Y Combinator Startup Podcast

Y Combinator

We help founders make something people want. The Y Combinator Podcast is where builders talk about building. From the earliest days of an idea to scaling a company that changes the world, YC partners and founders share real stories, lessons, and tactics from the frontlines.

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328 episodes
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Jun 5, 2019 · 49 min
#129 - Simone Giertz
Simone Giertz 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 Tested with Adam Savage from MythBusters. You can find her on YouTube and on Twitter @SimoneGiertz. She also has a Patreon. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 1:41 - "Whatever feeds the ego kills the soul." 4:21 - Maintaining passion for your work 7:16 - Building a sustainable business as a creator 9:01 - Shipping a real product - The Every Day Calendar - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/simonegiertz/the-every-day-calendar 18:01 - Being scared to step away 19:31 - Generating ideas 20:46 - Finding out she had a brain tumor, having surgery, and sharing it 26:01 - Returning to work after brain surgery 28:01 - Learnings from taking time off 29:01 - Asking for help 30:31 - Evaluating how she's spending her time 32:16 - Giving herself permission to try other things 34:21 - Challenges as a creator and entrepreneur 36:01 - Not feeling guilty about play and pursuing the things you enjoy 41:01 - Becoming less disciplined in certain areas over time 42:46 - Ali asks - How to get started when dealing with imposters syndrome? 43:06 - beep boop asks - What's your favorite robot? 43:46 - Beste asks - Are there any moments where she is bored and feels like giving up on creating new things? 44:56 - Khawar Shehzad asks - What thing do you wish you knew when you started your career? 46:06 - Olaf Doschke asks - What would have happened if Simone's toothbrush helmet wouldn't have gone viral? 48:36 - Johnathan Nader asks - What is the best version of yourself?
May 29, 2019 · 56 min
#128 - Michael Babineau and Kevin Hale
Michael Babineau is cofounder and CEO of Second Measure. 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 SecondMeasure.com. Kevin Hale is a Partner at YC. Before working at YC he cofounded Wufoo. You can find Michael on Twitter @mikebabineau and Kevin is @ilikevests. The YC Podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 00:35 - What idea did Mike apply to YC with? 01:20 - Where did the idea come from? 4:35 - From project to company 10:20 - What info did investors want to know that Second Measure could provide? 12:05 - Their first customers 14:35 - The primary use case of Second Measure for VCs 15:20 - What questions are they trying to answer? 19:35 - Data examples from their blog 21:05 - Post: Fashion retailers have nothing to fear (yet) from the rise of Stitch Fix 23:35 - Post: Holiday sales rocket Peloton memberships ahead of SoulCycle active riders 25:05 - Post: Prime members deliver for Amazon every day 27:35 - Second Measure's product development process 29:35 - Finding good data scientists who work from first principles 37:05 - Why is credit card data so messy? 42:05 - Cleaning data 44:20 - Using their product for competitive analysis 47:35 - Their sales process 49:05 - Raising money from Goldman Sachs and Citi 52:05 - Focusing on a specific problem 54:05 - Keeping the product compelling when it's table stakes
May 22, 2019 · 50 min
#127 - Vidit Aatrey and Adora Cheung
Vidit Aatrey is cofounder and CEO of Meesho. 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 Meesho.com. Adora Cheung is a Partner at YC. Before working at YC she cofounded Homejoy. You can find Vidit on Twitter @viditaatrey and Adora is @nolimits. Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 01:20 - What is Meesho? 3:20 - Why not just sell directly to consumers? 5:05 - What are the macro trends in Meesho's favor in India? 7:30 - A trust deficit market 8:55 - How does Meesho help users get online and start selling? 11:45 - Most impactful user stories 13:50 - Growth drivers 15:50 - Balancing growth and quality 17:25 - What if Facebook copies Meesho? 18:50 - When did Vidit and his cofounder know they wanted to start a startup? 21:20 - Their first startup idea and the inspiration for Meesho 25:40 - When did they know Meesho was working? 27:20 - How hard was it to pivot the business and how did they manage it? 30:05 - As a CEO how does he stay in touch with users? 34:50 - How has Vidit's role changed over time? 36:55 - How has he learned to be a CEO? 38:30 - What mistakes have they made? 39:35 - What was his best decision? 40:15 - What's a strong opinion he had about running a startup that he's changed since running Meesho? 41:45 - How has the Indian startup ecosystem evolved? 43:20 - Big problems worth solving in India 43:05 - Can foreigners come to India and start a startup? 45:10 - Best advice for aspiring Indian founders 46:20 - After Meesho, what's the most exciting startup in India? 47:20 - Why is Delhi the best IIT? 48:15 - What's a must read book and why? 49:10 - What's a startup idea he'd be working on if Meesho didn't happen? 49:25 - In 100 years, what does he hope Meesho is?
