Y Combinator Startup Podcast

#100 - Sam Altman

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/sama">Sam Altman</a> expands on ideas that have come up in several of his essays. Specifically: choosing projects, creating value, and finding purpose.<br><br>Sam’s the president of <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/">YC Group</a> and co-chairman of <a href="https://openai.com/">OpenAI</a>. You can find him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/sama">@sama</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br></p><p>***<br><b><br>Topics</b><br></p><p><br>1:25 - From <a href="https://blog.samaltman.com/the-days-are-long-but-the-decades-are-short">The Days Are Long But The Decades Are Short</a> - Minimize your own cognitive load from distracting things that don’t really matter. It’s hard to overstate how important this is, and how bad most people are at it.<br><br>3:50 - Stepping back and evaluating your work<br><br>5:30 - Creating metrics for your projects<br><br>6:30 - Taking a year off <br><br>9:30 - Figuring out when to commit<br><br>11:30 - Poker<br><br>12:30 - From <a href="http://blog.samaltman.com/productivity">Productivity</a> - Sleep seems to be the most important physical factor in productivity for me. Exercise is probably the second most important physical factor. The third area is nutrition. <br><br>15:00 - From <a href="http://blog.samaltman.com/you-and-your-research">You and Your Research by Richard Hamming</a> - "If what you are doing is not important, and if you don't think it is going to lead to something important, why are you at Bell Labs working on it?"<br><br>16:30 - From <a href="https://blog.samaltman.com/the-days-are-long-but-the-decades-are-short">The Days Are Long But The Decades Are Short</a> - Things in life are rarely as risky as they seem. Most people are too risk-averse, and so most advice is biased too much towards conservative paths.<br><br>17:30 - Perspective shifts<br><br>20:15 - From <a href="http://blog.samaltman.com/productivity">Productivity</a> - My system has three key pillars: “Make sure to get the important shit done”, “Don’t waste time on stupid shit”, and “make a lot of lists”.<br><br>22:30 - <a href="http://blog.samaltman.com/what-happened-to-innovation-1">What Happened to Innovation</a><br><br>24:50 - From <a href="http://blog.samaltman.com/you-and-your-research">You and Your Research by Richard Hamming</a> - He who works with the door open gets all kinds of interruptions, but he also occasionally gets clues as to what the world is and what might be important. <br><br>26:50 - The deferred life plan doesn’t work<br><br>31:50 - From <a href="http://blog.samaltman.com/the-merge">The Merge</a> - Our self-worth is so based on our intelligence that we believe it must be singular and not slightly higher than all the other animals on a continuum. Perhaps the AI will feel the same way and note that differences between us and bonobos are barely worth discussing. <br><br>34:10 - Weight training<br><br>35:30 - <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Love-Meditations-Anthony-Classics/dp/038524939X">The Way to Love by Anthony de Mello</a><br><br></p>

#99 - Laura Deming

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/LauraDeming">Laura Deming</a> is a partner at <a href="https://longevity.vc/">The Longevity Fund</a>. They invest in companies that will allow us to live longer and healthier lives.<br><br>You can learn more about them at <a href="https://longevity.vc/">Longevity.vc</a>.<br><br>Laura’s on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/LauraDeming">@LauraDeming</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:22 - Why focus on longevity now?<br><br>2:12 - How did Laura get started in longevity?<br><br>3:22 - Why raise a fund?<br><br>5:52 - What does Laura do personally for longevity?<br><br>9:07 - Worm and mouse studies<br><br>10:44 - Craig's personal habits<br><br>12:37 - Human studies<br><br>15:22 - Mica asks - Do you think immortality is going to be achieved by: 1. Curing all disease and stop aging so we could live with our own bodies forever 2. OR is going to be something like porting our brain, "mind" to a computer/robot?<br><br>17:37 - Most likely strategies to increase lifespan<br><br>19:47 - Ryan Hoover asks - Ask about the ethics of longevity. Jack J. Fernandes asks - Do people actually want to live longer?<br><br>21:44 - Mica asks - How would immortality change society? Wouldn't we become more complacent? Since we have "forever" to do things wouldn't that diminish our rate of innovation? And since less new individuals are being created we would have access to less new ideas. We would just stop creating new Newtons, Einsteins, Mozarts…<br><br>24:52 - Cognitive enhancement<br><br>25:52 - Daily habits<br><br>34:12 - Tech environment changes in the past 5-10 years<br><br>39:22 - What percentage of people in labs want to start companies?<br><br>41:37 - Pioneer<br><br>43:57 - Confidence<br><br>45:52 - Podcasting<br><br>49:12 - Choosing media to consume<br><br>52:17 - Sam Betesh asks - The last thing that led to a step function change in average life span was germ theory. What new areas of research might provide the next step function change?<br><br>55:07 - Extending fertility windows<br><br>57:22 - Jason Choi asks - What % of longevity is attributable to lifestyle choices vs genetics and the progress of technology in influencing both.<br><br>58:37 - Fatih asks - is blood transfusion a thing or just a hoax<br><br>1:00:42 - Rapamycin<br><br>1:02:27 - Testosterone<br><br>1:04:37 - Chris asks - Aubrey De Grey, IIRC, mentioned a number of times that we might, in the future, replace organs and tissues with new organic ones before they fail. Is this actually a reasonable idea, or is it more likely that we'll replace them with synthetic ones, if we replace them at all?<br><br>1:06:07 - Mica asks - Laura did a "cookie diet" for one month. Why did you do it? How did you feel? Doesn't it go against all the research on longevity? ;-)<br><br>1:08:07 - Is Laura actually not doing anything strange in her diet?<br></p>

