Metadata

Participants:

External Transcript Summary: Gary Sheng & Evan Meyer - YC Journey & Faith Transformation

Date: October 9, 2025 Participants: Gary Sheng (@gary-sheng.md), Evan Meyer (@evan-meyer.md) Duration: ~30 minutes Location: Video call (Evan in San Francisco, Gary in Texas) Context: Catch-up conversation after Evan's first three weeks at Y Combinator

Executive Summary

This conversation captures two entrepreneurs at pivotal moments in their journeys - Evan Meyer three weeks into Y Combinator building Mod AI, and Gary Sheng exploring a faith-based movement after supernatural encounters. The discussion reveals the deep connection between their paths, with Gary's early mentorship proving instrumental to Evan's YC success. While Evan pursues enterprise AI automation in San Francisco's startup ecosystem, Gary contemplates building a Christian movement centered on "music and miracles" in Texas. Both reflect on the chain of providence that connected them through Shawon Jackson in 2023.

Key Themes

1. Y Combinator Experience & Mod AI Development

Evan's SF Immersion:

Three-week mark: "Today marks exactly three weeks that we're in San Francisco"
Lifestyle description: "It's been a big challenge, but a lot of fun"
Work environment: Living in Airbnb, "playing EDM music and just coding and doing calls"
Perception shift: "It doesn't feel like work at all... it feels more like a movie or like a video game"

San Francisco Reality:

Urban challenges: "All the stories that I've heard about the homeless people and how sketchy it is true. So on every avenue"
Meeting intensity: "Meeting a ton of people, working a ton"
Team dynamic: "It doesn't feel like any of us really know what we're doing, but it's a ton of fun"

Mod AI Business Model:

Core offering: "Building AI agents to automate the accounts payable process"
Target market: Enterprises with 500-2000+ employees
Problem space: "Right now that space is incredibly segmented... a lot of tools that do different things well, or do it all, but not well"
Vision: "Eventually even just have full autonomous agents that are doing the entire accounting part"
Launch timeline: "Early next week, like Monday or Tuesday, we're doing like our official launch"
Demo Day focus: December 3rd - "The big goal... it's just traction"

2. Gary's Faith Journey & Ministry Vision

AI Bootcamp to Spiritual Awakening:

Technical foundation: "Got into this AI coding boot camp... from January to March... graduated top of that class"
Cursor expertise: "Basically spent like thousands of hours with Cursor"
Billionaire consulting: Brief stint consulting for billionaire (described as "kind of a dick")

Supernatural Encounters:

Faith transformation: "Some supernatural encounters made me go deeper into my Christian faith"
Healing ministry exposure: "A pastor who has been healing people... from cancer. He's been helping the deaf hear"
Personal amazement: "It sounds so crazy as an almost lifelong atheist"
Multiple church visits: "Visiting his church in a small town in Texas multiple times"

Movement Vision:

"I have in my mind and heart something like a movement to be built around something related to the faith... a lot of it will revolve around events that surround music and miracles"

Core Thesis:

Problem identification: "Most people don't think that Christianity is, or Christ is real... because they haven't felt anything"
Church critique: "They go to a church, they don't feel anything... how is this any different from just like atheism plus stories I can barely believe?"
Solution approach: Awakening people to supernatural Christianity through music and healing

3. The Providence of Relationships

Chain of Connection:

Initial introduction: March 18, 2023 - Shawon Jackson connects them
Denver event: Gary invites Evan; they discuss Dune
Kariba opportunity: Gary connects Evan to Carl and Rey
YC preparation: Palantir knowledge from Kariba proves crucial

Evan's Acknowledgment:

"I don't think I would be where I am right now, and I would have gotten in Y Combinator and be doing what I'm doing without that [Kariba experience]"

Miracle Moments Philosophy:

Gary's practice: "I actually document these moments in my life where if I didn't meet this person, this wouldn't happen"
Naval's wisdom quoted: "Either everything's a miracle or nothing's a miracle"
Historical perspective: "History is written by people that see the providence of their lives"

4. Kariba Experience & Entrepreneurial Development

Learning Environment:

Mentorship approach: "From the get-go, I told them... I am not doing this because I want to be a software engineer. I'm doing this because I want to be an entrepreneur"
Strategy sessions: "They would just walk me through... what they're thinking"
Comprehensive exposure: "Point out how to do some product stuff, and then also some engineering... talk to customers"

Palantir Business Model Study:

Deep dive session: "We did a whole session where they broke down their business model and their tech stack"
YC interview impact: "The guy asked me... 'This is a very weird business model. What's an example of it working?' And I said, 'Palantir'"
Interviewer response: "Good answer, that's the only one I could think of"

Graceful Exit:

Mid-internship departure: "I actually quit halfway through my internship to go build my startup"
Supportive response: "They were like, super nice about it and very, very supportive"
Continued relationship: "If they ever come to SF, we're going to reconnect"

5. Professional Network & Support Requests

Evan's Needs:

Customer introductions: "Anyone that was kind of like leading finance or accounting at a company"
Company size: "Anything just above 50 employees is big enough"
Launch support: Request for LinkedIn and Twitter reposts
YC amplification: "Y Combinator is going to post us on Twitter and on LinkedIn"

Gary's Connections:

NBA finance: "Someone that helps lead finance for a division of the NBA"
Music festivals: Finance leader for "huge music festivals"
Recent connection: "I went to his wedding recently"

LinkedIn Strategy Discussion:

Algorithm insights: "The LinkedIn algorithm... reacts really well when you give like a 15-word comment and like repost"
Timing importance: "Like and repost within 30 minutes"
Gary's response: "I'm happy to reactivate [LinkedIn] for you for real"

6. Philosophical Reflections on Opportunity

Gary's Wisdom on Relationships:

"Opportunities are constantly presenting themselves, and you can either seize them or not"

Evan's Recognition:

Early learning: "I learned that from people like you... that I met very early on"
Relationship importance: "Showing me the importance of relationships"
Action orientation: Moved classes and tests to attend Denver event last minute

Chain of Events Examples:

Denver meeting: Led to Dune discussion → Gary remembering Evan → Kariba connection
High school connection: Shawon → Gary → Carl/Rey → YC
Current reconnection: Planning to meet Shawon next Monday

7. Current Trajectories & Future Plans

Evan's Immediate Goals:

Traction focus: Everything aimed at December 3rd Demo Day
Official launch: Video editor creating launch content
Customer acquisition: Seeking enterprise pilots
Team acknowledgment: "None of us are even like accounting people. We kind of just fell into this"

Gary's Exploration Phase:

Flexible timeline: "Taking it day by day, week by week"
Safety net: "Can always jump back consulting, software engineering or marketing"
Runway secured: "I have a little runway for myself to explore"
Family plans: Visiting parents in Vegas for father's birthday
Vatican AI conference: Attending AI conference at Vatican City in Rome
Wedding attendance: Friend's wedding coming up

Notable Quotes

On Entrepreneurial Reality:

Evan: "We're really building something here that has the potential to be worth a lot. And we don't feel like, it doesn't feel like any of us really know what we're doing, but it's a ton of fun"

On Faith Transformation:

Gary: "It sounds so crazy as an almost lifelong atheist... but he's been healing people from cancer. He's been helping the deaf hear. Like, it's kind of crazy"

On Product-Market Fit:

Evan: "It's not a very play around type of idea... but it's what people want, so it's discoverable"

On Life Philosophy:

Gary: "You either see... opportunities are constantly presenting themselves, and you can either seize them or not"

On Southern Culture:

Gary: "I was watching like a banjo performer the other day. It's kind of interesting. It's like kind of 50s style. It's kind of cool... You can't really get that authentically anywhere else"

Metadata

Executive Summary​

Key Themes​

1. Y Combinator Experience & Mod AI Development​

2. Gary's Faith Journey & Ministry Vision​

3. The Providence of Relationships​

4. Kariba Experience & Entrepreneurial Development​

5. Professional Network & Support Requests​

6. Philosophical Reflections on Opportunity​

7. Current Trajectories & Future Plans​

Notable Quotes​

Action Items & Follow-ups​