May 15, 2019 · 49 min
#126 - Chris Best and Jonathan Gill
Chris Best is the cofounder and CEO of Substack. 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 Substack.com. Jonathan Gill is the cofounder and CEO of Backtracks. Backtracks is a podcast analytics and hosting platform. You can check them out at Backtracks.fm. Chris is on Twitter @cjgbest and Jonathan is @jgill333. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 1:03 - Paid vs advertising in podcasting 3:33 - Are advertisers overpaying for podcast ads? 6:13 - What percent of the market will ultimately be paid content? 8:13 - Payment mechanisms 9:48 - Price anchoring 12:28 - Individual creators vs brands 17:23 - Deplatforming 18:53 - Spotify 20:23 - Discovery and growth in newsletters 22:53 - Public and private feeds 25:23 - Apple's role 26:38 - Will education be the driver of paid content? 30:23 - Educational podcasters in China 32:23 - How are their newsletter and podcast customers growing? 36:18 - Jack Ryder asks - In 5 years time, are personal newsletters going to replace social networks like Facebook? 38:13 - Debdut Mukherjee asks - Do podcasts actually work? If so, how do startups calculate the ROI & the CAC? 43:38 - Measurement 45:23 - Best practices for new podcasters and newsletter creators
May 8, 2019 · 46 min
#125 - Brian Halligan and Kevin Hale
Brian Halligan is the CEO and cofounder of HubSpot. HubSpot builds software for marketing, sales, and customer service. You can try it out at HubSpot.com. Kevin Hale is a Partner at YC and cofounder of Wufoo. Brian is on Twitter @bhalligan and Kevin is @ilikevests. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 00:27 - Brian's an introvert that likes to work from home. He also runs a public company. How does he do both? 2:12 - How does he manage his calendar as an introvert? 4:12 - How Brian met his cofounder Dharmesh 6:12 - The first project they worked on together 7:27 - What was their unique insight when starting HubSpot? 8:52 - Pricing in the early days 9:27 - How would he have priced HubSpot differently knowing what he knows now? 10:27 - HubSpot's first customer 12:27 - Important early features 14:47 - At what point did they shift entirely away from consulting? 15:32 - Providing advice as content vs in the product 16:27 - SEO is underrated 17:12 - Trends in B2B and marketing 21:57 - Inbound marketing and audience building advice 26:52 - How did Brian know that his cofounder was right for him? 28:12 - The internet disproportionately benefiting small businesses over big ones 29:12 - Keeping your company hungry when you're big 29:52 - Building assets for your company 30:47 - Freemium 34:27 - Structural pieces of HubSpot Brian would have changed if he did it again 37:27 - Creating the voice of your company 39:57 - Early metrics they tracked 40:32 - Having a coach and reviews 41:57 - How Brian's changed as a CEO from the beginning 42:51 - What was the hardest thing to give up as CEO? 43:57 - Humility
May 1, 2019 · 1 hr 4 min
#124 - Jarvis Johnson
