The Social Radars

Latest Episodes:

David Rusenko, Founder of Weebly Jun 19, 2024

Show notes

David Rusenko was a college student when he applied, at the last minute, to Y Combinator in 2006. His startup, Weebly, made a web site builder. At one point they came within days of running out of money, but they survived to be acquired by Square in 2018 for $365 million. Now David runs a fund, Leap Forward Ventures, focused on climate change. He has spent his whole career in startups, and has seen close to everything that can happen.

Yin Wu, Co-Founder of Pulley Jun 05, 2024

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In today's episode, we talk with Yin Wu, founder and CEO of Pulley, a cap table management system that YC funded in 2020. Yin has been founding startups since 2011 and she talks about her experiences testing startup ideas, what she's learned about persistence and determination, and why she loves having startup founders as users.

Ron Conway, Founder, SV Angel May 22, 2024

Show notes

Ron Conway has been close to the center of things for longer than anyone else in Silicon Valley, from the point when he started his career at National Semiconductor in the early 70s to the AI conference he organized last month. He's the embodiment and the transmitter of Silicon Valley culture. He knows all the stories, usually because he was personally involved in them. In this episode we talk about what Silicon Valley was like when it was all about silicon, and how his career at Nat Semi led to working at and then running tech companies, and finally to angel investing.

Kyle Vogt, Founder of Cruise Automation May 08, 2024

Show notes

Today we catch up with Kyle Vogt, whose self-driving car company, Cruise, was funded by Y Combinator in 2014 and acquired by GM in 2016. Before that he was a co-founder of Twitch and its predecessor, Justin.tv. Learn how his love of building hard things started at a young age, and why he’s nowhere near done building yet.

Yuri Sagalov, Co-Founder of AeroFS Apr 23, 2024

Show notes

Today we are talking to Yuri Sagalov. His company AeroFS, which did enterprise file syncing and sharing, was funded by Y Combinator in summer 2010. Yuri went on to work at Y Combinator before starting his own fund, Wayfinder Ventures.

Jessica & Carolynn Announce Season 3! Jan 29, 2024

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Announcing Season 3 of The Social Radars!

Adora Cheung, Co-founder of Homejoy & Instalab Jan 10, 2024

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Today we chat with Adora Cheung, Co-founder of Homejoy (YC summer 2010) and now InstaLab, an at-home blood testing service that helps you optimize your health by measuring over 60 biomarkers. Our conversation is wide-ranging: from how to clean homes efficiently to how she helped defeat Trump in 2020 by getting hundreds of thousands of votes in swing states.

Trevor Blackwell, Co-founder Y Combinator; Founder, Anybots Dec 21, 2023

Show notes

Today we have another insider episode: we're talking to Trevor Blackwell, who was my cofounder at Y Combinator. But that's not all he's done. He was also the founder of Anybots, where he created the first dynamically balancing biped robot, and also worked on Viaweb with Paul Graham and Robert Morris.

Parker Conrad, Founder of Zenefits & Rippling Dec 06, 2023

Show notes

Today we're talking with Parker Conrad, who founded two startups that went on to become unicorns: Zenefits in 2013, and Rippling in 2016. Parker’s story is one the more dramatic ones you’ll hear on this podcast. In fact this episode is two stories: his misadventures at Zenefits, and the ambitious ideas he has implemented at Rippling.

Emmett Shear, Co-Founder of Twitch Nov 22, 2023

Show notes

Today we talk with Emmett Shear, who was in the very first YC batch in 2005 with a startup called Kiko. But you know him better as the co-founder of Twitch, which YC funded in 2007. Learn how Twitch grew from one guy walking around with a camera on his head to one of the biggest communities on the internet. It's a crazy story even by startup standards. Enjoy!

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