Y Combinator Startup Podcast

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#154 - Matt Cutts Dec 04, 2019

Show notes

Matt Cutts is the Administrator of the US Digital Service and previously he was the head of the webspam team at Google.
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 Hoffman asks - What are legislators, the government, and the general populace most “getting wrong” in how they conceptualize the internet?
51:33 - Raphael Ferreira asks - Is it possible to live without google? How do you think google affected people in searching for answers and content, now that’s we find everything in just one click?
55:23 - Tim Woods asks - Which job was more fun and why?
57:13 - Working in government vs private industry
1:00:48 - Snehan Kekre asks - What is Matt's view of the ongoing debate about backdooring encryption for so called lawful interception?

#153 - Cory Doctorow and Joe Betts-LaCroix Nov 27, 2019

Show notes

Cory Doctorow is a blogger, journalist, and science fiction author. He’s also the co-editor of Boing Boing.
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

#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 Nov 06, 2019

Show notes

We've cut down the tenth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.
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
37:49 - Technical, launched, full-time, revenue generating, non-flaky, non-solo founder startups that talk to users are happier
41:14 - Summary

#150 - Startup School Week 9 Recap - Carolynn Levy on Modern Startup Financing and Jared Friedman’s Advice for Hard-tech and Biotech Founders Oct 30, 2019

Show notes

We've cut down the ninth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.
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

#149 - Startup School Week 8 Recap - Adora Cheung on Prioritizing Your Time and Kevin Hale on Evaluating Startup Ideas Oct 23, 2019

Show notes

We've cut down the eighth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.
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

#148 - Startup School Week 7 Recap - Kevin Hale on Conversion Rates and Pricing Oct 16, 2019

Show notes

We've cut down the seventh week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.
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/
***
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

#147 - Startup School Week 6 Recap - Tim Brady on Culture and Dalton Caldwell on Pivoting Oct 09, 2019

Show notes

We've cut down the sixth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.
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/
***
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

#146 - Startup School Week 5 Recap - Kirsty Nathoo and Kevin Hale Oct 02, 2019

Show notes

We've cut down the fifth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.
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/
***
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-conversations-41f736e63ccf
46:01 - Pay down your emotional debt
47:18 - Practice having level 3 conversations

#145 - Startup School Week 4 Recap - Kat Mañalac and Gustaf Alströmer Sep 25, 2019

Show notes

We've cut down the fourth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.
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/
***
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

#144 - Startup School Week 3 Recap - Anu Hariharan and Adora Cheung Sep 18, 2019

Show notes

We've cut down the third week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.
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/

***
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?

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