Jarvis Johnson was previously a software engineer at Patreon, Yelp, and Google. He’s now a YouTuber. You can find him on YouTube at Jarvis Johnson and on Twitter @jarvis. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 00:20 - Jarvis' intro 00:50 - Where his videos first got traction 1:30 - Being part of the software industry while critiquing it 4:05 - How he got into programming 6:30 - Moving to California 7:50 - Interning at Google then Yelp 9:20 - Interviewing multiple times at the same company 10:20 - Moving from Yelp to Patreon 14:30 - Switching from individual contributor to manager 18:35 - Learnings from managing that he applies to himself 21:45 - What made Jarvis want to do YouTube full time? 30:20 - Investing in yourself 31:25 - Making what you want vs talking to viewers 35:55 - When did things really start to click for his channel? 38:20 - Choosing to make multiple genres of video 44:00 - Nathan Allebach asks - Are content creators responsible in any capacity for their audiences? 51:05 - Taylor asks - In what ways do you think content creation can benefit one's career in the tech industry? 54:40 - Jarvis made a podcast when he was a teenager 56:30 - Octopus Blues asks - What lessons did improv teach you/who would you recommend it to, if anyone? 58:45 - Predictions for YouTubers and content creators
Apr 24, 2019 · 41 min
#123 - Harry Zhang and Kevin Hale
Harry Zhang is the cofounder of Lob. Lob makes it possible for enterprises to programmatically send physical mail. They were in the Summer 2013 batch of YC. Kevin Hale is a Partner at YC. Harry is on Twitter @harryzhang and Kevin is @ilikevests. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 00:31 - Harry's intro 00:41 - What did Lob have when they applied to YC? 2:01 - Documentation as an API company 3:16 - Where did the insight to create Lob come from? 4:26 - Lob's first version and first customer 7:26 - Closing their first big customer then signing others 12:31 - Did Harry always know Lob would be an API company? 14:01 - How long did it take to work up to enterprise customers? 15:31 - Pricing 19:46 - Creating a product roadmap 21:26 - Tradeoffs when building product 22:21 - Competing for top engineers as an API company 24:31 - Options vs RSUs 28:01 - Sales mistakes 32:21 - Building out features for enterprise clients 34:16 - Why did Lob choose to not vertically integrate? 39:31 - How has Harry had to change as a founder over the life of Lob?
Apr 17, 2019 · 48 min
#122 - Max Rhodes and Anu Hariharan
Max Rhodes is the cofounder and CEO of Faire. Faire helps retailers find and buy unique wholesale merchandise for their stores. They were in the Winter 2017 batch of YC. Anu Hariharan is a Partner at YC. Max is on Twitter @MaxRhodesOK and Anu is @AnuHariharan. *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 00:32 - Max's intro 01:06 - Leaving Square and coming up with the idea for Faire 7:37 - Changes to SMBs in the past five years 9:37 - What is Faire? 11:57 - Max’s vision for Faire 15:12 - Finding product/market fit 18:12 - Switching to try before you buy 21:22 - What separates the great companies 22:32 - Scaling as a CEO 26:32 - Calming down 29:42 - Faire's first hires 33:42 - Faire's first executive hire 38:27 - Fundraising and fundraising advice 43:32 - Ryan McCarthy asks - Why did Max study history at Yale? 44:32 - Why does Max think Square Cash became a successful app?
