We talk with people who are shaping the future. A show about technology in business, research, and art.
If you're a high school or college student with big dreams of starting your own company, this video is for you. Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel, two startup founders who started in the early 20s and are now top investors, sit down to share the hard-won advice they wish they had known back in high school. Whether you're already running your own startup or just have an idea you can't stop thinking about, Dalton and Michael cover the skills you need to learn now and how to set yourself up for success after graduating school. Why YC? https://www.ycombinator.com/why Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ Work at a Startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
Y Combinator is well-known for producing companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase and more. But what's the real story behind the success of YC and the companies they fund? This is everything you need to know about the program. Why YC? https://www.ycombinator.com/why Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
YC Group Partner Brad Flora has seen startup fundraising from every angle: as a founder, as one of the most prolific angel investors in Silicon Valley, and now as a YC Group Partner. Brad has coached hundreds of companies on fundraising. In this talk, he shares stories and advice on how modern startup fundraising works. Paul Graham Fundraising Essays: http://www.paulgraham.com/fundraising.html http://www.paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html http://www.paulgraham.com/convince.html http://www.paulgraham.com/herd.html Geoff Ralston's Fundraising Guides: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4A-a-guide-to-seed-fundraising https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcevHkNGrWQ YC Fundraising Resources: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/2u-how-to-build-your-seed-round-pitch-deck https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6q-how-to-pitch-your-startup https://www.ycombinator.com/library/71-how-to-get-meetings-with-investors-and-raise-money https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4O-raising-money-online-advice-for-startups https://www.ycombinator.com/library/3u-different-types-of-investors-and-their-incentives Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
YC Group Partner, Michael Seibel, explains how to build a minimum viable product (MVP) for your startup idea. Using examples from real YC companies, Michael walks through how to determine your MVP feature set, build prototypes and demos for user testing, and present your MVP to early customers or investors. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
In this first in-person episode, Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell reveal how startups can gain a competitive advantage by doing something deceptively simple. They share compelling stories of companies that built loyal relationships and achieved success by making personal connections with users. In contrast, they discuss the traps early-stage founders make by trying to emulate big tech. If you want to build a business that customers love and that thrives in the long run, this advice on why caring deeply about your customers is key. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
What is a large language model? How can it be used to enhance your business? In this conversation, Ali Rowghani, Managing Director of YC Continuity, talks with Raza Habib, CEO of Humanloop, about the cutting-edge AI powering innovations today—and what the future may hold. They discuss how large language models like Open AI's GPT-3 work, why fine-tuning is important for customizing models to specific use cases, and the challenges involved with building apps using these models. If you're curious about the ethical implications of AI, Raza shares his predictions about the impact of this quickly developing technology on the industry and the world at large. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply Looking for a co-founder? Sign up for Co-Founder Matching: https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching
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. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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." Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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? Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on the midwit meme, how it applies to startups, and the best example: Elon Musk. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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 Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Mutiny (YC S18) uses AI and data to convert website visitors into customers. Today, the fastest growing B2B companies such as Notion and Snowflake use Mutiny to identify ideal customers, determine sections of websites that will increase conversion, and produce copy that converts visitors into customers. YC's Anu Hariharan sat down with Mutiny co-founder and CEO Jaleh Rezaei to talk about their recent acquisition of Intellipse, an AI marketing platform, as well as how AI will impact the next era of growth. Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/.
Mutiny (YC S18) uses AI and data to convert website visitors into customers. Today, the fastest growing B2B companies such as Notion and Snowflake use Mutiny to identify ideal customers, determine sections of websites that will increase conversion, and produce copy that converts visitors into customers.YC's Anu Hariharan sat down with Mutiny co-founder and CEO Jaleh Rezaei to talk about their recent acquisition of Intellipse, an AI marketing platform, as well as how AI will impact the next era of growth.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/.
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. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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 Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about the importance of understanding incentives and doing research when it comes to building a world-changing startup. 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/
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about OpenSea, Gusto, and the importance of building simple products that solve a real problem. 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/
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. 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/
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. 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/
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. 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/
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about investor terms and incentives. 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/
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. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
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. 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/
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. 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/
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? Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
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. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
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. 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
Christina Cacioppo is the founder of Vanta and Wade Foster is the founder of Zapier. Vanta automates security and compliance for startups, while Zapier automates work by connecting with over 5,000 apps. Same, Same but Different brings together two YC founders who will discuss a similar decision they made on their journey to building a growth-stage company. But like every journey, the path getting there and the results are unique to that startup. Christina and Wade flipped the equation of a typical startup founder: instead of raising money to enable a certain amount of growth, they eliminated the assumption of fundraising, controlled their spend, and evaluated how to ramp up spending based on what the business was bringing in. Given the current state of public markets, this mindset is pertinent, and we're excited to dive into how Christina and Wade have thought about funding from day one. Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
How Vanta's Christina Cacioppo and Zapier's Wade Foster took on a disciplined approach to fundraising ande flipped the equation of a typical startup founder.Christina Cacioppo is the founder of Vanta, and Wade Foster is the founder of Zapier. Vanta automates security and compliance for startups, and Zapier automates work by connecting with over 5,000 apps.Same, Same but Different brings together two YC founders who will discuss a similar decision they made on their journey to building a growth-stage company. But like every journey, the path getting there and the results are unique to that startup.Christina and Wade flipped the equation of a typical startup founder: instead of raising money to enable a certain amount of growth, they eliminated the assumption of fundraising, controlled their spend, and evaluated how to ramp up spending based on what the business was bringing in. Given the current state of public markets, this mindset is pertinent, and we're excited to dive into how Christina and Wade have thought about funding from day one.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
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. 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
Diego Saez Gil is the founder of Pachama. Pachama is building a marketplace where companies can support carbon offset projects.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/ ***Topics00:00 - Welcome Gustaf and Diego 01:19 - Diego's background06:50 - What is Pachama?09:25 - Using remote sensing to track carbon11:37 - Connecting disparate groups13:04 - 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 challenges30:20 - Who are the customers?32:12 - The future of the carbon market32:48 - Fundraising for a climate startup37:50 - Advice for people that want to start working in the climate change space.41:38 - Climate policy43:23 - What are the most important things happening in the space?45:10 - The benefits of agroforestry and permaculture
Amber Atherton is the founder and CEO of Zyper (YC W18).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/ ***Topics00:00 - Intro1:16 - Seed fundraising for Zyper and Tara3:26 - Tara's pivot4:31 - Series A fundraising for Zyper and Tara18:11 - Evaluating investors23:46 - Meeting with associates and partners30:35 - Raising a Series A as a female founder39:31 - Fundraising psychology 41:46 - What not to do when fundraising 45:01 - Talking to portfolio companies about investors46:21 - What it's like to run a Series A stage company 1:00:41 - The most important piece of advice for fundraising
Laks Srini is the cofounder and CTO of ZeroDown. Before that he was the cofounder and CTO of Zenefits.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/ ***Topics00:00 - Intro00:30 - 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 product11:25 - ZeroDown's customers13:35 - Expanding to other markets15:50 - What if a downturn happens?17:10 - ZeroDown's hiring strategy20:10 - What are their hardest technical challenges?22:05 - ZeroDown's breadth and product strategy26:40 - Customer interviews28:35 - Should everyone own a house?29:50 - Home ownership in the future32:45 - Build something you really want to see in the world34:40 - Working with his cofounders was the most important consideration
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