Y Combinator Startup Podcast

#138 - Russ Roberts

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/EconTalker">Russ Roberts</a> is the host of the podcast <a href="http://www.econtalk.org/">EconTalk</a> (<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/econtalk/id135066958">iTunes</a>, <a href="http://files.libertyfund.org/econtalk/EconTalk.xml">RSS</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKAu-mTq7iZtKHK6QiBqKPA">YouTube</a>), a research fellow at <a href="https://www.hoover.org/">Stanford’s Hoover Institution</a>, and the author of several books, including <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Adam-Smith-Change-Your-Life/dp/1591847958">How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life</a>.<br><br>You can find Russ on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/EconTalker">@econtalker</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigCannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics<br></b><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:29 - What are his thoughts on “meaning, spirituality, or sense of belonging” in regards to creating your own company?<br><br>3:34 - Capitalism bearing the burden of human nature<br><br>4:04 - Why Russ started EconTalk<br><br>7:44 - Key economic concepts for founders after 700 EconTalk episodes<br><br>13:49 - Helpful methods for teaching economic concepts<br><br>18:09 - "Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely" - Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments<br><br>19:39 - Why Russ wrote <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Adam-Smith-Change-Your-Life/dp/1591847958">How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life</a><br><br>24:14 - How EconTalk has changed since the beginning <br><br>26:14 - Steve Adema asks - Russ Roberts has emphasized the limits of "only looking where the light is" when it comes to studying well-being. How <br>can economists incorporate the aspects of well-being that aren't easily quantified?<br><br>34:34 - Warren Buffett's gift to his son<br><br>36:09 - Founders and unintended consequences <br><br>39:44 - The emotional aspect of giving your company away<br><br>44:19 - Anthony Y. asks - Has a guest on his show ever made him change his mind on a topic?<br><br>50:54 - Has Nassim Taleb convinced him to deadlift?<br><br>52:59 - Russ often quotes David Foster Wallace's speech, “This is Water”. Specifically, he quotes the phrase, “everyone worships.” What does Russ worship?<br></p>

#137 - Startup School Podcast Preview with Kevin Hale

<p>Today’s episode is a preview of the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/startup-school-by-y-combinator/id1436083034">Startup School podcast</a>.&nbsp;<br><br>We’re putting all the Startup School lectures on their own podcast feed. You can subscribe here:&nbsp; &nbsp;<br><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/startup-school-by-y-combinator/id1436083034">iTunes</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><a href="http://backtracks.fm/ycombinator/startup-school/feed">RSS</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>This is the first lecture from Startup School 2019. It’s <a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">Kevin Hale</a> on How to Evaluate Startup Ideas.<br><br>It’s also not too late to sign up for <a href="https://www.startupschool.org/">Startup School</a>. <br><br>The course just started and the deadline to sign up is August 4th. Select companies who complete the course will also receive 15,000 dollars in equity-free funding.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:42 - Why we're starting with evaluating ideas<br><br>2:07 - YC doesn't just fund companies with traction<br><br>3:31 - How can I predict if an investor will like my idea?<br><br>5:57 - A startup idea is a hypothesis<br><br>7:37 - The problem<br><br>11:37 - The solution<br><br>13:07 - The insight<br><br>14:42 - Founder's unfair advantage<br><br>15:42 - Market growing 20% a year<br><br>16:22 - Product 10x better<br><br>17:12- Acquisition model<br><br>18:37 - Monopoly<br><br>19:32 - Threshold belief<br><br>19:52- Miracle belief<br><br>20:42 - Example: YC<br><br>24:02 - Example: Wufoo<br></p>

#136 - Anu Hariharan on Managing a Board

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/anuhariharan">Anu Hariharan</a> is a partner at YC. Today’s episode is about her recent post, <a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/how-to-manage-a-board/">How To Manage a Board</a>.<br><br>You can find her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/anuhariharan">@anuhariharan</a>.<br><br>If you’re interested in doing Startup School this year, signups are open at <a href="https://www.startupschool.org/">StartupSchool.org</a>. The course just started and the deadline to sign up is August 4th.&nbsp;Select companies who complete the course will also receive 15,000 dollars in equity-free funding.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigCannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:57 - Why Anu wrote How to Manage a Board<br><br>2:27 - Board composition<br><br>4:27 - Adding independent board members <br><br>6:27 - The responsibilities of a board member<br><br>9:12 - Productive board meetings<br><br>12:52 - Sharing materials before the meeting<br><br>13:42 - Bringing executives into the meeting<br><br>16:57 - Dealing with board conflict<br><br>18:22 - Following up after a board meeting<br><br>21:12 - Dealing with difficult board members<br><br>23:57 - Reality distortion<br><br>24:52 - Agustin Feuerhake asks - What does it take to be a great board member?<br><br>27:22 - Dave Bailey asks - To what extent should the board culture reflect the company culture? <br><br>29:42 - Connor Abene asks - How do you think about adding board members who haven't worked in your industry but you think are good?<br><br>33:22 - Rhina asks - Could you address managing a board during product market fit time/ pivot times?<br></p>

#135 - Camille Fournier

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/skamille">Camille Fournier</a> is a Managing Director at <a href="https://www.twosigma.com/">Two Sigma</a> and the former CTO of Rent The Runway. She’s also the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Growth-ebook/dp/B06XP3GJ7F">The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change</a>.<br><br>You can find her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/skamille">@skamille</a>.<br><br>If you’re interested in doing Startup School this year, signups are open at <a href="https://www.startupschool.org/">StartupSchool.org</a>. The course begins on July 22nd and goes for 10 weeks. Select companies who complete the course will also receive 15,000 dollars in equity-free funding.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigCannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/"></a><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:47 - Why do many individual contributors (ICs) never experience a good manager?<br><br>3:27 - How did the ideology of management being bad become pervasive in startups?<br><br>5:27 - What should a new manager do in their first 90 days?<br><br>8:57 - Getting better at 1:1s<br><br>11:17 - More tips for the first 90 days<br><br>13:17 - Remote management<br><br>15:12 - Mistakes rookie managers make<br><br>19:27 - Letting people go<br><br>23:37 - Being a manager and still wanting to write code<br><br>27:57 - Feeling overwhelmed as a manager<br><br>31:27 - Getting a team to gel<br><br>38:42 - Giving people kudos<br><br>39:57 - Non-engineers running engineering teams<br><br>42:07 - Staying legit technically as a manager<br><br>43:27 - Management vs leadership<br></p>

