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342 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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The Hard Conversations Founders Don't Want to Have
1 maart 2023 · 21 min
Y Combinator group partners Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell discuss the importance of having honest and difficult conversations with startup founders. While having hard conversations can be uncomfortable, Michael and Dalton argue that this transparency is essential for founders to grow and ultimately, these experiences help founders have their own hard conversations that they've been avoiding with the people around them.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply
Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs Lees meer -
The Best Way To Launch Your Startup with Kat Mañalac | Startup School
24 februari 2023 · 21 min
YC's Kat Mañalac wants to change the way you think about launching. In her talk, she shares the multitude of ways to launch and get attention for your product, with tangible strategies and examples from companies like Airbnb. Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Advantages Of A First-Time Founder
17 februari 2023 · 22 min
Step inside the Group Partner Lounge to hear Y Combinator Group Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss the advantages of being a first-time founder and the instances when it pays to have experience founding a startup in the past. Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Work at a Startup: https://www.workatastartup.com/ -
The Cult of Conformity in Silicon Valley
10 februari 2023 · 18 min
What happens when the unconventional becomes conventional? Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell discuss how the startup world has changed from being dominated by outsiders and nonconformists to now attracting more mainstream conformists looking for status and money. They share stories of what the tech scene was like when they were in school - and how radically different it is today, while offering their advice around navigating a world that doesn't always reward nonconformists embarking on risky entrepreneurial journeys. Don't just think different, act different.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply
Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs Lees meer -
Don't Make These Hiring Mistakes
26 januari 2023 · 20 min
Step inside the Group Partner Lounge to hear Y Combinator Group Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss the many different mistakes founders make when they approach hiring for their startup and how to grow your team the correct way.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply
Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs Lees meer -
Keys To Successful Co-Founder Relationships with Cat Li & Divya Bhat | Startup School
24 januari 2023 · 32 min
How do you find a co-founder and build a great partnership? YC's Catheryn Li (who also built our Co-Founder Matching tool) and Visiting Partner Divya Bhat cover the importance of having co-founders, how to get & vet one, and the ways to build a successful working relationship with them.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/SUS-apply
Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/SUS-jobs Lees meerLooking for a co-founder? Sign up for Co-Founder Matching: https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching
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How To Compete With Amazon and Google
18 januari 2023 · 16 min
Step inside the Group Partner Lounge to hear Y Combinator Group Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss the traps founders often fall into when looking at the competition. They identify the particular types of companies you should watch out for and many more you are wasting your time worrying about. Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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The Secrets To Setting Smarter Goals
16 januari 2023 · 29 min
If you're looking to maximize your startup's potential, start by setting the right goals. Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell provide tips and strategies for setting goals that will help keep you and your new business focused on success—plus provide examples of bad goals to avoid.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply
Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs Lees meer -
Investors Said No, Now What?
12 januari 2023 · 16 min
Step inside the Group Partner Lounge to hear Y Combinator Group Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss how you should handle rejection from investors and why you should "believe the no, not the why." Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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When to Launch Your Startup and When to Wait
11 januari 2023 · 14 min
Step inside the group partners' lounge to hear Y Combinator Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss how startups should approach launching and the exceptions to the rules. Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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How to Get Your First Customers with Gustaf Alströmer | Startup School
3 januari 2023 · 23 min
How do you get your first customers? YC Group Partner & former Head of Growth at Airbnb, Gustaf Alströmer, gives tactical advice to answer this question for all kinds of companies — whether you're B2B or B2C — and discusses why it's important for founders to do sales early on.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/SUS-apply Lees meerWork at a Startup: https://yc.link/SUS-jobs
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Startup Business Models and Pricing with Aaron Epstein | Startup School
27 december 2022 · 33 min
One of the most common topics that founders ask us about is pricing and monetization. In this talk, YC Group Partner Aaron Epstein outlines 9 different business models, and highlights lessons from top YC companies on how to best monetize and price your product.
