Dan Bakirov

1 episode · 1 moment · last on 16 Jan 2026

16 Jan 2026Listen Labs $100M, Europe’s New Unicorn, Sinking Machines, Dom Hallas

2:54:4510 min

Dan Bakirov: sparkles.dev, YC Winter '26 & going viral on X

Speaking at 5:50am from San Francisco, UCL dropout Dan Bakirov introduces sparkles.dev — 'Lovable for existing projects' — and describes joining Y Combinator's Winter 2026 batch after pivoting his idea the day before his interview. He recounts going viral on X after posting his YC acceptance, the flood of demo requests (including one from quant firm Tower Research), his hackathon-to-dropout journey, and a 150K goal by demo day. He praises San Francisco's 'make it happen' energy before the hosts wrap the episode.