#134 - Sarah Nahm and Holly Liu

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/srhnhm">Sarah Nahm</a> is the CEO and cofounder of <a href="http://lever.co/">Lever</a>. Lever builds modern recruiting software for teams to source, interview, and hire top talent. They were in the Summer 2012 batch of YC. You can try Lever out at <a href="http://lever.co/">Lever.co</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/hollyhliu">Holly Liu</a> is a Visiting Partner at YC. Before that she cofounded the gaming company Kabam.<br><br>You can find Sarah on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/srhnhm">@srhnhm</a> and Holly is <a href="https://twitter.com/hollyhliu">@hollyhli</a>u.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:41 - Did Sarah grow up thinking she'd be a founder?<br><br>8:01 - Why did she decide to leave Google and start Lever?<br><br>13:56 - Thinking about product in the early days of Lever<br><br>15:51 - Fundraising and figuring out the team<br><br>24:06 - How do you figure out someone's career motivations?<br><br>27:26 - Getting concrete when interviewing<br><br>29:31 - Hiring remote employees<br><br>32:11 - Writing job descriptions around impact<br><br>37:41 - Eva Zhang asks - What's the biggest roadblock you faced in trying to make hiring more inclusive to diverse candidates?<br><br>42:06 - What does thinking about inclusion mean at a small company?<br><br>47:21 - Not buying into technical and nontechnical people<br><br>50:26 - Setting up a culture that allows for conversations about diversity and inclusion</p>

#133 - Updates for Startup School 2019 and Office Hours with Kevin Hale

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">Kevin Hale</a> is a Partner at YC. Before working at YC he cofounded Wufoo.<br><br>Kevin’s on the podcast today to do some Office Hours and talk about this year’s edition of <a href="https://StartupSchool.org.">Startup School</a>.<br><br>If you’d like to sign up or learn more, check out <a href="https://StartupSchool.org">https://StartupSchool.org</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/"></a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:51 - Stats from Startup School 2018<br><br>2:11 - Updates for Startup School 2019<br><br>8:41 - Sign up at StartupSchool.org<br><br>9:16 - Sean Maina asks - In the early days of Wufoo, how did you give a great customer experience?<br><br>11:56 - Design affordances<br><br>14:11 - Sunil Tej asks - How was Wufoo 10x better than the market when they just got started?<br><br>18:11 - Building an audience before a product<br><br>20:41 - Wufoo's growth<br><br>23:56 - Coming up with the idea for Wufoo<br><br>27:56 - Companies pivoting during YC<br><br>29:26 - Building a product in an unsexy space<br><br>32:56 - Sivaraj Ghanesh asks - How do you know if you've achieved product market fit? Or if your product just isn't noticed yet? <br><br>43:56 - Sivaraj Ghanesh asks - How do you gauge the size of a market? <br><br>46:26 - Tips for Startup School success<br><br>50:41 - Advice on vetting cofounders<br><br>54:11 - Sign up at StartupSchool.org<br></p>

#132 - Dan Hockenmaier and Gustaf Alströmer

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/danhockenmaier">Dan Hockenmaier</a> is the founder of the growth strategy firm <a href="https://www.basisone.com/">Basis One</a>. Prior to Basis One he was the Director of Growth Marketing at Thumbtack. You can learn more at <a href="https://www.basisone.com/">BasisOne.com</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/gustaf">Gustaf Alströmer</a> is a Partner at YC. Prior to YC he was the Product Lead for Growth at Airbnb.<br><br>You can find Dan on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/danhockenmaier?lang=en" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">@danhockenmaier</a> and Gustaf is <a href="https://twitter.com/gustaf" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">@gustaf</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/"></a><br>***<br><br><b>Topics<br></b><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:50 - Dan's most unpopular advice<br><br>1:45 - What growth strategies do people jump on too soon?<br><br>2:20 - Questions Dan asks a company he's advising<br><br>3:50 - Traits Dan looks for in early growth hires<br><br>6:30 - How product and growth are tied together<br><br>11:30 - Good/bad learnings from Facebook's growth team<br><br>14:00 - A/B testing<br><br>17:00 - Retention and other metrics<br><br>20:45 - The importance of experimentation<br><br>23:45 - Getting ideas for A/B tests then choosing which to do<br><br>25:00 - Advice for employees who want to get a growth program going<br><br>29:00 - B2B vs consumer growth tactics<br><br>34:00 - Pricing experiments<br><br>35:30 - Paid marketing<br><br>39:30 - Launching in new markets<br><br>40:15 - Hiring for marketing<br><br>43:45 - Metrics for marketing hires<br><br>45:45 - Toni asks - Why did Airbnb grow so fast?<br><br>48:45 - Step function growth changes for companies that already had scale<br><br>49:55 - Michael Savage asks - It would be great to discuss growth into new regions for example Africa and UAE. What would their approach be, how does it differ from region to region, culture to culture? <br><br>52:30 - Justin LaRosa asks - What are some of the most common drivers of viral growth?<br><br>55:20 - Hiring a growth agency vs building your own team<br><br>58:20 - How do you think about growth in the context of improving humanity?<br></p>

#131 - Jeremy Rossmann

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/jeremyrossmann">Jeremy Rossmann</a> is the cofounder of <a href="https://www.makeschool.com">Make School</a>. Make School is a college for computer science headquartered in San Francisco. Make School students don't pay until they have a job after graduation. They were part of YC’s Winter 2012 batch.<br></p><p>You can find MakeScool on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/MakeSchool">@MakeSchool</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:32 - What is Make School?<br><br>01:12 - How is their intensive track different than a traditional college course load?<br><br>2:22 - How are their students differentiated from students educated in a traditional CS program?<br><br>3:12 - Interacting with the parents of Make School students<br><br>8:12 - William Triska asks - What are some ways to encourage greater independence and autodidactic behavior in students pursuing technical skills and knowledge?<br><br>10:02 - The autodidact myth<br><br>15:57 - Two stakeholders making purchasing decisions: potential students and parents <br><br>20:07 - The education landscape 20 years from now<br><br>23:57 - Education stacking<br><br>25:02 - Vikram Malhotra asks - When are we going to do away with degrees?<br><br>32:42 - Evan Ward asks - Should liberal arts colleges consider adopting ISA's?<br><br>35:17 - Are there instances of predatory ISAs?<br><br>37:27 - Make School students who want to be entrepreneurs<br><br>40:27 - Advice for people in YC<br></p>

