Validating startup ideas with AI: Ran through YC process in 30 minutes

Let me start with a recent issue I faced. Last week, I helped a friend review a startup idea. He spent two weeks doing research, saved over forty competitor records in Excel, only to find out that the direction had already been thoroughly explored by others. This reminded me of the AI-native startup methodology YC has been talking about recently. The core idea is simple: don't use AI to speed up old processes; use AI to change how you work entirely. I tried this approach with my own workflow for a few days, running through YC Startup School's method for validating ideas completely using AI tools. It turned out to be way less hassle than expected.