Apr 3, 2019 · 1 hr
#120 - Austen Allred
Austen Allred is the CEO and cofounder of Lambda School. Lambda School provides a CS education that's free until you get a job. They were in the Summer 2017 batch of YC. You can learn more about Lambda School at lambdaschool.com. Austen is on Twitter at @austen. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 1:01 - Encouraging people to do something that they're scared to do 5:16 - Where did the insight for Lambda School come from? 6:26 - College vs developer schools 10:26 - Building a network 12:16 - Does Austen see value in a traditional liberal arts education? 14:56 - Steven Klaiber-Noble asks - As competitors begin to copy your model what front do you believe you'll be competing on? 17:56 - Why did Austen choose to raise money? 20:06 - Fundraising falling through on Austen's first startup 21:36 - Moving back to Utah and writing a book about growth 23:26 - Why Austen wrote a book 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." 27:26 - Mispriced human capital 30:21 - Other opportunities for Lambda School 32:46 - Modeling risk 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. 37:51 - Will Lambda School ever not be remote? 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? 43:46 - Helping everyone become an autodidact 46:46 - Rethinking where to start on an online course 48:11 - Dave Dawson asks - What keeps you up at night at this point? 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? 53:26 - Choosing remote work as a core problem to solve in your company 55:56 - Analysts aren't good at measuring product quality 57:36 - Teaching taste
Mar 27, 2019 · 53 min
#119 - Amy Buechler and Michael Seibel
Amy Buechler is an executive coach for startup founders. Michael Seibel is a partner and the CEO of YC. In this episode we talk about coaching and use examples from Michael’s time working on Justin.tv and Socialcam. You can find Amy at her site foundercoach.io and on Twitter at @amybue. Michael is on Twitter at @mwseibel. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 00:41 - What is coaching? 01:11 - How is coaching different from therapy? 2:31 - What are the most common challenges founders in coaching have? 3:26 - Challenges with roles and responsibilities at Twitch 7:46 - How would Amy have coached Michael around roles and responsibilities? 9:41 - Not being disruptive as a leader 11:31 - Switching roles at Twitch 12:46 - Uneven equity splits 15:01 - Distributing and negotiating equity 21:16 - Communicating your own value 22:51 - Can there be too much communication? 24:11 - Productive arguments 28:11 - Talking about performance issues 30:16 - Setting clear goals and managing motivation 33:16 - Enjoying the work 34:01 - Conversations about runway 36:51 - Digging your company out of the grave and continuing 40:21 - Michael being against coaching initially 42:31 - How to have hard conversations 44:16 - Removing a responsibility from someone 49:51 - Returning to roles and responsibilities 50:41 - Jeanie McCallister asks - What’s the single most important piece of advice you can give a founder?
Mar 21, 2019 · 52 min
#118 - Marques Brownlee
Marques Brownlee is a YouTuber. He has over 8 million subscribers to his channel MKBHD where he reviews electronics, drives electric vehicles, and interviews people such as Kobe Bryant and Bill Gates. You can find Marques on YouTube and on Twitter at @MKBHD. The YC Podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 00:26 - What does Marques attribute his channel's success to? 2:41 - The early days 5:11 - How does he go about evaluating a product? 7:31 - Features that Marques thought were great that didn't catch on 8:41 - Peak smartphone? 10:31 - Folding phones and new trends 11:26 - Tesla and the EV market 15:46 - Getting older and staying relevant 17:06 - New kinds of videos and podcasting 22:26 - Does Marques feel limited by gear? 26:11 - Storytelling techniques 28:16 - Tech vs Marques as the star of the show 29:56 - Marco Castro asks - What advice do you have for new creators on YouTube? 30:56 - When did Marques find his voice as a creator? 33:56 - Overcoming perfectionism 34:56 - Gut instinct vs data 37:26 - YouTube comments 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? 40:41 - Winston asks - What’s your daily schedule? 43:06 - Ultimate frisbee injuries 43:26 - Amad Khan asks - Are there any problems that you see or face that you really wish engineers/developers would solve? 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? 46:41 - The future of creators supporting themselves financially 49:31 - His biggest challenge as a creator 50:31 - Long-term goals
Mar 13, 2019 · 1 hr 7 min
#117 - Craig Cannon and Adora Cheung
Craig Cannon is the Director of Marketing at Y Combinator. He usually hosts the YC podcast but is the guest on this episode about podcasting. Adora Cheung is a Partner at YC. You can find Adora on Twitter at @nolimits and Craig at @craigcannon. *** Topics 00:21 - Adora's intro 1:26 - Craig's intro 4:06 - Starting the YC podcast 5:21 - Podcast metrics 6:21 - Tips on creating a podcast 8:31 - Picking episode topics 9:21 - Order of operations for finding guests 10:51 - Preparing for interviews 14:11 - How to keep an episode engaging 16:26 - Analytics 18:51 - Gear 23:21 - Software 24:16 - Listening to your own voice 25:41 - Favorite interviews 26:41 - Most surprising things Craig's learned about startups on the podcast 29:21 - What has Craig learned from guests that he's put into practice? 32:01 - Non-consensus things about building startups 34:21 - If Craig had to start a podcast from scratch, how would he structure it? 37:01 - Clipping the show 42:21 - Monetizing podcasts 45:51 - Will podcasts become saturated? 46:21 - What's missing in the podcast world? 48:21 - Influential podcasters 52:11 - Adora's podcast picks 53:11 - Patrick Benders asks - What idea do you believe in that your social group would think is crazy? 58:11 - Zachary Canann asks - Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage. 1:00:11 - Being at YC, do Craig and Adora feel pressured to go start a company? 1:06:21 - When is an opportunity good enough to quit your current job?
