Y Combinator Startup Podcast

How To Use AI In Your Startup

<p>AI continues to improve at an exponential pace. So what can you do as a founder to take advantage of it? </p> <p><br /></p> <p>In this episode of Office Hours, YC Partners discuss what you should consider if you’re thinking about pivoting to or incorporating AI as part of your startup. </p>

How To Build The Future: Parker Conrad

<p>In this episode of How to Build the Future, Garry sits down with Parker Conrad, Co-founder &amp; CEO of Rippling, the all-in-one HR, Finance, and IT software company that’s valued at $13.5 billion. </p> <p>Parker is the co-founder of two unicorns and has one of the more dramatic startup journeys in recent years. In this interview, he shares his origin story, the lessons learned from his first two companies, how AI is changing the game, and why he thinks the future will be defined by "compound" software startups.</p>

Building A $2 Billion SaaS Company: Lessons From A Two Time Founder

<p>Two-time founder Rujul Zaparde knows a thing or two about resilience and learning from failure. </p><p>After dropping out of college to build FlightCar, he worked as a PM at Airbnb, and later as a visiting partner at YC. </p><p>In 2020, he co-founded Zip, a procurement software company that has since raised $370 million and reached a $2.2 billion valuation. </p><p>In this conversation with YC's Dalton Caldwell, Rujul demystifies the world of enterprise sales, shares his hard-earned lessons about scaling a business from zero, and explains how founders can use first-principles thinking to better approach the challenges of building a startup.</p>

How David Lieb Turned A Failed Startup Into Google Photos | Backstory

<p>YC General Partner David Lieb’s story is all about perseverance. In 2008 he co-founded Bump, one of the hottest startups of the early iPhone era. But even with 150 million users, he couldn’t find a way to create a sustainable business. For many founders, that would be the end of the road. But he didn’t quit there. Instead, David and his team pivoted several times, got acquired, and eventually went on to build Google Photos. </p> <p><br /></p> <p>In this episode of Backstory, he shares his advice for finding the right idea, what mistakes to avoid, and how to maintain a positive mindset no matter what gets thrown at you.</p>

How To Start A Dev Tools Company with Nicolas Dessaigne | Startup School

<p>YC's Nicolas Dessaigne was the co-founder and CEO of @algolia, a Search API used by millions of developers to build great search experiences into their apps and websites. Today it powers over 1.75 trillion searches annually for 17,000+ customers worldwide.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>In this episode of Startup School, @dessaigne shares his advice for founders building a dev tools company from the ground up— covering everything from team and idea to GTM and sales.</p>

Twitter vs. X: Product Lessons For Startup Founders | The Breakdown

<p>Since Twitter rebranded to X, the platform has added new features and implemented a few major updates to both its UX and algo. So what can founders interested in product design learn from all this? In the first episode of our new series, The Breakdown, YC’s Tom Blomfield (co-founder of Monzo) and David Lieb (creator of Google Photos) take a closer look at X to find what lessons there are for founders building consumer products.</p>

How To Build The Future: Sam Altman

<p>It’s fair to say that few people in tech are positioned to have a bigger impact on the future than Sam Altman. At OpenAI, Sam and his team have overseen monumental leaps forward in machine learning, generative AI, and most recently, LLMs that can reason at PhD levels. And this is just the beginning. In his latest essay Sam predicted that ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) is just a few thousand days away. So how did we get to this point? </p> <p>In this episode of our rebooted series "How To Build The Future," YC President and CEO Garry Tan sits down with Sam to talk about the origins of OpenAI, what’s next for the company, and what advice he has for founders navigating this massive platform shift.</p>

How Do Billion Dollar Startups Start? | Office Hours

<p>The biggest companies in the world all had to start somewhere. In this episode of Office Hours, the Group Partners explore the humble origins of several top YC companies to try and identify common traits of the most successful founders. They’ll explore what it takes to keep your company alive in the early days, where to focus your energy and how to find product market fit that leads you to mega success. </p>