#130 - Tracy Young and Kat Manalac

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Tracy_Young">Tracy Young</a> is a cofounder and the CEO of <a href="https://www.plangrid.com/">PlanGrid</a>. PlanGrid makes mobile construction productivity software. They were acquired by Autodesk in 2018 and were part of YC’s Winter 2012 batch.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/KatManalac">Kat Manalac</a> is a Partner at YC.<br><br>You can find Tracy on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/Tracy_Young">@Tracy_Young</a> and Kat is <a href="https://twitter.com/KatManalac">@KatManalac</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigCannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href=" https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a></p><p><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:46 - How Tracy got into the construction industry<br><br>2:51 - What convinced Tracy and her cofounders to build PlanGrid?<br><br>3:31 - Finding a technical cofounder<br><br>6:26 - Tracy still sees herself as an engineer<br><br>7:16 - PlanGrid's MVP and their first customers<br><br>11:56 - Their sales process<br><br>13:46 - Product breakthroughs<br><br>17:21 - Not firing fast enough<br><br>20:31 - What does she look for when hiring someone?<br><br>26:01 - Tim Cook's closing statement at WWDC<br><br>28:46 - Fredi Fernández asks - Does Tracy track wellness levels of the team?<br><br>29:26 - At what point did Tracy hire an office manager?<br><br>30:16 - How does Tracy take care of herself?<br><br>31:46 - Founding a company with a partner<br><br>33:31 - Managing a company as a new parent<br><br>35:46 - Seyed Rasoul Jabari asks - What's your big plan to go from 1.5 to 10 million projects?<br><br>36:46 - Holly asks - What has been your single largest influence in helping you scale?<br><br>38:06 - Why do some executives not work out?<br><br>38:56 - What skills did Tracy have to work on when scaling?<br><br>42:41 - What do a lot of startups get wrong?<br><br>46:21 - Tracy's recommended books<br><br>48:01 - What Tracy wishes she knew when she started out</p>

#129 - Simone Giertz

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/simonegiertz">Simone Giertz</a> describes herself as a maker/robotics enthusiast/non-engineer. She’s also known as the Queen of Shitty Robots. She runs a YouTube channel about those robots and is a cohost on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiDJtJKMICpb9B1qf7qjEOA">Tested with Adam Savage</a> from MythBusters.<br><br>You can find her on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/simonegiertz">YouTube</a> and on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/SimoneGiertz">@SimoneGiertz</a>.<br><br>She also has a <a href="https://www.patreon.com/simonegiertz">Patreon</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br></p><p>00:00 - Intro<br><br>1:41 - "Whatever feeds the ego kills the soul."<br><br>4:21 - Maintaining passion for your work<br><br>7:16 - Building a sustainable business as a creator<br><br>9:01 - Shipping a real product - The Every Day Calendar - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/simonegiertz/the-every-day-calendar<br><br>18:01 - Being scared to step away<br><br>19:31 - Generating ideas<br><br>20:46 - Finding out she had a brain tumor, having surgery, and sharing it<br><br>26:01 - Returning to work after brain surgery<br><br>28:01 - Learnings from taking time off<br><br>29:01 - Asking for help<br><br>30:31 - Evaluating how she's spending her time<br><br>32:16 - Giving herself permission to try other things<br><br>34:21 - Challenges as a creator and entrepreneur <br><br>36:01 - Not feeling guilty about play and pursuing the things you enjoy<br><br>41:01 - Becoming less disciplined in certain areas over time<br><br>42:46 - Ali asks - How to get started when dealing with imposters syndrome?<br><br>43:06 - beep boop asks - What's your favorite robot?<br><br>43:46 - Beste asks - Are there any moments where she is bored and feels like giving up on creating new things?<br><br>44:56 - Khawar Shehzad asks - What thing do you wish you knew when you started your career?<br><br>46:06 - Olaf Doschke asks - What would have happened if Simone's toothbrush helmet wouldn't have gone viral?<br><br>48:36 - Johnathan Nader asks - What is the best version of yourself?<br></p>

#128 - Michael Babineau and Kevin Hale

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/mikebabineau">Michael Babineau</a> is cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://secondmeasure.com/">Second Measure</a>. Second Measure analyzes billions of credit card transactions to answer real-time questions on consumer behavior. They were in the Summer 2015 batch of YC and you can check them out at <a href="https://secondmeasure.com/">SecondMeasure.com</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">Kevin Hale</a> is a Partner at YC. Before working at YC he cofounded Wufoo.<br><br>You can find Michael on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/mikebabineau">@mikebabineau</a> and Kevin is <a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">@ilikevests</a>.<br><br>The YC Podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br></p><p>00:35 - What idea did Mike apply to YC with?<br><br>01:20 - Where did the idea come from?<br><br>4:35 - From project to company<br><br>10:20 - What info did investors want to know that Second Measure could provide?<br><br>12:05 - Their first customers<br><br>14:35 - The primary use case of Second Measure for VCs<br><br>15:20 - What questions are they trying to answer?<br><br>19:35 - Data examples from their blog<br><br>21:05 - Post: <a href="https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/fashion-retailers-have-nothing-to-fear-yet-from-the-rise-of-stitch-fix/">Fashion retailers have nothing to fear (yet) from the rise of Stitch Fix</a><br><br>23:35 - Post: <a href="https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/peloton-subscriptions-doubled-over-past-year/">Holiday sales rocket Peloton memberships ahead of SoulCycle active riders</a><br><br>25:05 - Post: <a href="https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/prime-members-deliver-for-amazon-every-day/">Prime members deliver for Amazon every day</a><br><br>27:35 - Second Measure's product development process<br><br>29:35 - Finding good data scientists who work from first principles<br><br>37:05 - Why is credit card data so messy?<br><br>42:05 - Cleaning data<br><br>44:20 - Using their product for competitive analysis<br><br>47:35 - Their sales process<br><br>49:05 - Raising money from Goldman Sachs and Citi<br><br>52:05 - Focusing on a specific problem<br><br>54:05 - Keeping the product compelling when it's table stakes<br></p>

