Y Combinator Startup Podcast

#84 - João Batalha and Luís Batalha

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/joao_batalha">João Batalha</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/luismbat">Luís Batalha</a> are cofounders of <a href="https://fermatslibrary.com/">Fermat’s Library</a>.<br><br>Fermat’s Library is a platform for annotating papers. Each week they send out a paper annotated by their community. Some recent papers were <a href="https://fermatslibrary.com/s/birds-and-frogs">Birds and Frogs</a> by Freeman Dyson and <a href="https://fermatslibrary.com/s/von-neumanns-first-computer-program">Von Neumann's First Computer Program</a> by Donald Knuth.<br><br>They’ve also built a Chrome Extension call <a href="https://fermatslibrary.com/librarian">Librarian</a> for the arXiv which allows you to get direct links to references, do BibTeX extraction and make comments on papers.<br><br>You can find them at <a href="https://fermatslibrary.com/">FermatsLibrary.com</a>.<br><br>Read <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/fermats-library-annotating-academic-papers-every-week">the transcript on our blog</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p><p><br></p>

#83 - Scott Aaronson

<p><a href="https://www.scottaaronson.com/">Scott Aaronson</a> is&nbsp;the David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, and director of its Quantum Information Center. Before teaching at UT, he taught Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.&nbsp;His research interests center around the capabilities and limits of quantum computers, and computational complexity theory more generally.<br><br>If you’ve listened to our other episodes about quantum computers and are curious to learn more, check out Scott’s book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Computing-since-Democritus-Aaronson/dp/0521199565">Quantum Computing Since Democritus</a>.<br><br>And if you want to read Scott’s blog you can find that at <a href="https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/">scottaaronson.com/blog/</a>.<br><br>Read the transcript <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/">on our blog</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p>

#82 - Henrique Dubugras of Brex and Anu Hariharan

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/hdubugras">Henrique Dubugras</a>&nbsp;is the cofounder of <a href="https://brex.com/">Brex</a>, which provides corporate cards for startups.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/anuhariharan">Anu Hariharan</a> is a Partner at YC.<br><br>Brex went through YC in the Winter 2017 batch and just closed their Series B, which was led by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/continuity/">YC Continuity</a>.<br><br>In addition to discussing how the Brex team built out their service, Anu and Henrique also cover the specifics of what it takes to build a fintech startup in 2018. And Henrique shares advice for young founders, as he started his first company at 16.<br><br>Read the transcript <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/henrique-dubugras-and-anu-hariharan-discuss-brexs-corporate-card-for-startups">on our blog</a>.</p>

#81 - Announcing Work at a Startup

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/snowmaker">Jared Friedman</a> is&nbsp;a partner at YC and before that cofounded Scribd (YC S06).<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/mateolargo">Matt Long</a> a software engineer at YC and before that cofounded Crocodoc (YC W10).<br><br>Today we’re talking about a project Jared, Matt, and several other people at YC have been working on. It’s called <a href="https://www.workatastartup.com/">Work at a Startup</a> and it’s like a common application for engineers to apply to many YC companies simultaneously.<br><br>We’re also hosting a <a href="https://www.workatastartup.com/expo">Work at a Startup Expo</a> on July 28th in Mountain View where you’ll be able to meet 35 rapidly growing YC companies. You can learn more and apply to attend at <a href="https://www.workatastartup.com/expo">workatastartup.com/expo</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigCannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br></p>