Why Design Matters: Lessons from Stripe, Lyft and Airbnb | Design Review

<p>Stripe, Airbnb and Lyft are a few of the most successful companies of the past decade. And there are at least two things they all have in common - great design, and Katie Dill. Katie was Head of Experience Design at Airbnb, led the design team at Lyft and is now Head of Design at Stripe. We spoke with Katie about her design philosophy, what sets companies like Stripe apart, and how important it is to instill a culture of design in your startup from day one.</p>

How To Find A Co-Founder with Harj Taggar | Startup School

<p>Building a startup and trying to break into an established market is very difficult, especially if you’re trying to do it alone! That’s why it’s critical to find the right co-founder for the journey. In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Harj Taggar explains why you need a co-founder, when to bring them on, where you can find one and how to maintain the relationship.</p>

How To Convert Customers With Cold Emails with Aaron Epstein | Startup School

<p>Whether it's for sales, recruiting or making new connections, cold outreach is a necessary tool for helping build your startup. But as you probably know, most cold emails either are ignored or end up in the trash. So what can you do to make sure your emails break through the noise? In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Aaron Epstein shares expert advice on how to write cold emails that have all the right ingredients to get noticed and convert new customers. </p>

How To Improve Cohort Retention with David Lieb | Startup School

<p>At YC our motto is make something people want. But how do you actually know if you’ve accomplished that in the early days? One of the best ways to measure successful growth is a concept called cohort retention, which tracks the fraction of new users that come back time and time again to use your product. In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner David Lieb explains how to define cohorts, track active users and determine the appropriate time frame for measuring successful retention rates.</p>

Co-Founder Equity Mistakes to Avoid with Michael Seibel | Startup School

<p>In order to get your startup off the ground it's critical to keep your co-founders motivated. One of the best ways to do that is to figure out a fair co-founder equity split. In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Michael Seibel explains the ins and outs of co-founder equity, why it's important to be generous with that equity, and how to avoid bad advice that can lead to co-founder breakups.</p>

How Nothing Founder Carl Pei Built A Multi-Million Dollar Smartphone Brand In Just 2 Years | Main Function

<p>After co-founding the successful Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus, Carl Pei felt the tech industry was missing the fun and wonder he remembered as a dedicated gadget fan growing up in Sweden. Pei decided to launch a new smartphone brand, this time with an increased focus on thoughtful user interface and stylish yet practical designs. In only two years, the brand known as "Nothing" has gained a cult following and gone to $600 million in annualized revenue. On this episode of The Main Function, Pei reflects on the highs and lows that have come with the journey of pursuing excellence in hard tech.</p>

How To Price For B2B with Tom Blomfield | Startup School

<p>If you're a startup founder, how much should you charge for your product or service? It's a simple question that can make many lock up. What number should you pick? In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Tom Blomfield guides you on how to come up with a price and then justify that number to customers. </p>

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think | Office Hours

<p>Launching a company is often pictured as a big splashy event with lots of media attention and hype. This can be scary! It also often results in founders delaying their launches, which then stalls the crucial lessons they could be learning. </p> <p><br /></p> <p>In this episode, YC Partners discuss this common hesitation and why it can be harmful to the journey and growth of a startup.</p>

Enterprise Sales with Pete Koomen | Startup School

<p>Y Combinator Partner Pete Koomen led his startup, Optimizely, to $100M ARR. In this video, Pete breaks down the enterprise sales funnel and shares his top tips on how a technical founder can start closing real deals for their startup.</p>

Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale | Office Hours

<p>A little over ten years ago Paul Graham published the essay "Do Things That Don't Scale." At the time, it was highly controversial advice that spoke to the drastically different needs of an early startup versus the needs of a much larger, more established company.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>YC Partners discuss PG's essay, its influence on Silicon Valley, and some prime examples of YC founders that embraced the mantra "Do Things That Don't Scale." </p> <p><br /></p> <p>Read Paul Graham's essay here: <a href="http://paulgraham.com/ds.html" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">http://paulgraham.com/ds.html</a></p>