Business Model Guide: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Gh-business-model-guide
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/SUS-apply Lees meerWork at a Startup: https://yc.link/SUS-jobs
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How to Talk to Users with Gustaf Alströmer | Startup School
20 december 2022 · 18 min
YC often says "talk to your users", but actually doing that is surprisingly tricky. YC Group Partner Gustaf Alströmer gives non-obvious advice on how to talk to both current and potential users, how to run a great user interview, and how to interpret the feedback in these conversations.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/SUS-apply Lees meerWork at a Startup: https://yc.link/SUS-jobs
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How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas with Jared Friedman | Startup School
15 december 2022 · 32 min
YC's Jared Friedman shares a framework for how to get and evaluate startup ideas. He delves into examples of YC companies and the inside stories of how they came up with the ideas that turned into billion-dollar companies. Even if you have an existing idea, this talk helps founders confirm that their idea is good and/or provides a framework for a future pivot.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/SUS-apply Lees meerWork at a Startup: https://yc.link/SUS-jobs
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Should You Start a Startup? with Harj Taggar | Startup School
13 december 2022 · 17 min
In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Harj Taggar shares his advice on the types of people best suited to be startup founders and how to prepare to start a company in the future.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/SUS-apply Lees meerWork at a Startup: https://yc.link/SUS-jobs
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Avoid These Tempting Startup Ideas
1 december 2022 · 29 min
Thinking of a new startup idea? Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the types of ideas to stay away from—what we commonly refer to as "tarpit ideas."
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply
Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs Lees meer -
The Truth About Y Combinator
29 november 2022 · 27 min
With the YC S22 batch coming to a close, Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel reflect on the recent batch and their experience fundraising. The two group partners also clear up some misconceptions about Y Combinator based on feedback from founders.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply
Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs Lees meer -
The Two Mindsets That Can Kill Your Startup
24 november 2022 · 25 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the qualities that make a founder overly optimistic or far too pessimistic about their startup. Where is the right middle ground?
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply
Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs Lees meer -
What Basic Game Theory Teaches Us About Startups
17 november 2022 · 19 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the problems with zero sum games within tech culture. Is your startup making a positive impact on the world or are your business practices a net negative in society? Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Most Important Lifestyle Habits Of Successful Founders
10 november 2022 · 32 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the best approaches to developing a healthy lifestyle that ultimately helps you run and grow a successful startup. Funders, take care of yourselves out there. Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Elon Musk & The Midwit Meme
3 november 2022 · 18 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on the midwit meme, how it applies to startups, and the best example: Elon Musk. Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Things That Don't Scale, The Software Edition
27 oktober 2022 · 26 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on software hacks that don't scale. Companies discussed include Google, Facebook, Twitch, and imeem. Watch the first video on doing things that don't scale here: https://youtu.be/4RMjQal_c4U Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Why Investors (including YC) Can’t Fix Your Company
20 oktober 2022 · 24 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on common pitfalls in the advice from different types of investors and why you, the founder, are ultimately responsible for the success of your company. Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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What Does It REALLY Mean To Do Things That Don't Scale?
13 oktober 2022 · 19 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about Paul Graham's essay "Do Things That Don't Scale" and what it really means for founders. Read the essay here: http://paulgraham.com/ds.html Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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How To Change The World? Get The Small Things Right
6 oktober 2022 · 18 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about the importance of understanding incentives and doing research when it comes to building a world-changing startup. Lees meer
To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back?
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Simple Products That Became Big Companies
29 september 2022 · 21 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about OpenSea, Gusto, and the importance of building simple products that solve a real problem. Lees meer
To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back?
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Where Do Great Startup Ideas Come From?
12 september 2022 · 21 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about where the ideas for Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe came from. Then they discuss what you can learn from these founders. Lees meer
To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back?
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Successful Founders Are OK With Rejection
5 september 2022 · 20 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on the importance of talking to your users, why successful founders are ok with rejection from potential customers, and how protecting your ego by not talking to your users can kill your startup. Lees meer
To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back?
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Should You Follow Your Passion?
29 augustus 2022 · 19 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about solutions in search of a problem, whether or not to follow your passion, how to figure out what to work on, and how to motivate yourself. Lees meer
To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back?