#127 - Vidit Aatrey and Adora Cheung

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/viditaatrey">Vidit Aatrey</a> is cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://meesho.com/">Meesho</a>. Meesho is a platform in India that allows people to resell products using their social networks. They were in the Summer 2016 batch of YC and you can check them out at <a href="https://meesho.com/">Meesho.com</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/nolimits">Adora Cheung</a> is a Partner at YC. Before working at YC she cofounded Homejoy.<br><br>You can find Vidit on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/viditaatrey">@viditaatrey</a> and Adora is <a href="https://twitter.com/nolimits">@nolimits</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>01:20 - What is Meesho?<br><br>3:20 - Why not just sell directly to consumers?<br><br>5:05 - What are the macro trends in Meesho's favor in India?<br><br>7:30 - A trust deficit market<br><br>8:55 - How does Meesho help users get online and start selling?<br><br>11:45 - Most impactful user stories<br><br>13:50 - Growth drivers<br><br>15:50 - Balancing growth and quality<br><br>17:25 - What if Facebook copies Meesho?<br><br>18:50 - When did Vidit and his cofounder know they wanted to start a startup?<br><br>21:20 - Their first startup idea and the inspiration for Meesho<br><br>25:40 - When did they know Meesho was working?<br><br>27:20 - How hard was it to pivot the business and how did they manage it?<br><br>30:05 - As a CEO how does he stay in touch with users?<br><br>34:50 - How has Vidit's role changed over time?<br><br>36:55 - How has he learned to be a CEO?<br><br>38:30 - What mistakes have they made?<br><br>39:35 - What was his best decision?<br><br>40:15 - What's a strong opinion he had about running a startup that he's changed since running Meesho?<br><br>41:45 - How has the Indian startup ecosystem evolved?<br><br>43:20 - Big problems worth solving in India<br><br>43:05 - Can foreigners come to India and start a startup?<br><br>45:10 - Best advice for aspiring Indian founders<br><br>46:20 - After Meesho, what's the most exciting startup in India?<br><br>47:20 - Why is Delhi the best IIT?<br><br>48:15 - What's a must read book and why?<br><br>49:10 - What's a startup idea he'd be working on if Meesho didn't happen?<br><br>49:25 - In 100 years, what does he hope Meesho is?<br></p>

#126 - Chris Best and Jonathan Gill

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/cjgbest">Chris Best</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://substack.com/">Substack</a>. Substack makes it simple for a writer to start a paid newsletter. They were in the Winter 2018 batch of YC. You can check them out at <a href="https://substack.com/">Substack.com</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/jgill333">Jonathan Gill</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://backtracks.fm/">Backtracks</a>. Backtracks is a podcast analytics and hosting platform. You can check them out at Backtracks.fm.<br><br>Chris is on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/cjgbest">@cjgbest</a> and Jonathan is <a href="https://twitter.com/jgill333">@jgill333</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br> <br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>1:03 - Paid vs advertising in podcasting<br><br>3:33 - Are advertisers overpaying for podcast ads?<br><br>6:13 - What percent of the market will ultimately be paid content?<br><br>8:13 - Payment mechanisms<br><br>9:48 - Price anchoring<br><br>12:28 - Individual creators vs brands<br><br>17:23 - Deplatforming<br><br>18:53 - Spotify<br><br>20:23 - Discovery and growth in newsletters<br><br>22:53 - Public and private feeds<br><br>25:23 - Apple's role<br><br>26:38 - Will education be the driver of paid content?<br><br>30:23 - Educational podcasters in China<br><br>32:23 - How are their newsletter and podcast customers growing?<br><br>36:18 - Jack Ryder asks - In 5 years time, are personal newsletters going to replace social networks like Facebook?<br><br>38:13 - Debdut Mukherjee asks - Do podcasts actually work? If so, how do startups calculate the ROI &amp; the CAC?<br><br>43:38 - Measurement<br><br>45:23 - Best practices for new podcasters and newsletter creators<br></p>

#125 - Brian Halligan and Kevin Hale

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/bhalligan">Brian Halligan</a> is the CEO and cofounder of <a href="https://www.hubspot.com/">HubSpot</a>. HubSpot builds software for marketing, sales, and customer service. You can try it out at <a href="https://www.hubspot.com/">HubSpot.com</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests/">Kevin Hale</a> is a Partner at YC and cofounder of Wufoo.<br><br>Brian is on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/bhalligan">@bhalligan</a> and Kevin is <a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests/">@ilikevests</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics<br></b><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:27 - Brian's an introvert that likes to work from home. He also runs a public company. How does he do both?<br><br>2:12 - How does he manage his calendar as an introvert?<br><br>4:12 - How Brian met his cofounder Dharmesh<br><br>6:12 - The first project they worked on together<br><br>7:27 - What was their unique insight when starting HubSpot?<br><br>8:52 - Pricing in the early days<br><br>9:27 - How would he have priced HubSpot differently knowing what he knows now?<br><br>10:27 - HubSpot's first customer<br><br>12:27 - Important early features<br><br>14:47 - At what point did they shift entirely away from consulting?<br><br>15:32 - Providing advice as content vs in the product<br><br>16:27 - SEO is underrated<br><br>17:12 - Trends in B2B and marketing<br><br>21:57 - Inbound marketing and audience building advice<br><br>26:52 - How did Brian know that his cofounder was right for him?<br><br>28:12 - The internet disproportionately benefiting small businesses over big ones<br><br>29:12 - Keeping your company hungry when you're big<br><br>29:52 - Building assets for your company <br><br>30:47 - Freemium<br><br>34:27 - Structural pieces of HubSpot Brian would have changed if he did it again<br><br>37:27 - Creating the voice of your company<br><br>39:57 - Early metrics they tracked<br><br>40:32 - Having a coach and reviews<br><br>41:57 - How Brian's changed as a CEO from the beginning<br><br>42:51 - What was the hardest thing to give up as CEO?<br><br>43:57 - Humility</p>