How to Survive the Crypto Boom & Bust Cycle | Main Function

<p>Over the past decade crypto has been declared dead hundreds of times. But with the price of Bitcoin surging over the past few months it’s clear that there are still enormous opportunities in this space. And few people know that better than Chandan Lodha, the co-founder of CoinTracker (W18), a crypto asset management and tax filing platform. He and his team have navigated several boom and bust cycles over the years and in this latest episode of The Main Function, you’ll hear about how they built their company, the time it nearly fell apart, and how they used a crypto winter to retool and emerge stronger than ever. </p>

Consumer Startup Metrics with Tom Blomfield | Startup School

<p>In this episode of Startup School, YC Partner Tom Blomfield dives deeper into the metrics that matter most for consumer startups. Tom discusses paid and organic user growth, unit economics, net promoter scores, and the "magic moment" in your product that is most important to track.</p>

When Should You Trust Your Gut? | Dalton & Michael Podcast

<p>When you’re making important decisions as a founder — like what to build or how it should work — should you spend lots of time gathering input from others or just trust your gut? In this episode of Dalton &amp; Michael, we talk more about this and how to know when you should spend time validating and when to just commit. <strong>Apply to Y Combinator</strong>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqazBUa3JPTlBlVlIyREUtdWJEZVVkZ0E2RmJEQXxBQ3Jtc0tsRy1DTllIbEE5NkVzQWUwYUFUa182Vm9nYzBzdWlFT3AtMTE4WmJHUW13bUVaSFp3OG1JMkRERFVaeXNwbXJ6cW14SzdtYWZtY3VyMDZCV0JyMUZNNFdHRjc0dUdUQWZXYkdLOEt5QzllTzZoSlY5NA&q=https%3A%2F%2Fyc.link%2FDandM-apply&v=2ViqdR5E2wU" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://yc.link/DandM-apply</a> <strong>Work at a Startup</strong>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbkJuMkFUeWdBU0lkU3ZoTWl1QmhSSzhUR2l6UXxBQ3Jtc0trWWhlN09BOWNDZ3RXUkU3NG1UZ29jeGdYVmJ2Nzl0NlhuSFk5RW0za0lXMVV1RFdzVDFBVVlfOXkxdVRCMjZqUEJiaFJ5TnBSMWpmdlRmTENaVlBnNUhHcVNRcWZzbGZKS2RNcWVLem10RmtTZmxMWQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fyc.link%2FDandM-jobs&v=2ViqdR5E2wU" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://yc.link/DandM-jobs</a></p>

Building Confidence In Yourself and Your Ideas | Dalton & Michael Podcast

<p>One trait that many great founders share is conviction. In this episode of Dalton &amp; Michael, we’ll talk about finding confidence in what you&#39;re building, the dangers of inaccurate assumptions, and a question founders need to ask themselves before they start trying to sell to anyone else. <strong>Apply to Y Combinator</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-apply <strong>Work at a Startup</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs</p>

Stop Innovating (On The Wrong Things) | Dalton & Michael Podcast

<p>Startups need to innovate to succeed. But not all innovation is made equal and reinventing some common best practices could actually hinder your company. In this episode, Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the common innovation pitfalls founders should avoid so they can better focus on their product and their customers. <strong>Apply to Y Combinator</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-apply <strong>Work at a Startup</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs</p>

Should Your Startup Bootstrap or Raise Venture Capital? | Dalton & Michael Podcast

<p>Within the world of startups, you&#39;ll find lots of discourse online about the experiences of founders bootstrapping their startups versus the founders who have raised venture capital to fund their companies. Is one better than the other? Truth is, it may not be so black and white. Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the virtues and struggles of both paths. <strong>Apply to Y Combinator</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-apply <strong>Work at a Startup</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs <br></p>

How To Build A Tech Startup With No Technical Skills | Dalton & Michael Podcast

<p>Based on the thousands of companies YC has funded over the years, the biggest common element between all successful startups is having technical talent on the founding team. But what do you do if you don&#39;t know how to code? You may think you can get by using no-code tools, part-time consultants, or dev shops to bring your startup idea to life. But that thinking is wrong. In this episode of Dalton &amp; Michael, we’ll discuss exactly why that is and why recruiting a technical co-founder is the single biggest way to create value as someone trying to start the next big thing. <strong>Apply to Y Combinator</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-apply <strong>Work at a Startup</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs</p>