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Understanding Investor Terms & Incentives
25 augustus 2022 · 10 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about investor terms and incentives. Lees meer
To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back?
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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YC Founders Made These Fundraising Mistakes
18 augustus 2022 · 8 min
Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell are back for episode 2 of Rookie Mistakes to discuss common mistakes founders make when fundraising, and how to avoid them. Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
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YC Founder Firesides: Gusto on building for new verticals
15 augustus 2022 · 1 uur 58 min
Gusto (YC W12) provides growing businesses with everything to take care of their team. Today, more than 200,000 businesses use Gusto for payroll, employee benefits, talent management, and more. And with the recent addition of Gusto Embedded, developers now use Gusto’s APIs and pre-build UI flows to embed payroll, tax filing, and payments infrastructure into products. Lees meer
YC’s Anu Hariharan sat down with Gusto co-founder and CPO Tomer London to talk about building for new customer segments and the future of embedded finance — sharing advice for startup founders and CEOs along the way.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Co-Founder Mistakes That Kill Companies & How To Avoid Them
9 augustus 2022 · 9 min
In the first episode of Rookie Mistakes, Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss co-founder mistakes. To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back? Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
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Dealing With Setbacks And The Startup Gut Punch
27 juli 2022 · 22 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the best approaches to managing the many setbacks startup founders can face over the lifetime of starting and running a business. Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
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Saving Your Startup During an Economic Downturn
21 juli 2022 · 36 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss Paul Graham's essay "Default Alive or Default Dead." They share strategies to cut your company's burn rate and keep your startup alive to see another day. Lees meer
Paul Graham's essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/aord.html
Trevor Blackwell's startup growth calculator: http://growth.tlb.org
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
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Why You Should Leave Your FAANG Job
22 juni 2022 · 20 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the struggles of working at FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) and how to strategize leaving a big tech job to become a founder at a startup. Lees meer
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
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How Future Billionaires Get Sh*t Done
22 juni 2022 · 20 min
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel take a look at Paul Graham's essay "Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule" and share tips on how to be more effective and productive on the journey to creating a billion dollar business. Lees meer
Read PG's essay here: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
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#157 - Diego Saez Gil
28 januari 2020 · 47 min
Diego Saez Gil is the founder of Pachama. Pachama is building a marketplace where companies can support carbon offset projects. Lees meer
The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
***
Topics
00:00 - Welcome Gustaf and Diego
01:19 - Diego's background
06:50 - What is Pachama?
09:25 - Using remote sensing to track carbon
11:37 - Connecting disparate groups
13:04 - How much carbon does a typical company offset?
15:28 - How big is the reforesting opportunity?
17:09 - What are the incentives to offset carbon?
18:40 - Why don't people trust carbon offsets?
20:33 - What are the different forest conservation methods?
25:20 - How does Pachama use technology?
29:00 - Growth challenges
30:20 - Who are the customers?
32:12 - The future of the carbon market
32:48 - Fundraising for a climate startup
37:50 - Advice for people that want to start working in the climate change space.
41:38 - Climate policy
43:23 - What are the most important things happening in the space?
45:10 - The benefits of agroforestry and permaculture -
#156 - Amber Atherton and Iba Masood
18 december 2019 · 1 uur 3 min
Amber Atherton is the founder and CEO of Zyper (YC W18). Lees meer
Iba Masood is the cofounder and CEO of TARA (YC W15).
The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
***
Topics
00:00 - Intro
1:16 - Seed fundraising for Zyper and Tara
3:26 - Tara's pivot
4:31 - Series A fundraising for Zyper and Tara
18:11 - Evaluating investors
23:46 - Meeting with associates and partners
30:35 - Raising a Series A as a female founder
39:31 - Fundraising psychology
41:46 - What not to do when fundraising
45:01 - Talking to portfolio companies about investors
46:21 - What it's like to run a Series A stage company
1:00:41 - The most important piece of advice for fundraising
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#155 - Laks Srini
11 december 2019 · 36 min
Laks Srini is the cofounder and CTO of ZeroDown. Before that he was the cofounder and CTO of Zenefits. Lees meer
You can find him on Twitter at @laks_srini.