#124 - Jarvis Johnson

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/VSympathyV">Jarvis Johnson</a> was previously a software engineer at Patreon, Yelp, and Google. He’s now a YouTuber.<br><br>You can find him on YouTube at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/VSympathyV" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jarvis Johnson</a> and on Twitter <a href=" https://twitter.com/jarvis">@jarvis</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. <br><br>Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/">https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/</a><br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:20 - Jarvis' intro<br><br>00:50 - Where his videos first got traction<br><br>1:30 - Being part of the software industry while critiquing it<br><br>4:05 - How he got into programming<br><br>6:30 - Moving to California<br><br>7:50 - Interning at Google then Yelp<br><br>9:20 - Interviewing multiple times at the same company<br><br>10:20 - Moving from Yelp to Patreon<br><br>14:30 - Switching from individual contributor to manager<br><br>18:35 - Learnings from managing that he applies to himself<br><br>21:45 - What made Jarvis want to do YouTube full time?<br><br>30:20 - Investing in yourself<br><br>31:25 - Making what you want vs talking to viewers<br><br>35:55 - When did things really start to click for his channel?<br><br>38:20 - Choosing to make multiple genres of video<br><br>44:00 - Nathan Allebach asks - Are content creators responsible in any capacity for their audiences?<br><br>51:05 - Taylor asks - In what ways do you think content creation can benefit one's career in the tech industry?<br><br>54:40 - Jarvis made a podcast when he was a teenager<br><br>56:30 - Octopus Blues asks - What lessons did improv teach you/who would you recommend it to, if anyone?<br><br>58:45 - Predictions for YouTubers and content creators<br></p>

#123 - Harry Zhang and Kevin Hale

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/harryzhang">Harry Zhang</a> is the cofounder of <a href="https://lob.com">Lob</a>. Lob makes it possible for enterprises to programmatically send physical mail. They were in the Summer 2013 batch of YC.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">Kevin Hale</a> is a Partner at YC.<br><br>Harry is on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/harryzhang">@harryzhang</a> and Kevin is <a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">@ilikevests</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>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:31 - Harry's intro<br><br>00:41 - What did Lob have when they applied to YC?<br><br>2:01 - Documentation as an API company<br><br>3:16 - Where did the insight to create Lob come from?<br><br>4:26 - Lob's first version and first customer<br><br>7:26 - Closing their first big customer then signing others<br><br>12:31 - Did Harry always know Lob would be an API company?<br><br>14:01 - How long did it take to work up to enterprise customers?<br><br>15:31 - Pricing<br><br>19:46 - Creating a product roadmap<br><br>21:26 - Tradeoffs when building product<br><br>22:21 - Competing for top engineers as an API company<br><br>24:31 - Options vs RSUs<br><br>28:01 - Sales mistakes<br><br>32:21 - Building out features for enterprise clients<br><br>34:16 - Why did Lob choose to not vertically integrate?<br><br>39:31 - How has Harry had to change as a founder over the life of Lob?<br></p>

#122 - Max Rhodes and Anu Hariharan

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/maxrhodesok">Max Rhodes</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://www.faire.com/">Faire</a>. Faire helps retailers find and buy unique wholesale merchandise for their stores. They were in the Winter 2017 batch of YC.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/anuhariharan">Anu Hariharan</a> is a Partner at YC.<br><br>Max is on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/maxrhodesok">@MaxRhodesOK</a> and Anu is <a href="https://twitter.com/anuhariharan">@AnuHariharan</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:32 - Max's intro<br><br>01:06 - Leaving Square and coming up with the idea for Faire<br><br>7:37 - Changes to SMBs in the past five years<br><br>9:37 - What is Faire?<br><br>11:57 - Max’s vision for Faire<br><br>15:12 - Finding product/market fit<br><br>18:12 - Switching to try before you buy<br><br>21:22 - What separates the great companies<br><br>22:32 - Scaling as a CEO<br><br>26:32 - Calming down<br><br>29:42 - Faire's first hires<br><br>33:42 - Faire's first executive hire<br><br>38:27 - Fundraising and fundraising advice<br><br>43:32 - Ryan McCarthy asks - Why did Max study history at Yale?<br><br>44:32 - Why does Max think Square Cash became a successful app?<br></p>

#120 - Austen Allred

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Austen">Austen Allred</a> is the CEO and cofounder of <a href="https://lambdaschool.com/">Lambda School</a>.<br><br>Lambda School provides a CS education that's free until you get a job. They were in the Summer 2017 batch of YC.<br><br>You can learn more about Lambda School at <a href="https://lambdaschool.com/">lambdaschool.com</a>.<br><br>Austen is on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/Austen">@austen</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></b><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>1:01 - Encouraging people to do something that they're scared to do<br><br>5:16 - Where did the insight for Lambda School come from?<br><br>6:26 - College vs developer schools<br><br>10:26 - Building a network<br><br>12:16 - Does Austen see value in a traditional liberal arts education?<br><br>14:56 - Steven Klaiber-Noble asks - As competitors begin to copy your model what front do you believe you'll be competing on?<br><br>17:56 - Why did Austen choose to raise money?<br><br>20:06 - Fundraising falling through on Austen's first startup<br><br>21:36 - Moving back to Utah and writing a book about growth<br><br>23:26 - Why Austen wrote a book<br><br>26:26 - "Starting a company is by definition saying, I think what I can do is worth more than what other people will pay me for."<br><br>27:26 - Mispriced human capital<br><br>30:21 - Other opportunities for Lambda School<br><br>32:46 - Modeling risk<br><br>35:36 - David Kofoed Wind asks - When Lambda School is incentivized to take in people that will land high paying jobs, how do you think about the diversity of candidates? One would imagine that it quickly becomes a game of pattern matching the stereotypical SV people.<br><br>37:51 - Will Lambda School ever not be remote?<br><br>41:16 - Dave Dawson asks - You appear to be on the successful path now, was there a point early in Lambda School when you wanted to stop?<br><br>43:46 - Helping everyone become an autodidact<br><br>46:46 - Rethinking where to start on an online course<br><br>48:11 - Dave Dawson asks - What keeps you up at night at this point? <br><br>49:46 - Dayo Koleowo asks - “I have made remarks I do not agree with” - from Austen's Twitter bio. What is that one remark you wish you didn’t have to disagree with?<br><br>53:26 - Choosing remote work as a core problem to solve in your company<br><br>55:56 - Analysts aren't good at measuring product quality<br><br>57:36 - Teaching taste<br></p>