#80 - Office Hours with Adora Cheung

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/nolimits">Adora Cheung</a> is a partner at YC and she also cofounded Homejoy, which went through YC in the Summer 2010 batch.<br><br>For this episode we took questions from the internet. If you have questions for a future office hours episode, just tweet them our way.<br><br><b>Questions<br><br></b>0:41 - topherPedersen asks - How many users did you have when you applied to YC? Also, how much revenue had you generated?<br><br>2:55 - Hatlii asks - How do you keep going if you can’t raise any money?<br><br>4:54 - Alejandro Ruperti asks - When/how do you decide to walk away from something you started?<br><br>10:41 - Chris Melnick-MacDonald asks - What advice and lessons did you learn in entering the #Canadian market?<br><br>13:16 - Yahya Elamrani asks - Do I have to work on culture in the very early stage?<br><br>15:39 - Adam Sanders asks - What was the best decision you made for Homejoy?<br><br>16:53 - Ujjawal Chauhan asks - Would love to know what’s the one thing she’d do differently in hindsight if she were to start over again?<br><br>20:35 - Nikita Butakov asks - What are some unique data science / machine learning challenges faced by Homejoy?<br><br>22:07 - Alejandro Ruperti asks - From @tferriss : how has a failure or apparent failure set you up for a later success?<br><br>32:37 - Siamak Freydoonnejad asks - What are the best practices when doing a cold reach out to an investor?<br><br>33:14 - 😎rliesaurus @ ✈️ 🇪🇺asks - Is Uber for X still a thing people would invest in, in the US?<br><br>36:21 - Fedor Paretsky asks - How have YC's views on cryptocurrency/blockchain-related startups changed since Coinbase?<br><br>42:56 - Manav asks - What type of companies is YC seeing more of this time around?<br><br>46:45 - Yahya Elamrani - What are the best marketing strategies for year one for a b2c startup?<br><br>53:55 - Yahya Elamrani asks - What would you say to a founder from a third world country where there is a big lack in tech talents (and you can't compete with big corps due to lack of resources) in term of hiring?<br><br>55:50 - Aspiring Angel asks - What’s the best way for investors interested in startup seed/angel funding get started? How does location affect the process?</p>

#79 - Liz Wessel

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/lizwessel">Liz Wessel</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://www.wayup.com/">WayUp</a>. WayUp is a job and internship platform for college students and recent graduates. They were part of the Winter 2015 YC batch.<br><br><a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/advice-for-students-and-recent-graduates-on-finding-jobs-liz-wessel-of-wayup">Read the transcript here</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p>

#78 - Simon Benjamin

<p><a href="http://www.materials.ox.ac.uk/peoplepages/benjamin.html">Simon Benjamin</a> is a Professor of Quantum Technologies at Oxford. He is also the Principle Investigator for Oxford’s project on <a href=" http://quopal.com/">Quantum Optimisation and Machine Learning</a>.<br><br>This episode is more technical than <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/john-preskill-on-quantum-computing/">last week’s episode with John Preskill</a>. We start by covering some fundamentals then go into different approaches for constructing and scaling a quantum computer.<br><br>Read <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/simon-benjamin-on-quantum-computing-architectures">the transcript here</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br></p>

#77 - John Preskill

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/preskill">John Preskill</a> is a theoretical physicist and the <a href="http://www.theory.caltech.edu/people/preskill/">Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics</a> at Caltech.<br><br>He once <a href="http://www.theory.caltech.edu/people/preskill/bets.html">won a bet with Steven Hawking</a>, which as he writes made him “briefly almost famous.” John and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip_Thorne">Kip Thorne</a>&nbsp;bet that singularities could exist outside of black holes and after six years Hawking conceded that they were possible in very special, “nongeneric” conditions.<br><br>In this episode we cover what John’s been focusing on for years: quantum information, quantum computing, and quantum error correction.<br><br>Read <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/john-preskill-on-quantum-computing">the transcript here</a>.&nbsp;<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p>

#76 - Carola Schönlieb

<p><a href="http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/cbs31/Home.html">Carola Schönlieb</a> is an applied mathematician at the University of Cambridge. <br><br>She’s also a Turing Fellow at the <a href="https://www.turing.ac.uk/">Alan Turing Institute</a> and the head of the <a href="http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/research/cia/">Image Analysis group</a> at Cambridge’s <a href="http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/">Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics</a>.<br><br>In this episode we cover mathematical approaches to image processing.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p>

#75 - Sean Mitchell

<p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanfmitchell/">Sean Mitchell</a>&nbsp;is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://RentRezi.com">Rezi</a>. REZI helps landlords find high quality, long-term tenants in 48 hours. They were part of the Winter 2017 batch.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p>

