Robin Choy

I'm a repeat founder based in San Francisco. I'm currently working on Adside, we're re-building the ads agency from the ground up using agents. I've been building startups since 2013. Before that I built HireSweet (AI for recruiting, YC W20) and Botdog (sales automation, acq. by Scale Shift in 2026).

I'm also a prolific investor and invested through my fund Batch Ventures in 120+ amazing startups, including Starcloud, Sygaldry, Mastra, Conductor, Blaxel, and many others.

Writing

Experience

2026 – now

Founder & CEO

Adside · YC F26 · San Francisco

Adside is an AI platform for running profitable paid ads, self-serve or as a managed service. I started it with Guillaume Miara after we ran our own ads at Botdog and saw how much of the work could be done by AI. About Adside.

Robin Choy presenting Get Started with Paid Ads Robin Choy talking with a founder at the workshop Robin Choy reviewing a founder's ad account
2024 – now

Founder & General Partner

Batch Ventures · San Francisco

Batch Ventures operates specialized, community-driven venture funds.

YC Fund (managed by me). We invest in the top 10% of YC companies. 50 investments per year, checks of $100K to $300K, a decision in 48 hours, and I'm comfortable being the first check. I strive to be the highest value-to-dilution ratio on your cap table, and one of the best people to talk to on the first day of your demo day fundraise.

Selected portfolio

CTO Fund (managed by Quang Hoang). We invest in the most promising startups building for engineering teams: the next Cursor, AWS or Datadog. Founders get access to our community of 60 tier-1 CTOs and VPs of Engineering, who are also investors in the fund.

Selected portfolio

Full Batch Ventures portfolio

Robin Choy speaking at the Batch Ventures annual dinner Robin Choy addressing guests at the Batch Ventures annual dinner Robin Choy hosting startup highlights at the CTO Fund dinner
2024 – 2026

Founder & CEO

Botdog · acquired by Scale Shift Ventures

Bootstrapped one of the most popular sales automation tools for YC founders and sold it to Scale Shift Ventures in February 2026, less than 18 months after launch. Had tons of fun with Gui, and learned a lot about paid ads along the way, which led us to start Adside.

2020 – 2024

Host

The Modern Recruiter podcast

I launched the podcast (first called "A-Players") in 2020 to collect the best recruiting advice on earth, at first for myself. I recorded conversations with talent leaders from Y Combinator, Segment, Webflow, Sqreen, Gorgias, SaaStr, Retool and Lever. The most popular episode is with Michael Seibel, then CEO of Y Combinator. My favorite is with Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor.

2016 – 2024

Founder & CEO

HireSweet · YC W20

We started HireSweet in 2016 to help companies hire for roles where they lack applicants. I left in 2024 after a very happy (and bumpy) ride of 8+ years.

HireSweet Marketplace. The talent team searches for and assesses top software engineers, and presents a selection to companies every week.

HireSweet CRM. Helps recruiters and staffing firms close hires faster: talent pools, outreach automation and candidate nurturing.

2014 – 2016

Founder & CEO

Jougger

A service marketplace based on a virtual currency.

2013 – 2014

Private Bank Sales & Equity Derivatives Trading

Commerzbank

Education

2020

Y Combinator

Winter 2020 batch, with HireSweet

2011 – 2016

HEC Paris

Master in Entrepreneurship

2009 – 2011

Lycée Pierre de Fermat

Classe préparatoire ECS, Toulouse