#98 - Shola Akinlade

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/shollsman">Shola Akinlade</a> is CEO and cofounder of <a href="https://paystack.com/">Paystack</a>. Paystack helps businesses in Africa get paid online and offline. They’re based in Lagos, Nigeria and were part of the Winter 2016 batch.<br><br>Shola’s on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/shollsman">@shollsman</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics<br><br></b>00:26 - What is Paystack?<br><br>01:06 - Shola's background and previous company<br><br>4:26 - Paystack's YC application<br><br>6:01 - Meeting his cofounder<br><br>7:26 - Interviewing at YC<br><br>10:21 - Joining YC as a Nigerian company<br><br>10:56 - Differences between startups in Nigeria and the US<br><br>13:26 - Nigeria's payments market<br><br>15:56 - Paystack's growth<br><br>19:26 - Expanding to other countries and hiring<br><br>25:26 - The best part of doing YC<br><br>29:26 - Crypto developments in Africa<br><br>30:21 - Creative Joe asks - How difficult is it to get into YC?<br><br>30:56 - Educating US investors<br><br>32:06 - Paul Israel asks - What gaps do you think still exist in the Nigerian fintech space?<br><br>33:01 - Nelson asks - Are there any conventional startup advice that did not work for Paystack as their target market is Africa?<br><br>35:21 - Nelson asks - What are some important lessons he learnt while building Paystack?<br><br>37:46 - Nelson asks - What are some applications he would love to see been built on top of Paystack?<br><br>39:56 - Building for Africa<br><br>42:16 - Nestor Ezeagu asks - Do you think something like GoFundMe could work in Nigeria?<br><br>42:46 - Car Joyy asks - Can I receive payments as an MVP ecommerce site before registering as a company?<br><br>44:06 - Achyut Shrestha asks - What’s your tech stack?<br><br>44:41 - Jordan Jackson asks - What are the biggest cultural differences that you account for in UX and product design?<br><br>48:41 - Shola's outlook<br><br>50:36 - What he misses about life before Paystack<br><br>52:51 - Paystack in five years<br><br>54:16 - Music recommendations</p>

#97 - David Hua and Vincent Ning

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/hua">David Hua</a> is CEO and cofounder of <a href="https://getmeadow.com/">Meadow</a>. Meadow makes retail and delivery software for dispensaries. They were part of the Winter 2015 batch. You can check them out at <a href="https://getmeadow.com/">GetMeadow.com</a>. David’s on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/hua">@Hua</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/vcning">Vincent Ning</a> is CEO and cofounder of <a href="https://www.getnabis.com/">Nabis</a>. Nabis is a cannabis services group. They offer distribution, logistics, sales, and marketing. You can check them out at <a href="https://www.getnabis.com/">GetNabis.com</a>. Vincent's on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/vcning">@vcning</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.</p><p><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:38 - What David brought with him<br><br>5:48 - Microdosing<br><br>6:48 - What are people buying?<br><br>10:38 - Customer demographics<br><br>12:00 - CBD<br><br>14:58 - Changing vocabulary around cannabis<br><br>17:13 - What is Meadow?<br><br>17:38 - What is Nabis?<br><br>17:53 - Why did they choose to not do cannabis product manufacturing?<br><br>22:38 - Fundraising as a cannabis company<br><br>26:08 - Why is there not one dominant cannabis company?<br><br>29:53 - Legalization across Canada<br><br>31:38 - Banking as a cannabis company<br><br>36:13 - Taxes<br><br>37:38 - Price sensitivity<br><br>40:14 - Brand loyalty<br><br>43:23 - What will the market look like in 5-10 years?<br><br>50:08 - Cannabis media<br><br>52:23 - Psychedelics<br><br>56:38 - Exonerations and social equity programs</p>