The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
***
Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:30 - What is ZeroDown?
1:50 - How did they test the idea?
3:50 - What did they learn from companies that failed in the space?
8:00 - Breaking down the product
11:25 - ZeroDown's customers
13:35 - Expanding to other markets
15:50 - What if a downturn happens?
17:10 - ZeroDown's hiring strategy
20:10 - What are their hardest technical challenges?
22:05 - ZeroDown's breadth and product strategy
26:40 - Customer interviews
28:35 - Should everyone own a house?
29:50 - Home ownership in the future
32:45 - Build something you really want to see in the world
34:40 - Working with his cofounders was the most important consideration
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#154 - Matt Cutts
4 december 2019 · 1 uur 5 min
Matt Cutts is the Administrator of the US Digital Service and previously he was the head of the webspam team at Google. Lees meer
You can find him on Twitter at @mattcutts.
The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
***
Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:36 - Working at Google in 2000
2:48 - Did Google's success feel certain?
3:53 - Building self-service ads
7:23 - The evil unicorn problem
8:23 - Lawsuits around search
10:48 - Content moderation and spam
14:38 - Matt's progression over 17 years at Google
17:18 - Deepfakes
18:43 - Joining the USDS
21:03 - What the USDS does
23:43 - Working at the USDS
26:43 - Educating people in government about tech
28:58 - Creating a rapid feedback loop within government
31:48 - Michael Wang asks - How does USDS decide whether to outsource something to a private company, or build the software in house?
32:58 - Spencer Clark asks - It would seem that the government is so far behind the private industry’s technology. To what extent is this true and what can be done about it? How should we gauge the progress of institutions like the USDS?
36:03 - Stephan Sturges asks - With GANs getting more and more powerful is the USDS thinking about the future of data authenticity?
38:23 - John Doherty asks - How difficult was it to communicate Google’s algorithm changes and evolving SEO best practices without leaking new spam tactics?
40:18 - Vanman0254 asks - How can smart tech folks better contribute to regulatory and policy discussions in government?
42:38 - Ronak Shah asks - What's your best pitch to high-performing startups in the Bay Area to adopt more of human centered design (something that the government has been moving towards surprisingly well, but that some fast moving startups have neglected resulting in controversy)
49:58 - Adam Hoffma…
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#153 - Cory Doctorow and Joe Betts-LaCroix
27 november 2019 · 1 uur 13 min
Cory Doctorow is a blogger, journalist, and science fiction author. He’s also the co-editor of Boing Boing. Lees meer
Joe Betts-Lacroix is the CTO of VIUM and an Expert at YC.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
***
Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:32 - Adversarial interoperability
7:55 - So what should founders do?
13:55 - Copyright
19:55 - Remixing
27:00 - AT&T
29:50 - Firms and state-like duties
31:25 - Medium-term suggestions for founders
39:25 - Conspiracy theories
51:50 - Science fiction and predictions
56:55 - Peak indifference model
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#151 - Startup School Week 10 Recap - Ali Rowghani on How to Lead and Kevin Hale and Adora Cheung on Startup School 2019 by the Numbers
6 november 2019 · 42 min
We've cut down the tenth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast. Lees meer
First, a lecture from Ali Rowghani. Ali is a partner at YC. His lecture covers how to lead.
Then a lecture from Kevin Hale and Adora Cheung. Kevin and Adora are both partners at YC. Their lecture breaks down this year’s Startup School by the numbers and they share tips on what helped companies most.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
***
Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:36 - Ali Rowghani - How to Lead
1:36 - Ali's background
2:56 - There's no single archetype for a great leader so be yourself
5:16 - Great leaders think and communicate clearly
9:56 - Great leaders have good judgement about people
12:56 - Great leaders have strong personal integrity and commitment
13:46 - The transparency test
14:41 - The best way to measure great leaders is in terms of the amount of trust they engender in the people that work with them
15:21 - The science of trust
16:08 - The art of trust
16:36 - Optimize for trust
17:40 - Kevin Hale and Adora Cheung - Startup School 2019 by the Numbers
19:24 - Startup School grew during the course
20:24 - Did SUS make a difference?