#74 - Linda Xie and Avichal Garg

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/ljxie">Linda Xie</a> is the cofounder of <a href="http://scalar.capital/">Scalar Capital</a>, a cryptoasset fund. Before that she was a Product Manager at <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/">Coinbase</a>&nbsp;(YC S12).<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/avichal">Avichal Garg</a>&nbsp;is a Managing Partner at <a href="https://electriccapital.com/">Electric Capital</a>, a value fund for digital assets. He’s also an Expert at YC. Prior to that he was the Director of Product Management at Facebook.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p>

#73 - Patrick Moberg and Holly Liu

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/patrickmoberg">Patrick Moberg</a> is the cofounder of <a href="https://www.dots.co/">Playdots</a>, which is a mobile game studio in New York. They make <a href="https://www.dots.co/dots/">Dots</a>, <a href="https://www.dots.co/twodots/">Two Dots</a>, and <a href="https://www.dots.co/dotsandco/">Dots and Co</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/hollyhliu">Holly Liu</a> is is a Visiting Partner at YC. Before that she cofounded the gaming company <a href="https://kabam.com/">Kabam</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p>

#72 - Miles Brundage and Tim Hwang

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Miles_Brundage">Miles Brundage</a> is an AI Policy Research Fellow with the Strategic AI Research Center at the <a href="https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/">Future of Humanity Institute</a>. He is also a PhD candidate in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology at Arizona State University.<br><br>Miles recently co-authored <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.07228">The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence: Forecasting, Prevention, and Mitigation</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/timhwang">Tim Hwang</a> is the Director of the <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/10/omidyar-hoffman-create-27m-research-fund-for-ai-in-the-public-interest/">Harvard-MIT Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative</a>. He is also a Visiting Associate at the <a href="https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/">Oxford Internet Institute</a> and a Fellow at the <a href="https://pacscenter.stanford.edu/research/project-on-democracy-and-the-internet/">Knight-Stanford Project on Democracy and the Internet</a>. This is Tim's second time on the podcast;&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/at-the-intersection-of-ai-governments-and-google-tim-hwang/">he was also on episode 11</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br></p>

#71 - Claire McDonnell and Jennifer Kim on Building an Inclusive Company Culture

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/clairethere">Claire McDonnell</a> is cofounder and COO of <a href="https://www.truelinkfinancial.com/">True Link Financial</a> (YC S13). True Link is a financial services firm that offers money management, investment, and insurance products, primarily for retirees.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/jenistyping">Jennifer Kim</a> is currently advising startups. Prior to that she was the Head of Employee Experience and Development at <a href="https://www.lever.co">Lever</a>. Lever makes recruiting software and they were part of the Summer 2012 batch.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/KatManalac">Kat Manalac</a> is a partner here at YC.<br></p>

#70 - CoinList Cofounder Andy Bromberg and Ramon Recuero

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/andy_bromberg">Andy Bromberg</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://coinlist.co/">CoinList</a>. Coinlist provides financial infrastructure for token creators and investors.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/ramonrecuero">Ramon Recuero</a> is an engineer at YC. He's the author of the Decentralized Future Series, which <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/author/ramon-recuero/">you can read here</a>.<br><br>If you'd like to listen to more podcasts about crypto, here are episodes with <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/ipfs-coinlist-and-the-filecoin-ico-with-juan-benet-and-dalton-caldwell/">Juan Benet (IPFS) and Dalton Caldwell (YC)</a> and <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/blockchain-investing-with-olaf-carlson-wee-and-aaron-harris/">Olaf Carlson-Wee (Polychain Capital) and Aaron Harris (YC)</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p>

#69 - Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe and Sam Altman

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/annewoj23">Anne Wojcicki</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://www.23andme.com/">23andMe</a>, which provides direct-to-consumer genetic testing.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/sama">Sam Altman</a> is the president of YC Group. He interviewed Anne for a series called How To Build The Future, which you can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAUt2j6juHU&amp;list=PLQ-uHSnFig5MoTTcgd8EzenEADqGTQPpW">check out on our YouTube channel</a>.</p>