#96 - Mathilde Collin

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/collinmathilde">Mathilde Collin</a> is the cofounder and CEO of Front. Front is a shared inbox for teams and they were part of the YC Summer 2014 batch.<br><br>You can check out Front at <a href="https://frontapp.com/">https://frontapp.com/</a><br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:25 - Tuomas Grannas asks - What's your favorite LEGO theme?<br><br>1:25 - What is Front?<br><br>3:50 - Google Inbox shutting down<br><br>5:25 - Prioritizing features<br><br>7:50 - Features that have increased Front usage<br><br>9:50 - What Front looked like at launch<br><br>12:45 - Early user acquisition<br><br>15:40 - Starting Front and meeting her cofounder<br><br>19:10 - The idea for Front<br><br>20:25 - When her cofounder was diagnosed with cancer<br><br>23:20 - Hardest moments running Front<br><br>25:25 - Employee retention<br><br>30:55 - Transparency<br><br>32:40 - Front's office in France<br><br>33:30 - KP asks - What is the one unique insight about the problem you didn’t have at the start but only discovered later after your launch?<br><br>36:15 - Did she consider other ideas Front?<br><br>37:40- Jordan Jackson asks - Email at least for me - has taken on a different meaning in a life of messaging apps and chat platforms. It is more serious in a way. How do you see email evolving and the ecosystem that encompasses in peoples lives?<br><br>39:55 - If she could remove any email feature<br><br>41:20 - When did they hit product market fit?<br><br>45:05 - Meditation<br></p>

#95 - Eli Schwartz

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/5le">Eli Schwartz</a>&nbsp;is the Director of SEO and Growth at <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/">SurveyMonkey</a>. He came in to answer commonly asked questions about SEO.<br><br>Eli blogs about SEO and growth at <a href="http://www.elischwartz.co/">elischwartz.co</a><br><br>You can find him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/5le">5le</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:23 - Does SEO matter in 2018?<br><br>2:23 - Where should a company start with SEO?<br><br>3:53 - Who’s doing SEO well?<br><br>4:48 - Why is Amazon doing SEO well?<br><br>5:48 - How should you crosslink?<br><br>7:33 - Paying for links<br><br>7:58 - SEO don’t dos<br><br>8:38 - Things that are no longer useful in SEO<br><br>9:43 - Keywords<br><br>13:08 - Reviews<br><br>13:48 - Content<br><br>17:48 - Images<br><br>23:08 - Link building<br><br>28:23 - How much time to give SEO?<br><br>28:53 - Mobile<br><br>30:58 - Ranking<br><br>32:08 - International SEO<br><br>34:18 - Translation<br><br>37:38 - International search<br><br>39:53 - GDPR<br><br>42:13 - Hiring someone to do SEO<br><br>44:08 - What to do when you organic SEO disappears<br><br>46:53 - Metrics for an SEO hire<br><br>48:53 - Tools for SEO<br><br>50:23 - Getting started in SEO<br></p>