21:14 - 106 SUS companies were accepted into YC
23:17 - How can you replicate their success?
23:44 - Be clear and concise
26:59 - Edit your company description
28:04 - Weekly updates submitted
28:39 - Top 7 biggest obstacles for SUS companies
29:04 - Top 7 KPI movers
29:59 - Top 7 user insights
31:04 - Average startup weeks to launch
31:54 - Average hard tech or biotech startup weeks to launch
32:54 - % of weekly updates from launched startups
33:34 - Group sessions
33:59 - Companies got better at explaining their ideas, selling themselves, and getting others excited
35:09 - Founders like qualitative feedback
36:09 - No shows
37:19 - Morale…
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#150 - Startup School Week 9 Recap - Carolynn Levy on Modern Startup Financing and Jared Friedman’s Advice for Hard-tech and Biotech Founders
30 oktober 2019 · 37 min
We've cut down the ninth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast. Lees meer
First, a lecture from Carolynn Levy. Carolynn is a partner at YC. Her lecture covers modern startup financing.
Then a lecture from Jared Friedman. Jared is also a partner at YC. His lecture focuses on advice for hard-tech and biotech founders.
***
Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:33 - Carolynn Levy - Modern Startup Financing
1:33 - The basics: form a corporation, need money to grow?, sell a part of the company
2:58 - Fundraising terms
3:58 - What has changed: structure, access, focus
5:10 - What hasn't changed: preferred stock financing, valuation and dilution, communication
6:42 - Old way of raising early money: Series A preferred stock financing
8:33 - What was broken?
9:33 - The transition: bridge loan financings
10:46 - Realization: convertible promissory notes are a better way to fund early stage startups
12:01 - Modernization of the convertible - SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity)
14:03 - When do priced rounds happen?
15:12 - Is modern early stage financing perfected?
18:01 - Takeaways
19:30 - Jared Friedman - Advice for Hard-tech and Biotech Founders
20:25 - What is a hard-tech company?
21:35 - Why start a hard-tech company?
25:06 - YC is the largest bio and hard-tech seed investor in the world
25:49 - How much of YC's advice applies to hard-tech founders?
26:33 - How do you make progress when you have a "heavy MVP"?
31:49 - How do you prove people will want your product, if you haven't built it yet?
32:57 - Letter of Intent
34:10 - Fundraising for hard-tech and biotech companies
36:15 - Final thought
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#149 - Startup School Week 8 Recap - Adora Cheung on Prioritizing Your Time and Kevin Hale on Evaluating Startup Ideas
23 oktober 2019 · 44 min
We've cut down the eighth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast. Lees meer
First a lecture from Adora Cheung. Adora’s a partner at YC. Her lecture covers how to prioritize your time.
Then a lecture from Kevin Hale. Kevin is also a partner at YC. His lecture is the second part of his talk on how to evaluate startup ideas.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
***
Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:32 - Adora Cheung - How to Prioritize Your Time
2:12 - Real vs fake progress
4:10 - How to determine if you're prioritizing the right tasks
4:42 - Keep a spreadsheet of ideas related to moving your primary KPI
7:32 - Grade the new and old ideas once a week based on potential impact
9:52 - Consider the complexity of each task
11:32 - Don't try to do everything at once
11:52 - How do I know I'm prioritizing my time well?
13:42 - What if I can't complete my tasks in time?
14:02 - Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule
15:32 - Moving fast
16:47 - Kevin Hale - How to Evaluate Startup Ideas Pt. 2
18:52 - How to apply to Y Combinator
20:17 - As a YC partner, you don't need to sell me
21:12 - Can I understand the idea? Am I excited by it? Do I like the team and want to work with them?
21:47 - How do I describe my company in a very efficient manner?