#68 - Cost vs Quality in Edtech - Keith Schacht, Avichal Garg, and Geoff Ralston

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/keithie">Keith Schacht</a> is the cofounder of <a href="https://mysteryscience.com/">Mystery Science</a>, which makes lessons that inspire kids to love science. They were part of the Summer 2017 YC batch.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/avichal">Avichal Garg</a> is an Expert at YC and prior to that he was the Director of Product Management at Facebook.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/gralston">Geoff Ralston</a> is a Partner at YC and before that he cofounded <a href="http://www.imaginek12.com/">Imagine K12</a>, an edtech accelerator that’s now makes up YC’s edtech vertical.</p>

#67 - 3D Home Printing for the Developing World - Alexandria Lafci and Brett Hagler of New Story Charity

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/laughsee">Alexandria Lafci</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/bretthagler">Brett Hagler</a> are cofounders of <a href="https://newstorycharity.org/">New Story Charity</a>.<br><br>New Story Charity builds homes and communities in the developing world. They were part of the Summer 2015 YC batch.<br><br>They just 3d printed their first home in Austin, Texas. You can check it out at <a href="https://3DHome.org">3DHome.org</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br></p>

#66 - Breaking Down HackerRank's Survey of 40,000 Developers with Vivek Ravisankar

<p>Vivek Ravisankar&nbsp;is the CEO and cofounder of <a href="https://www.hackerrank.com/">HackerRank</a>, which was in the Summer 2011 batch.<br><br>They surveyed 40,000 developers on things including their favorite frameworks, what they want in a job, and how they learned to code. <a href="https://research.hackerrank.com/developer-skills/2018/">You can read the report here</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br></p>

#65 - Funding Is an Outcome of Building a Good Business - Porter Braswell of Jopwell

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Porter_Braswell">Porter Braswell</a> is the CEO and cofounder of <a href="https://www.jopwell.com/">Jopwell</a> (YC S15). <br><br>Jopwell is a career advancement platform for Black, Latinx, and Native American students and professionals.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br></p>

#64 - Researching Psilocybin's Effects on Depression - Dr. Rosalind Watts

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/ros_watts">Dr. Rosalind Watts</a> is a clinical psychologist at the <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/department-of-medicine/research/brain-sciences/psychiatry/psychedelics/">Psychedelic Research Group</a> at Imperial College London.<br><br>The Psychedelic Research Group focuses on two main areas: first, the action of psychedelic drugs in the brain and second, their clinical utility,&nbsp;e.g. as aides to psychotherapy, with a particular focus on depression.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p>

#63 - The Number One Goal is Getting Started - Avni Patel Thompson of Poppy

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/APatelThompson">Avni Patel Thompson</a> is the founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.meetpoppy.com/">Poppy</a> (YC W16). Poppy lets parents book the best caregivers with just a text.<br><br>We recorded this episode at our <a href="www.femalefoundersconference.org">Female Founders Conference</a> in Seattle. We’re also hosting female founder events in New York and SF this year. You can <a href="http://ycombinator.us7.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=6507bf4e4c2df3fdbae6ef738&amp;id=547725049b">sign up to our newsletter</a> to get updates about those events.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p>

#62 - Dan Lewis, CEO of Convoy, on the Future of Freight

<p><a href=" https://twitter.com/daniellewis ">Dan Lewis</a> is the CEO and Cofounder of <a href="https://convoy.com/">Convoy</a>.<br><br>Convoy matches shippers with freight carriers, which helps the trucking industry run more efficiently because currently, over 40% of the trucks on the road are empty.<br><br><a href=" https://twitter.com/anuhariharan">Anu Hariharan</a> is a Partner at YC Continuity.<br><br>Read <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/dan-lewis-ceo-of-convoy-on-the-future-of-freight">the transcript here</a>.<br></p>

#61 - Sam Altman on Masters of Scale

<a href="https://twitter.com/reidhoffman">Reid Hoffman</a> interviews <a href="https://twitter.com/sama">Sam Altman</a> on this uncut interview from the <a href="https://mastersofscale.com">Masters of Scale</a> podcast.