#94 - Joan Lasenby

<p><a href="https://www-sigproc.eng.cam.ac.uk/Main/JL">Joan Lasenby</a> is a University Reader in the Signal Processing and Communications Group of the Cambridge University Engineering Department, and is a College Lecturer and Director of Studies in Engineering at Trinity College. <a href="http://publications.eng.cam.ac.uk/view/people/jl.html">Here's a list of her published work</a>.<br><br>In this episode we talk about Joan’s research into 3D reconstruction from multiple cameras and her interest in geometric algebra.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics<br></b><br>00:32 - What's a tangible example of geometric algebra?<br><br>1:52 - What is geometric algebra?<br><br>6:47 - What resparked interest in geometric algebra?<br><br>7:42 - Why is it important?<br><br>11:32 - When did Joan start working on it?<br><br>13:27 - Rotations<br><br>17:17 - Computer vision in the early 90s<br><br>19:32 - Joan's fellowship at the Royal Society<br><br>23:32 - What's changed in computer vision since the 90s to allow for Joan's drone research?<br><br>30:07 - Machine learning in computer vision<br><br>31:52 - How Joan and her students are applying machine learning<br><br>35:02 - Unifying qualities of geometric algebra<br><br>41:02 - Joan's paper ending up on Hacker News<br><br>45:32 - Where could geometric algebra take hold?<br><br>47:32 - Running and mobility<br><br>48:32 - Where to learn more</p>

#93 - Peter Reinhardt

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/reinpk">Peter Reinhardt</a> is cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://segment.com/">Segment</a>.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>Segment helps companies capture data from every customer touchpoint and send it to the tools where it can be used most effectively.<br><br>They were part of the YC Summer 2011 batch.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:26 - What is Segment?<br><br>1:56 - Segment’s first customers<br><br>3:31 - Their YC application<br><br>4:26 - Going through YC<br><br>5:56 - Realizing their first product didn’t work<br><br>10:56 - Launching Analytics.js<br><br>12:11 - Experiencing product market fit<br><br>17:21 - Debating whether to launch or build out the product<br><br>19:41 - Evan Farrell asks - You mentioned in the SS lecture that you had to totally pivot to Analytics.js to find PMF, is it possible to purely iterate on something people kinda like to find PMF, or should it be clear from the outset if a new idea is something people want?<br><br>20:56 - The importance of having a skeptic on your team<br><br>23:56 - Customer interviews<br><br>26:56 - Benjamin Liam asks - How did they know they have the right messaging to explain their product?<br><br>28:26 - Idea generation<br><br>33:11 - Danny Prol asks - What values and standards do you have in place for your team at Segment? And how do you actively build that culture into your company?<br><br>37:26 - Ashwin Doke asks - How has GDPR impacted Segment's business model?<br><br>39:41 - Andrew Pikul asks - Any advice he has on asking for more money than you're comfortable asking for. <br><br>42:11 - Juan Carlos Garza asks - How did YC help you to where Segment is right now?<br><br>43:41 - Juan Carlos Garza asks - In an early stage, what's the thin line between ignoring a customer suggested feature or moving a customer requested feature to the core of your application?<br><br>45:11 - Biggest learnings since YC<br><br>45:16 - Important hires at Segment<br></p>

#92 - Ryan Petersen

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/typesfast">Ryan Petersen</a> is the founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.flexport.com/">Flexport</a>.<br><br>Flexport is a global freight forwarder powered by software and analytics. They are making international trade easier for over 10,000 companies in 70 countries. They were part of the YC Winter 2014 batch.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics<br></b><br>0:23 - What is a freight forwarder?<br><br>3:08 - Selling electric scooters on eBay 15 years ago<br><br>5:53 - Ryan’s business school experience<br><br>10:23 - Amazon competing with their vendors<br><br>13:23 - Matt Susk asks - What were the most important takeaways from Columbia Business School? Would you encourage entrepreneurs to pursue a MBA?<br><br>17:03 - Tyler Hogge asks - How did you get your first three clients at Flexport?<br><br>20:03 - Being a solo founder<br><br>23:08 - Varun Khurana asks - What's your strategy for rapidly hiring the best talent in so many different global hubs?<br><br>25:53 - Challenges of scaling Flexport<br><br>27:38 - Some of Ryan’s favorite books<br><br>29:43 - Scaling culture<br><br>34:23 - Jassim Ali asks - How has the Trump policy on foreign trade affected your business so far?<br><br>39:23 - PowerDecal asks - How do you poach clients from legacy providers?<br><br>46:23 - Automation in freight forwarding<br><br>49:23 - Jason Yannos asks - If you weren't operating Flexport and had to source a new idea to work on, where would you start?<br><br>53:23 - Derisking product ideas<br><br>56:53 - Biggest lessons learned at Flexport</p>