22:52 - Making your idea legible
25:12 - Things to avoid when describing your company
27:34 - Be conversational
28:02 - Avoid jargon, no preamble, and be reproducible
28:47 - Nouns: what are you making, what is the problem, and who is the customer
32:47 - Using the X for Y formula of explaining your startup
36:57 - Be concise without leaving out the key nouns
40:47 - How to adjust a description
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#148 - Startup School Week 7 Recap - Kevin Hale on Conversion Rates and Pricing
16 oktober 2019 · 31 min
We've cut down the seventh week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast. Lees meer
Kevin Hale gave both lectures this week. Kevin’s a partner at YC and cofounded Wufoo. His first lecture is on how to improve conversion rates and his second lecture is on pricing for startups.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:27 - Kevin Hale - How to Improve Conversion Rates
1:02 - Why we care about conversion rates
2:02 - Shareware conversion rate is .5%
2:22 - Casual download games is 2%
2:32 - Freemium SaaS range from 1.5 to 5%
3:57 - Knowledge spectrum
5:52 - The one button interface
6:37 - What is the call to action? And the magic moment.
8:02 - What is it?
8:38 - Is it right for me?
9:02 - Is it legit?
9:22 - Who else is using it?
9:52 - How much? What's the catch?
10:39 - Where can I get help?
11:30 - Kevin Hale - Startup Pricing 101
13:15 - Monetization gives you the biggest bang for your buck
14:35 - Price thermometer
16:35 - Mistake 1 - Prices are too low
16:55 - Mistake 2 - Underestimate costs
17:08 - Mistake 3 - Don't understand your value
17:27 - Mistake 4 - Focus on wrong customers
18:05 - Sales and profit over a product's life
19:20 - Why is pricing innovation hard?
21:27 - How to optimize prices
22:32 - $1B formula
24:05 - Price and complexity
26:55 - 10 - 5 - 20 rule
28:20 - Summary
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#147 - Startup School Week 6 Recap - Tim Brady on Culture and Dalton Caldwell on Pivoting
9 oktober 2019 · 46 min
We've cut down the sixth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast. Lees meer
First a lecture from Tim Brady. Tim’s a partner at YC. His lecture covers the importance of building a good culture early and shares six things that you can do now to help create a solid foundation for your startup.
Then a lecture from Dalton Caldwell. Dalton is a partner at YC and he’s also the head of admissions. His lecture covers pivoting and his advice on how founders should think about it.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:38 - Tim Brady on Building Culture
1:13 - Culture is behavior and the right behaviors support a good business
4:38 - Six things new startups can do now
5:00 - 1. Be proud of the problem you are solving
7:31 - 2. Create a long term vision that others will follow
9:36 - 3. List your values then model the behavior
12:34 - 4. Align your culture with your customer
14:49 - 5. Discuss the importance of diversity to your company
16:43 - 6. Put a hiring process into practice. Plan to evolve it.
18:24 - Dalton Caldwell on Pivoting
18:53 - The term "pivot"
20:20 - Why pivot?
21:33 - Good reasons to pivot
22:35 - Good reasons not to pivot
23:13 - Why people take too long to pivot
26:01 - Anecdotes
27:22 - Product market fit
28:34 - How to find a better idea
30:40 - It's ok to not work on an idea that requires venture capital
31:34 - Venture vs. non-venture scale ideas
32:52 - When is the best time to pivot
33:48 - More pivoting thoughts
35:07 - Idea quality scores
37:11 - Brex
39:51 - Retool
41:37 - Magic
43:22 - Segment
45:16 - Dalton's summary
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#146 - Startup School Week 5 Recap - Kirsty Nathoo and Kevin Hale
2 oktober 2019 · 51 min
We've cut down the fifth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast. Lees meer
First a lecture from Kirsty Nathoo. Kirsty is a partner and CFO of YC. Her lecture focuses on the most common mistakes startups make with their finances and how they can avoid making them.