#119 - Amy Buechler and Michael Seibel

<p><a href="https://www.foundercoach.io/">Amy Buechler</a> is an executive coach for startup founders.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/mwseibel">Michael Seibel</a> is a partner and the CEO of YC.<br><br>In this episode we talk about coaching and use examples from Michael’s time working on Justin.tv and Socialcam.<br><br>You can find Amy at her site <a href="https://www.foundercoach.io/">foundercoach.io</a> and on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/amybue">@amybue</a>.<br><br>Michael is on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/mwseibel">@mwseibel</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>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:41 - What is coaching?<br><br>01:11 - How is coaching different from therapy?<br><br>2:31 - What are the most common challenges founders in coaching have?<br><br>3:26 - Challenges with roles and responsibilities at Twitch<br><br>7:46 - How would Amy have coached Michael around roles and responsibilities?<br><br>9:41 - Not being disruptive as a leader<br><br>11:31 - Switching roles at Twitch<br><br>12:46 - Uneven equity splits<br><br>15:01 - Distributing and negotiating equity<br><br>21:16 - Communicating your own value<br><br>22:51 - Can there be too much communication?<br><br>24:11 - Productive arguments<br><br>28:11 - Talking about performance issues<br><br>30:16 - Setting clear goals and managing motivation<br><br>33:16 - Enjoying the work<br><br>34:01 - Conversations about runway<br><br>36:51 - Digging your company out of the grave and continuing<br><br>40:21 - Michael being against coaching initially<br><br>42:31 - How to have hard conversations<br><br>44:16 - Removing a responsibility from someone<br><br>49:51 - Returning to roles and responsibilities <br><br>50:41 - Jeanie McCallister asks - What’s the single most important piece of advice you can give a founder?<br></p>

#118 - Marques Brownlee

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/MKBHD">Marques Brownlee</a> is a YouTuber. He has over 8 million subscribers to his channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/MKBHD">MKBHD</a> where he reviews electronics, drives electric vehicles, and interviews people such as Kobe Bryant and Bill Gates.<br><br>You can find Marques on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/MKBHD">YouTube</a> and on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/MKBHD">@MKBHD</a>.<br><br>The YC Podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigCannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br>Topics<br><br>00:00 - Intro<br><br>00:26 - What does Marques attribute his channel's success to?<br><br>2:41 - The early days<br><br>5:11 - How does he go about evaluating a product?<br><br>7:31 - Features that Marques thought were great that didn't catch on<br><br>8:41 - Peak smartphone?<br><br>10:31 - Folding phones and new trends<br><br>11:26 - Tesla and the EV market<br><br>15:46 - Getting older and staying relevant<br><br>17:06 - New kinds of videos and podcasting<br><br>22:26 - Does Marques feel limited by gear?<br><br>26:11 - Storytelling techniques<br><br>28:16 - Tech vs Marques as the star of the show<br><br>29:56 - Marco Castro asks - What advice do you have for new creators on YouTube?<br><br>30:56 - When did Marques find his voice as a creator?<br><br>33:56 - Overcoming perfectionism <br><br>34:56 - Gut instinct vs data<br><br>37:26 - YouTube comments<br><br>39:31 - Austin Ryder asks - In the early years of his channel, Marques took a several month hiatus from YouTube, but then came back with a new video format and seemingly renewed drive. What happened during those months off that led to the channel becoming what it is today?<br><br>40:41 - Winston asks - What’s your daily schedule?<br><br>43:06 - Ultimate frisbee injuries<br><br>43:26 - Amad Khan asks - Are there any problems that you see or face that you really wish engineers/developers would solve?<br><br>44:51 - Christian Giordano asks - Any tips on how to engage/work with influencers when you are a very early stage startup with little or no money?<br><br>46:41 - The future of creators supporting themselves financially<br><br>49:31 - His biggest challenge as a creator<br><br>50:31 - Long-term goals<br></p>

#117 - Craig Cannon and Adora Cheung

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a> is the Director of Marketing at Y Combinator. He usually hosts the YC podcast but is the guest on this episode about podcasting.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/nolimits" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Adora Cheung</a> is a Partner at YC.<br><br>You can find Adora on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/nolimits">@nolimits</a> and Craig at <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">@craigcannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics<br><br></b>00:21 - Adora's intro<br><br>1:26 - Craig's intro<br><br>4:06 - Starting the YC podcast<br><br>5:21 - Podcast metrics<br><br>6:21 - Tips on creating a podcast<br><br>8:31 - Picking episode topics<br><br>9:21 - Order of operations for finding guests<br><br>10:51 - Preparing for interviews<br><br>14:11 - How to keep an episode engaging<br><br>16:26 - Analytics<br><br>18:51 - Gear<br><br>23:21 - Software<br><br>24:16 - Listening to your own voice<br><br>25:41 - Favorite interviews<br><br>26:41 - Most surprising things Craig's learned about startups on the podcast<br><br>29:21 - What has Craig learned from guests that he's put into practice?<br><br>32:01 - Non-consensus things about building startups <br><br>34:21 - If Craig had to start a podcast from scratch, how would he structure it?<br><br>37:01 - Clipping the show<br><br>42:21 - Monetizing podcasts<br><br>45:51 - Will podcasts become saturated?<br><br>46:21 - What's missing in the podcast world?<br><br>48:21 - Influential podcasters<br><br>52:11 - Adora's podcast picks<br><br>53:11 - Patrick Benders asks - What idea do you believe in that your social group would think is crazy?<br><br>58:11 - Zachary Canann asks - Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage.<br><br>1:00:11 - Being at YC, do Craig and Adora feel pressured to go start a company?<br><br>1:06:21 - When is an opportunity good enough to quit your current job?<b><br></b></p>

#116 - Domonique Fines and Cadran Cowansage

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/domoniquefines">Domonique Fines</a> is the Director of Events at YC.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/cadran_c">Cadran Cowansage</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href="https://elpha.com/">Elpha</a>. Elpha is a private online community for women in tech.<br><br>Join <a href="https://elpha.com/posts/1hczt3ty/i-m-domonique-fines-director-of-events-at-y-combinator-i-plan-female-founders-conference-and-demo-day-ama">Elpha to read Dom's AMA</a>.<br><br>You can find Dom on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/domoniquefines">@domoniquefines</a> and Cadran at <a href="https://twitter.com/cadran_c">@cadran_c</a>.<br><br>***<br></p><p><b>Topics<br></b><br>00:30 - Dom’s intro<br><br>00:50 - How Dom started in events and her background<br><br>2:25 - Deciding to not go to law school<br><br>3:55 - Choosing to work on tech events<br><br>6:00 - Outreach to underrepresented founders <br><br>9:15 - Common misconceptions about getting into tech<br><br>10:35 - University outreach<br><br>11:55 - Identifying problems to fix and not being blocked<br><br>14:35 - Reflecting on accomplishments<br><br>15:40 - Dom’s career plans<br><br>17:10 - Will Dom do a startup?<br><br>17:35 - Avoiding burnout<br><br>20:55 - The importance of just getting started<br></p>