#91 - David Zeevi

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/davezeevi">David Zeevi</a> is a James S. McDonnell independent fellow at the Rockefeller University Center for Studies in Physics and Biology. He focuses on developing computational methods for studying microbial ecology in the human gut and in the marine environment, and its contribution to human and environmental health.<br><br>He was one of the authors on the paper <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26590418">Personalized Nutrition by Prediction of Glycemic Responses</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br><a href="http://www.ycombinator.com/?utm_source=podcast">Apply for $120K in funding from YC</a>.</p><p><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>01:15 - Why did David start working on personalized nutrition?<br><br>4:45 - How did the measure the effects of food in their study?<br><br>11:55 - How was the study standardized across people?<br><br>15:55 - How they measured an individual’s gut microbiome.<br><br>17:30 - What is the gut microbiome?<br><br>22:05 - Is there an ideal gut microbiome?<br><br>23:20 - How do you manipulate your gut microbiome?<br><br>24:50 - Fecal transplants.<br><br>26:55 - Elizabeth Iorns asks - Does post prandial glucose response regulation track with weight regulation? I.e. can they use their test to determine what individual people should eat or not eat to lose weight?<br><br>28:35 - Has this research been turned into a product?<br><br>29:35 - Who else worked on this research?<br><br>30:35 - How was their predictive algorithm made?<br><br>35:15 - Did they end up with any dietary suggestions?<br><br>36:15 - <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131">David’s bread study</a>.<br><br>38:55 - Has David changed his own diet?<br><br>39:25 - Why fat was vilified.<br><br>43:15 - David’s ocean microbiome and other research.<br><br>51:05 - Traveling and your microbiome.<br><br>56:35 - Trying this out yourself.</p>

#90 - Jessica Brillhart

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/brillhart">Jessica Brillhart</a> is the founder of <a href="https://www.vrai.pictures/">Vrai Pictures</a>. They’re an independent immersive content studio.<br><br>Before founding Vrai, Jessica was the Principal Filmmaker for VR at Google.<br><br>The YC Podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Questions</b>&nbsp;<br><br>00:23 - Starting VRAI<br><br>10:23 - Story in film vs. VR<br><br>12:38 - Gaming<br><br>19:53 - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu3hyBXNmX0">Conditions at Omaha - The Weather Channel in VR</a><br><br>22:38 - Jessica's upcoming projects<br><br>27:48 - Andrew Peterman asks - How long until we'll be able to create 3D 360° video from cell phone hardware+amazing software?<br><br>30:13 - Matt asks - Where do you see VR in 10 years?<br><br>30:28 - Michael Hodapp asks - Does VR still have long term mass adoption potential, or will the market shift to AR?<br><br>32:23 - Will people be in VR for a significant percentage of their time in the future?<br><br>40:58 - Virginia Pigato asks - How can a traditional storyteller adapt to vr?<br><br>50:13 - Can Olcer asks - What key but non-obvious thing is missing for VR to become mainstream?<br><br>52:08 - Matt MacVey asks - What are some of the most exciting or scariest parts of social VR and what is the storytelling potential of social VR?<br><br>55:38 - Tony Cassara asks - What kind of dog do you have?<br></p>

#89 - Geoff Ralston and Adora Cheung Discuss Startup School

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/gralston">Geoff Ralston</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/nolimits">Adora Cheung</a> are both partners at YC.<br><br>This episode is about <a href="https://www.startupschool.org/">Startup School</a>. It’s a free, online course we’re offering that starts on August 28th.<br><br>We’re also offering equity-free grants of $10,000 to 100 companies that participate in the course.<br><br>Anyone can sign up for the course at <a href="https://www.startupschool.org/">StartupSchool.org</a>.<br><br><a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/geoff-ralston-and-adora-cheung-discuss-startup-school">Read the transcript here</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigCannon" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Craig Cannon</a>.<br></p><p><br>***<br><br>Topics<br><br>0:40 - What is Startup School?<br><br>3:40 - Who are the speakers this year?<br><br>5:00 - What are the different paths in Startup School?<br><br>7:00 - Success stories from last year’s Startup School.<br><br>8:55 - Why offer $10,000 grants?<br><br>10:00 - What deals are offered to the startups in Startup School?<br><br>11:00 - When does the course start?<br><br>12:45 - What are the requirements to complete the course?<br><br>15:15 - What are the topics that will be covered?<br><br>18:00 - What happens during office hours sessions?<br><br>22:30 - Who else is working on this course at YC?<br></p>