B2B Startup Metrics with Tom Blomfield | Startup School

<p>In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Tom Blomfield discusses one of the most important elements of running any startup: metrics! Tom shares what key metrics to track and how to use them to make the best decisions for your company. <strong>Apply to Y Combinator</strong>: https://yc.link/SUS-apply <strong>Work at a startup</strong>: https://yc.link/SUS-jobs</p>

Should You Be Optimistic About The Future of Technology? | Dalton & Michael Podcast

<p>Social media often promotes a doom and gloom outlook about our future society. But is that worldview accurate? In this episode, Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the best ways for founders and aspiring founders to think about weighing optimism and pessimism in their day to day lives. <strong>Apply to Y Combinator</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-apply <strong>Work at a Startup</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs</p>

AI and the Future of Law: The 10 Year "Overnight" Success Story | Main Function

<p>Casetext started out in 2013 as a crowdsourced law library — a sort of “Wikipedia meets Reddit” for the law. Ten years later, Casetext is one of the biggest wins to date in AI, capable of turning weeks of arduous legal work into hours or minutes. Just months ago it was acquired for $650 million dollars.</p> <p> What happened between those two points?</p> <p> For this episode of Main Function, YC President Garry Tan sits down with Casetext co-founder Jake Heller to learn the real story of their 10-year “overnight” success: the 3 a.m. origin story, how the company evolved as fast as tech would allow, and the “magic demo” that helped turn Casetext into a rocket ship. <strong>Apply to Y Combinator</strong>: https://yc.link/MainFunction-apply <strong>Work at a Startup</strong>: https://yc.link/MainFunction-jobs</p>

How To NOT Get Screwed As A Software Engineer | Dalton & Michael Podcast

<p>The stories are true: technical founders (and early technical employees!) often end up with the short end of the stick when starting a company. In this episode of Dalton &amp; Michael, we’ll discuss the questions and best practices that an aspiring technical founder should think about — whom to start a company with, and how to think about things like equity split and division of responsibilities. Know what you are worth and act accordingly! <strong>Apply to Y Combinator</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-apply <strong>Work at a Startup</strong>: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs</p>

Should You Quit Your Job At A Unicorn? | Dalton & Michael Podcast

<p>If you’re an employee of a late stage company right now, how would you know when it’s time to move on vs. time to double down? The fact is there isn&#39;t an easy answer — it can really vary from person to person and situation to situation. In this video, YC Group Partners, Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell share some suggestions on what sort of things an employee of a late stage startup should be looking for — the good signs and the bad — to best make this decision. <strong>Apply to Y Combinator</strong>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa1BLbHVMNDA1WEl4YmVTSmU0ZHZEcDFmVEpLZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuOTdtNUtZM21mOWZydGlKR1U1UDFEVTRrZEN2b2xyQjFCNXdDY0xyX1BPdG9XOEhDR28yY3FUaVhHQzllNlA2TFpGbEhWcTJTUTJ2S2dkTGJhclhoRnZfdDZlT1h0ZEVVRXNJZGZ0T2xyUGpZNlo1QQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fyc.link%2FDandM-apply&v=chAoH_AeGAg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://yc.link/DandM-apply</a></p> <p><strong>Work at a Startup:</strong> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbkEyN2JBTXdETjZZdGt4VXNZQnY0dXY3cnRXUXxBQ3Jtc0trd3RNZFR6UllmWFR6a3VKcjBQQUxUUk1hU2cybUtON0E4M1NmSGZ2RnB4REVmMS1hdERwVXczWkNPem1wUW5oYVk3Y3Rtb3g5QlhDTlF6OG9aeFFaS2tYaExRU19Wb1pmRXhld1hxTU1Zc1FoWUJkdw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fyc.link%2FDandM-jobs&v=chAoH_AeGAg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://yc.link/DandM-jobs</a></p>