMs will form critical infrastructure, that an ecosystem is essential for supporting all developer workflows, and that successful collaboration requires developers to work together.
Open source fuels tech startups, and everyone in our industry owes a debt of gratitude to open source creators.
Thank you for making our work possible.
Garry Tan
President & CEO, Y Combinator