#88 - Office Hours with Michael Seibel

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/mwseibel">Michael Seibel</a> is&nbsp;a Partner and the CEO of YC. <br><br>He cofounded Justin.tv, which was in the Winter 2007 batch and Socialcam, which was in the Winter 2012 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><a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/office-hours-with-michael-seibel">Read the transcript here</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>We're accepting applications from startups for the Winter 2019 funding cycle. <a href="http://ycombinator.com/apply">Apply here</a>.<br><br><b>Questions<br><br></b>00:25 - Why is YC worth 7% of your company?<br><br>6:25 - Generating leverage when fundraising<br><br>12:07 - Youssef asks - How did you validate your product market fit?<br><br>15:00 - LC Carrier asks - How does YC feel about companies who don't want to raise VC after the program?<br><br>17:05 - Edmilson Rodrigues asks - Do companies need to be incorporated already to participate in YC?<br><br>18:50 - Alex Rodriguez asks - What do you look for in startups that haven't had good growth but continue to push through (e.g. AirBnB) that makes you accept them?<br><br>26:50 - Fedor Paretsky asks - Do you have techniques you encourage to make pitches sound more exciting?<br><br>35:05 - David Chen asks - How to find mentors and advisors?<br><br>39:25 - building EatNeat asks - What if anything are you specifically looking for in a startup that wants to be a part of the Startup School 2018?<br><br>40:00 - Ryan Carl Mercer asks - What's your preferred way organizing your time?<br><br>41:05 - John Rigler asks - Can intrapreneurship be effective? I recently returned to IBM, have a patent, and yet have only vague ideas about how to signal and organize other like-minded folks. Could this path sabotage my dreams?<br><br>41:55 - Horacio Chávez asks - How would you approach an investor who says "I won't invest unless you have a patent"?<br><br>42:35 - Yahya Elamrani asks - Why does it feel like entrepreneurs aren’t marriage material? Should an entrepreneur look for an entrepreneurial spouse?<br><br>44:15 - Yahya Elamrani asks - How intense do you really have to be to found a startup?<br><br>48:50 - Is there a particular stage of company that's best served by Startup School?<br><br>50:35 - How do you get the most out of Startup School?<b><br></b></p>

#87 - Elad Gil

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/eladgil">Elad Gil</a> is an entrepreneur, operator, and investor. He cofounded <a href="https://www.color.com/">Color Genomics</a> and Mixer Labs. Worked at Google and Twitter. And has invested in companies including Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe.<br><br>He just released the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/High-Growth-Handbook-Elad-Gil/dp/1732265100/">High Growth Handbook</a>, which is a guide to scaling startups published by <a href="http://press.stripe.com/">Stripe Press</a>.<br><br>It contains tactical advice on key issues for post product-market fit companies such as the role of the CEO, hiring executives, late stage fundraising, M&amp;A, and other topics. It also includes interviews with people in tech, including Sam Altman, President of YC Group.<br><br>You can find the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/High-Growth-Handbook-Elad-Gil/dp/1732265100/">High Growth Handbook&nbsp;on Amazon</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>We're accepting applications from startups for the Winter 2019 funding cycle. <a href="http://ycombinator.com/apply">Apply here</a>.<br><br>***<br><br>Topics<br><br>01:04 - Why should an entrepreneur read the High Growth Handbook?<br><br>5:35 - On Marc Andreessen's comment, "The companies that charge more tend to grow faster."<br><br>6:50 - Myths about startups<br><br>7:50 - Leon Coe asks - What types of businesses do you avoid investing in?<br><br>9:20 - Things to just say 'no' to<br><br>12:40 - Companies that may be too early<br><br>14:52 - On Naval Ravikant's comment, "The most successful class of people in silicon valley on a consistent basis are either the venture capitalists, or people who are very good at identifying companies that have just hit product/market fit. They have the background, expertise, and references that those companies really want to help them scale."<br><br>17:41 - On Claire Hughes Johnson's "Guide to Working with Claire"<br><br>19:40 - Masud Hossain asks - How did most of the companies you interviewed get their first 10 customers?<br><br>20:55 - Masud Hossain asks - Is content really king?<br><br>22:50 - Narayan Mallapur asks - Where do founders make the most mistakes? Is it on hiring? What steps should they take to avoid these pitfalls<br><br>24:55 - Brianne Kimmel asks - What are some lessons learned in highly regulated sectors? When should you hire a General Counsel? How do you prioritize public policy and lobbying efforts?<br><br>29:05 - Media cycles<br><br>30:55 - Marius Chawa asks - What are the top three things a startup "must" achieve before VC firms would line up to fund them?<br><br>34:45 - Taylor Caforio asks - My company is at our early MVP stage. What is he best way to find a balance between giving our earliest customers the 6 star treatment while also having swift and exponential growth in the back of our minds.<br><br>36:54 - Tanmay Khandelwal asks - When you are sprinting in growth stage, how do you predict engineers required and hire accordingly?<br><br>38:41 - TD Bryant II asks - When your organization is experiencing exponential growth, how do you choose which functions to outsource vs build/hire?<br><br>41:50 - Andrew Pikul asks - Who is your favorite Dragon Ball (Z/GT/Super) villain?</p>

