San Francisco · Claude Code · Y Combinator Blog
How Ryder Kemper became employee #7 at Corgi Insurance, and never exited San Francisco
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Ryder Kemper was in Ohio, winding down a startup he and his college friends had built together.
Key facts
- Ryder Kemper was in Ohio, winding down a startup he and his college friends had built together
- Ryder knew he wanted to stay in startups, and he knew he wanted to be in San Francisco
- A message on Work at a Startup from Corgi Insurance's first sales hire changed everything
- He spent roughly half his time writing code and the other half riding in the company's Mystery Machine bus, hauling furniture to a new office
Summary
Ryder knew he wanted to stay in startups, and he knew he wanted to be in San Francisco. Corgi Insurance (YC S24) is rebuilding core financial infrastructure from the ground up, insurance systems, policy administration, claims, with the goal of owning the stack end to end. Ryder's work trial was not a whiteboard exercise. He spent roughly half his time writing code and the other half riding in the company's Mystery Machine bus, hauling furniture to a new office. The claims system is the project he talks about most. His current tool of choice is Claude Code.