Then a lecture from Kevin Hale. Kevin is also a partner at YC and he’ll talk about the importance of building a successful working relationship with your cofounders and processes you can use to do so.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:38 - Kirsty Nathoo - Startup Finance Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
2:08 - #1 - Not knowing what to look at: bank balance, money coming in, and money going out
2:56 - Burn
3:41 - Runway
4:59 - Growth rate
5:48 - Default alive - http://growth.tlb.org and http://paulgraham.com/aord.html
8:09 - #2 - Not looking often enough: every week
9:04 - #3 - Under-Representing Expenses
12:27 - #4 - Out-sourcing responsibility
15:11 - #5 - Scaling too quickly
20:08 - #6 - Letting runway get too low before fundraising - https://blog.ycombinator.com/advice-startups-running-out-of-money/
23:21 - Kevin Hale - How to Work Together
24:49 - Everyone fights
25:43 - Four things to avoid: criticism, contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling
27:40 - Make a plan before you fight: divide and conquer
31:11 - Know thyself - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s9ACDMcpjA
34:12 - Document a process
36:20 - Use nonviolent communication
37:19 - Observation vs evaluation
39:16 - Emotions vs thoughts - https://www.slideshare.net/nonviolent/evaluative-words-list-nonviolent-communication
41:50 - Universal needs
43:38 - Requests vs demands
45:46 - How to Deliver Constructive Feedback in Difficult Situations - https://medium.com/s/please-advise/the-essential-guide-to-difficult-convers…
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#145 - Startup School Week 4 Recap - Kat Mañalac and Gustaf Alströmer
25 september 2019 · 56 min
We've cut down the fourth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast. Lees meer
First a lecture from Kat Manalac. Kat is a partner at YC. Her lecture focuses on how startups should think about launching and why you should do it repeatedly.
Then a lecture from Gustaf Alströmer. Gustaf is also a partner at YC and in his lecture he covers how to measure product market fit and growth channels.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:35 - Kat Mañalac - How to Launch (Again and Again)
1:51 - Ways to launch
2:14 - Why launch continuously?
3:15 - Silent launch
4:25 - Friends & Family
5:40 - Strangers
7:03 - Online communities
12:08 - Request access
13:29 - Social media
15:13 - Pre-order
16:13 - New Product or Feature
17:42 - Build your own community
19:20 - Launching isn't one moment in time
19:48 - Gustaf Alströmer - Growth for Startups
21:06 - Most startups have nothing
22:13 - Do things that don't scale
27:13 - Startups take off because founders make them take off
28:23 - Measuring product market fit
31:20 - Retention
34:33 - Worse ways to measure product market fit
35:23 - Bad metrics to measure as product market fit
36:18 - Growth channels and tactics
38:17 - Conversion rate optimization
41:26 - Growth channels to explore
45:33 - Referrals and vitality
48:05 - Paid growth
50:09 - Search Engine Optimization
53:00 - Making decisions using A/B testing
55:02 - Summary
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#144 - Startup School Week 3 Recap - Anu Hariharan and Adora Cheung
18 september 2019 · 45 min
We've cut down the third week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast. Lees meer
First, a lecture from Anu Hariharan. Anu is a partner at YC. Her lecture covers nine common startup business models and the metrics investors want to see for each.
Then, a Q&A with Anu and Adora Cheung. Adora is also at partner at YC. During their Q&A they’ll answer questions from Startup School Founders on how investors evaluate startups.
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:39 - Anu Hariharan on Nine Business Models and the Metrics Investors Want
1:44 - Enterprise
4:09 - SAAS
8:55 - Subscription
11:33 - Transactional
14:44 - Marketplace
19:04 - E-commerce
21:14 - Advertising
23:12 - Hardware
23:44 - Common mistakes
25:35 - Anu Hariharan and Adora Cheung on How Investors Measure Startups Q&A
26:07 - Team, product market fit, and market opportunity
27:10 - What if the founder doesn't have experience in the are in which they're building a product?
28:19 - How do investors know you're moving fast?
29:40 - Local vs remote
30:40 - Evaluating solo founders
31:45 - Clarity of thought
33:35 - International founders
35:17 - Solo founders
36:21 - Should I fundraise?
38:33 - How does an investor evaluate a company with a heavy MVP?
39:36 - How do you avoid investors who say "it's too early for us"?
40:06 - Is it sensible to engage with investors before product market fit?
40:26 - How do you find the perfect investor?
41:21 - What are the best approaches for minority female founders to gain visibility within VC?
42:36 - How do investors come up with valuations?