#86 - Jocko Willink and Mike Sarraille

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/jockowillink">Jocko Willink</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/mjsarraille">Mike Sarraille</a> served together as Navy SEALs and now work together at <a href="https://www.echelonfront.com/">Echelon Front</a>, a company Jocko cofounded.<br><br>We met up to talk about a new initiative they’ve set up called <a href="https://www.efoverwatch.com/">Overwatch</a>. Overwatch is a talent acquisition firm that matches employers with veterans from special operations forces and combat aviation. You can learn more about Overwatch at <a href="https://www.efoverwatch.com/">EFOverwatch.com</a>.<br><br>They’re also hosting an event called the Muster in San Francisco on October 17th and 18th. You can sign up at <a href="https://www.extremeownership.com/">ExtremeOwnership.com</a>.<br><br>If you’d like to hear more from Mike and Jocko, check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDWupT4tc8M">Jocko Podcast Episode 134</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>We're accepting applications from startups for the Winter 2019 funding cycle. <a href="http://ycombinator.com/apply?utm_source=podcast" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Apply here</a>.</p><p><br>***<br><br>Topics<br><br>01:04 - Intros<br><br>5:07 - Mike and Jocko on how they transitioned out<br><br>9:37 - How the military prepares people for the private sector<br><br>13:47 - What is Overwatch?<br><br>23:32 - Preconceptions about veterans<br><br>28:24 - Advice for companies looking to hire veterans<br><br>31:03 - Jocko's next book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dichotomy-Leadership-Balancing-Challenges-Ownership/dp/1250195772">The Dichotomy of Leadership</a><br><br>33:58 - Mike and Jocko's working relationship<br><br>45:20 - How to set up your team so everyone can contribute<br><br>55:02 - What Mike and Jocko are trying to improve about themselves<br><br>58:45 - Alex Badalyan asks - What are some military tactics startups could adopt to increase team effectiveness and throughput?<br><br>1:00:47 - Allen asks - From your experience as a SEAL and in the business world, do two or more co-founders/leaders have a higher success rate? What are your thoughts on a solo leader/founder with a strong team and culture?<br><br>1:06:56 - Armando Neves asks - I liked Jocko's episode on strategy and the way of the Samurai (The Book of Five Rings), how much of the warrior mindset is he implementing on a day to day basis?<br><br>1:11:17 - Ryan Carl Mercer asks - Favorite MRE and thank you for your service sir.<br><br>1:14:59 - Spencer Clark asks - Is culture more decided by micro or macro policies &amp; interactions?</p>

#85 - YC Partner AMA at the Female Founders Conference

<p>Recorded live at our Female Founders Conference in New York, an AMA with <a href="https://twitter.com/KatManalac">Kat Manalac</a>, Kirsty Nathoo, <a href="https://twitter.com/nolimits">Adora Cheung</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hollyhliu">Holly Liu</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/jesslivingston">Jessica Livingston</a>, and Carolynn Levy.<br><br>This panel was hosted by Sharon Pope, Head of Marketing Programs at YC.<br><br>We’re also posting the other talks from the Female Founders Conference today. You can see all of them and read the transcripts at <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com">blog.ycombinator.com</a><br><br>If you’d like to learn more about the Female Founders Conference, head over to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.femalefoundersconference.org/">femalefoundersconference.org</a></p>

#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>