#115 - Mike Knoop and Kevin Hale

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/mikeknoop">Mike Knoop</a> is cofounder and Chief Product Officer at <a href="https://zapier.com/">Zapier</a>, which was in the YC Summer 2012 batch. Zapier moves information between your web apps automatically.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">Kevin Hale</a> is a Visiting Partner at YC. Before YC Kevin was the cofounder of Wufoo, which was funded by YC in 2006 and acquired by SurveyMonkey in 2011.<br><br>You can find Mike on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/mikeknoop">@mikeknoop</a> and Kevin at <a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">@ilikevests</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>00:43 - Kevin's intro<br><br>01:03 - Mike's intro<br><br>2:03 - How Mike and Kevin met<br><br>4:03 - Market sizing for consumer software<br><br>5:13 - Zapier's growth strategy today vs 2012<br><br>6:28 - Jumpstarting a platform like Zapier<br><br>9:03 - Building an app directory before building a product<br><br>11:03 - Applying to YC twice<br><br>13:23 - Zapier after Demo Day<br><br>14:48 - Zapier's first remote hire<br><br>16:48 - Remote companies not being perceived as legitimate<br><br>18:48 - Noticing remote was working then committing<br><br>21:28 - Qualities to look for when hiring remote employees<br><br>24:28 - Nina Mehta asks - What’s the best way to share work and knowledge across designers working on different parts of product without distracting from focused working time?<br><br>25:58 - Remote mistakes in the early days<br><br>27:33 - When to change modes of communication to allow for deep work<br><br>29:28 - When to ask for someone's full attention<br><br>31:33 - Product and design practices at Zapier<br><br>34:38 - OKRs for teams vs individuals<br><br>39:48 - Tools for remote teams<br><br>43:48 - No internal email at Zapier<br><br>46:53 - Keeping morale high in a remote team<br><br>49:28 - What happens at a Zapier retreat<br><br>51:43 - Remote design critiques<br><br>56:43 - Serendipity and over optimizing for it<br><br>58:33 - Setting up a remote company for success<br></p>

#114 - Karn Saroya

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/karnsaroya/">Karn Saroya</a> is the CEO and cofounder of <a href="https://cover.com/">Cover</a>, which was in the YC Winter 2016 batch.<br><br>Cover is a nationally licensed insurance brokerage. You can use their app to take a picture of property you want to insure and they’ll connect you with their insurance partners so that you can get the best price and coverage.<br><br>You can find Karn on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/karnsaroya/">@karnsaroya</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>00:36 - Karn’s intro<br><br>01:01 - Using computer vision to identify and catalogue property<br><br>2:28 - How Karn ended up starting Cover<br><br>3:48 - Being a maker vs. an advisor<br><br>5:58 - Stylekick, Karn’s previous startup<br><br>9:28 - Joining Shopify<br><br>10:08 - How the idea for Cover happened<br><br>11:58 - The capital-light way to start an insurance business<br><br>16:28 - Underwriting<br><br>17:58 - Lead generation<br><br>20:18 - Product development<br><br>21:28 - Buying Cover.com for $750k<br><br>24:53 - Being engaged to a cofounder<br><br>28:43 - Managing two offices and cultures<br><br>30:58 - Being an international founder in YC<br><br>31:58 - Advice to people in the current batch of YC<br></p>

#113 - Caterina Fake and Kat Manalac

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Caterina">Caterina Fake</a> hosts the podcast <a href="http://applepodcasts.com/ShouldThisExist">Should This Exist?</a>&nbsp;which is about how technology is impacting our humanity. It launches today <a href="http://applepodcasts.com/ShouldThisExist">on iTunes</a>. She also cofounded Flickr, Hunch, and Findery and is an investor at <a href="https://yes.vc/">Yes VC</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/KatManalac">Kat Manalac</a> is a partner at YC.<br><br>You can find Caterina on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/Caterina">@Caterina</a> and Kat at <a href="https://twitter.com/KatManalac">@KatManalac</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigCannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br></p><p><b>Topics<br></b><br>00:32 - Caterina's new podcast, Should This Exist?<br><br>2:32 - Is there a process for considering if something should exist?<br><br>4:02 - Who should be part of these conversations?<br><br>5:17 - Wait But Why and the Human Colossus<br><br>7:22 - Episode 1 of Should This Exist?<br><br>10:17 - Having conversations before things exist<br><br>11:42 - How might employees think about their role in whether or not something should exist?<br><br>14:32 - Caterina reflecting on her creations and if they should exist<br><br>19:02 - Considering whether things should exist as investors<br><br>23:32 - Cofounder charter - What you will and won't do<br><br>26:03 - Questioning the VC model<br><br>27:22 - Working on Wall St, feeling herself change, and quitting<br><br>31:22 - Caterina as a student<br><br>34:02 - Peculiarity and entrepreneurship<br><br>35:22 - "Don't fight to win prizes that aren't worth winning"<br><br>38:32 - What was once fringe is now mainstream<br><br>40:52 - Kat looking up to Lea Salonga<br><br>42:42 - Evgeny asks - How did she get her first 100 paying users?<br><br>49:27 - How does she advise founders to find investors?<br><br>54:47 - What questions should founders ask themselves while making something?</p>

#112 - Ryan Hoover and Dalton Caldwell

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/rrhoover">Ryan Hoover</a> is the founder of <a href="https://www.producthunt.com/">Product Hunt</a> which was in the Summer 2014 YC batch and was acquired by <a href="https://angel.co/">AngelList</a>. He also invests in startups through his <a href="https://weekend.fund/">Weekend Fund</a>.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/daltonc">Dalton Caldwell</a> is a Partner at YC where he runs admissions.<br><br>Ryan is on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/rrhoover">@rrhoover</a>&nbsp;and Dalton is at <a href="https://twitter.com/daltonc">@daltonc</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>.</p><p><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:27 - Ryan's intro<br><br>00:52 - Dalton's intro<br><br>1:27 - Forming Product Hunt and applying to YC<br><br>5:17 - Product Hunt's growth rate when they applied to YC<br><br>6:27 - Raising money for the right reasons<br><br>9:42 - Maker communities<br><br>11:27 - Why raise money for Product Hunt?<br><br>13:12 - Having buzz during the batch<br><br>18:12 - Brex changing their idea during YC<br><br>20:17 - Pivoting into something you know well<br><br>21:32 - In retrospect, how would Ryan have advised himself around monetization?<br><br>28:27 - Trying to build out other verticals<br><br>34:27 - Don't act like you have infinite runway<br><br>35:57 - Creating urgency and developing products within AngelList<br><br>40:17 - Tips to launch on Product Hunt<br><br>45:07 - What Dalton looks for in applications<br><br>46:57 - Giving people the opportunity to start<br><br>48:47- What motivated Ryan to leave his job before Product Hunt<br></p>