Mar 11, 2019 · 21 min
#116 - Domonique Fines and Cadran Cowansage
Domonique Fines is the Director of Events at YC. Cadran Cowansage is the cofounder and CEO of Elpha. Elpha is a private online community for women in tech. Join Elpha to read Dom's AMA. You can find Dom on Twitter at @domoniquefines and Cadran at @cadran_c. *** Topics 00:30 - Dom’s intro 00:50 - How Dom started in events and her background 2:25 - Deciding to not go to law school 3:55 - Choosing to work on tech events 6:00 - Outreach to underrepresented founders 9:15 - Common misconceptions about getting into tech 10:35 - University outreach 11:55 - Identifying problems to fix and not being blocked 14:35 - Reflecting on accomplishments 15:40 - Dom’s career plans 17:10 - Will Dom do a startup? 17:35 - Avoiding burnout 20:55 - The importance of just getting started
Mar 6, 2019 · 1 hr 3 min
#115 - Mike Knoop and Kevin Hale
Mike Knoop is cofounder and Chief Product Officer at Zapier, which was in the YC Summer 2012 batch. Zapier moves information between your web apps automatically. Kevin Hale 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. You can find Mike on Twitter at @mikeknoop and Kevin at @ilikevests. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. *** Topics 00:43 - Kevin's intro 01:03 - Mike's intro 2:03 - How Mike and Kevin met 4:03 - Market sizing for consumer software 5:13 - Zapier's growth strategy today vs 2012 6:28 - Jumpstarting a platform like Zapier 9:03 - Building an app directory before building a product 11:03 - Applying to YC twice 13:23 - Zapier after Demo Day 14:48 - Zapier's first remote hire 16:48 - Remote companies not being perceived as legitimate 18:48 - Noticing remote was working then committing 21:28 - Qualities to look for when hiring remote employees 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? 25:58 - Remote mistakes in the early days 27:33 - When to change modes of communication to allow for deep work 29:28 - When to ask for someone's full attention 31:33 - Product and design practices at Zapier 34:38 - OKRs for teams vs individuals 39:48 - Tools for remote teams 43:48 - No internal email at Zapier 46:53 - Keeping morale high in a remote team 49:28 - What happens at a Zapier retreat 51:43 - Remote design critiques 56:43 - Serendipity and over optimizing for it 58:33 - Setting up a remote company for success
Feb 27, 2019 · 34 min
#114 - Karn Saroya
Karn Saroya is the CEO and cofounder of Cover, which was in the YC Winter 2016 batch. 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. You can find Karn on Twitter at @karnsaroya. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. *** Topics 00:36 - Karn’s intro 01:01 - Using computer vision to identify and catalogue property 2:28 - How Karn ended up starting Cover 3:48 - Being a maker vs. an advisor 5:58 - Stylekick, Karn’s previous startup 9:28 - Joining Shopify 10:08 - How the idea for Cover happened 11:58 - The capital-light way to start an insurance business 16:28 - Underwriting 17:58 - Lead generation 20:18 - Product development 21:28 - Buying Cover.com for $750k 24:53 - Being engaged to a cofounder 28:43 - Managing two offices and cultures 30:58 - Being an international founder in YC 31:58 - Advice to people in the current batch of YC
Feb 21, 2019 · 57 min
#113 - Caterina Fake and Kat Manalac
Caterina Fake hosts the podcast Should This Exist? which is about how technology is impacting our humanity. It launches today on iTunes. She also cofounded Flickr, Hunch, and Findery and is an investor at Yes VC. Kat Manalac is a partner at YC. You can find Caterina on Twitter at @Caterina and Kat at @KatManalac. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. *** Topics 00:32 - Caterina's new podcast, Should This Exist? 2:32 - Is there a process for considering if something should exist? 4:02 - Who should be part of these conversations? 5:17 - Wait But Why and the Human Colossus 7:22 - Episode 1 of Should This Exist? 10:17 - Having conversations before things exist 11:42 - How might employees think about their role in whether or not something should exist? 14:32 - Caterina reflecting on her creations and if they should exist 19:02 - Considering whether things should exist as investors 23:32 - Cofounder charter - What you will and won't do 26:03 - Questioning the VC model 27:22 - Working on Wall St, feeling herself change, and quitting 31:22 - Caterina as a student 34:02 - Peculiarity and entrepreneurship 35:22 - "Don't fight to win prizes that aren't worth winning" 38:32 - What was once fringe is now mainstream 40:52 - Kat looking up to Lea Salonga 42:42 - Evgeny asks - How did she get her first 100 paying users? 49:27 - How does she advise founders to find investors? 54:47 - What questions should founders ask themselves while making something?