#60 - Startup Investor School Preview with Geoff Ralston

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/gralston">Geoff Ralston</a> is a Partner at YC and before that he cofounded <a href="http://www.imaginek12.com/">Imagine K12</a>.<br><br>This episode covers <a href="https://investor.startupschool.org/">Startup Investor School</a>. Startup Investor School is a free, 4-day course designed to educate early stage investors interested in investing in startups. You can sign up at <a href="https://investor.startupschool.org/">investor.startupschool.org</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="http://twitter.com/craigcannon" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Craig Cannon</a>.<br></p>

#59 - Providing Fair Financial Products for the 56% of the US Without Access to Them - Jake Rosenberg of LendUp

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/rowborg">Jake Rosenberg</a> is&nbsp;the cofounder and CTO of <a href="https://www.lendup.com/">LendUp</a>&nbsp;(W12).&nbsp;They provide access to quality credit cards and loans without hidden fees or debt traps. Their customers are the 56% of Americans that have what is described as a “subprime” credit score, meaning they can’t be approved for credit by most banks.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/rowghani?lang=en">Ali Rowghani</a> is the CEO of <a href="http://www.ycombinator.com/continuity/">YC Continuity</a>.<br><br><a href="http://blog.ycombinator.com/providing-fair-financial-products-for-the-56-of-the-us-without-access-to-them-jake-rosenberg-of-lendup">Read the transcript</a> on our blog.</p>

#58 - It's Surprising How Much Small Teams Can Get Done - Sam Chaudhary of ClassDojo

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/samchaudhary_">Sam Chaudhary</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://www.classdojo.com/">ClassDojo</a>. They've raised $30M and have 30 employees.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/karenlien03">Karen Lien</a> is an Edtech Principal here at YC.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br></p>

#57 - Alex Blumberg of Gimlet Media

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/abexlumberg">Alex Blumberg</a> is the cofounder of <a href="https://gimletmedia.com/">Gimlet Media</a>. Gimlet makes several podcasts you’ve probably heard of–<a href="https://gimletmedia.com/startup/">StartUp</a>, <a href="https://gimletmedia.com/thepitch/">The Pitch</a>, and <a href="https://gimletmedia.com/reply-all/">Reply All</a>&nbsp;are a few.<br><br>Before Gimlet Alex worked on <a href="https://www.thisamericanlife.org/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This American Life</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/money/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Planet Money</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="http://twitter.com/craigcannon" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Craig Cannon</a>.</p>

#56 - Leah Culver of Breaker and Tom Sparks of YC Answer Your Questions About Security and Podcasting

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/leahculver">Leah Culver</a> is cofounder and CTO of <a href="https://www.breaker.audio/">Breaker</a>, which is a social podcast listening and discovery app. They went through YC in the Winter 2017 batch. Leah’s also an author of both the OAuth and oEmbed API specifications.<br><br><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-sparks-46562/">Tom Sparks</a> is an engineer on the YC Software team. He also cofounded Cryptoseal which went through YC in the Summer 2011 batch and was acquired by CloudFlare in 2014.<br></p><p>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br></p>

#55 - Tim Urban of Wait But Why

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy">Tim Urban</a> cofounded the blog <a href="https://waitbutwhy.com/">Wait But Why</a> with <a href="https://twitter.com/finnscave">Andrew Finn</a> in 2013.<br><br>His posts about <a href="https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html">Artificial Intelligence</a>, <a href="https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/05/elon-musk-the-worlds-raddest-man.html">Elon Musk</a>, and the <a href="https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html">Fermi Paradox</a> have been read millions of times.<br><br>We discussed Tim's research strategy, the purpose of Wait But Why, and his thoughts on technologies including cryptocurrencies, A.I., and AR/VR.<br></p>