#111 - Jake Klamka and Kevin Hale

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/jakeklamka">Jake Klamka</a> founded <a href="https://www.insightdatascience.com/">Insight</a>. Insight provides intensive 7 week professional training fellowships in fields such as data science and data engineering. Insight was in the YC Winter 2011 batch.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">Kevin Hale</a> is a Visiting Partner at YC. Before YC Kevin was the cofounder of Wufoo, which was funded by YC in 2006 and acquired by SurveyMonkey in 2011.<br><br>You can find Jake on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/jakeklamka">@jakeklamka</a> and Kevin at <a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">@ilikevests</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>00:37 - Kevin's intro<br><br>01:07 - Jake's intro<br><br>1:42 - Applying to YC with one product then changing it<br><br>4:07 - How Insight started<br><br>4:57 - Jake's first students and initial coursework<br><br>8:37 - Finding out what companies want from data scientists<br><br>10:37 - Picking the first class of students<br><br>12:07 - Common pitfalls for people transitioning into data science<br><br>15:07 - Types of data science roles<br><br>17:22 - What data scientists should look out for in companies<br><br>18:17 - Chuck Grimmett asks - When do you know you need to bring in seasoned data scientists?<br><br>20:37 - How Insight has scaled and changed<br><br>22:37 - What happens in the program<br><br>23:57 - Examples of a good project for a data science resume<br><br>26:27 - Will more data scientists be founders in the future?<br><br>28:37 - Teaching product<br><br>29:37 - Cleaning data<br><br>32:07 - Tools for tracking data<br><br>32:57 - Track what are you trying to optimize<br><br>35:57 - Churn and conversion<br><br>39:37 - Is there an ideal background for a data scientist?<br><br>41:37 - Which startups recruit well at Insight?<br><br>43:37 - Contracting<br><br>46:17 - Fields Jake is excited about<br></p>

#110 - Avni Patel Thompson and Kat Manalac

<p><a href="http://avnipatelthompson.com/">Avni Patel Thompson</a> founded Poppy, which helped parents book the best caregivers. They went through the YC Winter 2016 batch and recently shut down. Avni asked to come on the podcast to talk about what the process of shutting down was like.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/katmanalac">Kat Manalac</a> is a&nbsp;partner at YC.<br><br>You can find Avni on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/APatelThompson">@APatelThompson</a> and Kat at <a href="https://twitter.com/katmanalac">@KatManalac</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon - <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">@CraigCannon</a>.<br><br>***</p><p><b>Topics<br><br></b>00:35 - Kat’s intro<br><br>01:15 - Avni’s intro<br><br>2:15 - When did it become clear that scaling Poppy wasn’t working?<br><br>5:50 - Experiments Avni tried with Poppy<br><br>9:55 - The last six months of runway<br><br>13:25 - Choosing to shut Poppy down<br><br>17:25 - Pivot or shut down?<br><br>20:10 - Who did Avni have these hard conversations with?<br><br>24:35 - Communicating with investors during the process of shutting down<br><br>31:20 - How does Avni feel since shutting down Poppy?<br><br>38:30 - Tying self-worth to your accomplishments and how it feels after shutting down<br><br>39:30 - “This is what trying looks like.”<br><br>44:00 - The effects of having raised money<br><br>46:00 - Starting to think about what’s next<br><br>49:00 - Struggling with unstructured nothing<br><br>49:45 - Kindness<b><br></b></p>

#109 - Samantha Bradshaw

<p><a href="https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/samantha-bradshaw/">Samantha Bradshaw</a> is a researcher at the <a href="https://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/">Computational Propaganda Project</a> and a doctoral candidate at the <a href="https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/">Oxford Internet Institute</a>. She’s been tracking the phenomenon of political manipulation through social media.<br><br>You can find Samantha on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/sbradshaww">@sbradshaww</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>:53 - What is a bot?<br><br>2:53 - When computational propaganda began<br><br>3:53 - Changes in bot tactics since 2016<br><br>5:53 - Using bots for content creation<br><br>7:28 - WhatsApp and the upcoming Indian election<br><br>9:23 - Trends in computational propaganda<br><br>10:53 - How bots integrate into platforms<br><br>13:23 - Responsibilities of platforms to remove fake accounts<br><br>14:53 - The role of governments in media manipulation<br><br>18:18 - Fake news and selecting news that aligns with your beliefs<br><br>19:53 - Are platforms getting better or worse?<br><br>21:33 - Samantha's personal internet habits<br><br>23:03 - Sentiment around tracking in the UK vs the US<br><br>24:23 - The Mueller report and US midterms<br><br>29:18 - Canadian elections<br><br>30:18 - 2020 US elections<br><br>30:53 - Deepfakes<br><br>31:48 - Optimistic thoughts for the future<br><br>33:08 - How to help against computational propaganda<br></p>

#108 - Cindy Mi and Qi Lu

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/wenjuan_mi">Cindy Mi</a> is the founder and CEO of <a href="https://t.vipkid.com.cn">VIPKID</a>. VIPKID is a 1-on-1 teaching platform where children in China learn english from North American teachers.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/qilu">Qi Lu</a> is the CEO of YC China and Head of YC Research.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:23 - Qi's intro<br><br>00:38 - Cindy's intro<br><br>1:38 - Moving to a new province as a teenager<br><br>4:38 - Being an educator and an entrepreneur <br><br>8:23 - Starting VIPKid in a hyper-competitive market<br><br>14:53 - Metrics for measuring product market fit<br><br>21:43 - How did she find the business model?<br><br>26:53 - What things did she try that didn't work?<br><br>30:38 - Strategy for product expansion<br><br>33:03 - Content expansion for Mandarin learning<br><br>34:53 - Building global companies<br><br>41:23 - Creating a global culture<br><br>44:13 - The future of education<br><br>48:08 - How should engineers and product managers think about edtech?<br><br>51:33 - Thoughts on AI<br><br>54:33 - Advice for entrepreneurs</p>