Feb 15, 2019 · 50 min
#112 - Ryan Hoover and Dalton Caldwell
Ryan Hoover is the founder of Product Hunt which was in the Summer 2014 YC batch and was acquired by AngelList. He also invests in startups through his Weekend Fund. Dalton Caldwell is a Partner at YC where he runs admissions. Ryan is on Twitter at @rrhoover and Dalton is at @daltonc. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. *** Topics 00:27 - Ryan's intro 00:52 - Dalton's intro 1:27 - Forming Product Hunt and applying to YC 5:17 - Product Hunt's growth rate when they applied to YC 6:27 - Raising money for the right reasons 9:42 - Maker communities 11:27 - Why raise money for Product Hunt? 13:12 - Having buzz during the batch 18:12 - Brex changing their idea during YC 20:17 - Pivoting into something you know well 21:32 - In retrospect, how would Ryan have advised himself around monetization? 28:27 - Trying to build out other verticals 34:27 - Don't act like you have infinite runway 35:57 - Creating urgency and developing products within AngelList 40:17 - Tips to launch on Product Hunt 45:07 - What Dalton looks for in applications 46:57 - Giving people the opportunity to start 48:47- What motivated Ryan to leave his job before Product Hunt
Feb 6, 2019 · 48 min
#111 - Jake Klamka and Kevin Hale
Jake Klamka founded Insight. 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. Kevin Hale 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. You can find Jake on Twitter at @jakeklamka and Kevin at @ilikevests. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. *** Topics 00:37 - Kevin's intro 01:07 - Jake's intro 1:42 - Applying to YC with one product then changing it 4:07 - How Insight started 4:57 - Jake's first students and initial coursework 8:37 - Finding out what companies want from data scientists 10:37 - Picking the first class of students 12:07 - Common pitfalls for people transitioning into data science 15:07 - Types of data science roles 17:22 - What data scientists should look out for in companies 18:17 - Chuck Grimmett asks - When do you know you need to bring in seasoned data scientists? 20:37 - How Insight has scaled and changed 22:37 - What happens in the program 23:57 - Examples of a good project for a data science resume 26:27 - Will more data scientists be founders in the future? 28:37 - Teaching product 29:37 - Cleaning data 32:07 - Tools for tracking data 32:57 - Track what are you trying to optimize 35:57 - Churn and conversion 39:37 - Is there an ideal background for a data scientist? 41:37 - Which startups recruit well at Insight? 43:37 - Contracting 46:17 - Fields Jake is excited about
Jan 30, 2019 · 52 min
#110 - Avni Patel Thompson and Kat Manalac
Avni Patel Thompson 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. Kat Manalac is a partner at YC. You can find Avni on Twitter at @APatelThompson and Kat at @KatManalac. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon - @CraigCannon. *** Topics 00:35 - Kat’s intro 01:15 - Avni’s intro 2:15 - When did it become clear that scaling Poppy wasn’t working? 5:50 - Experiments Avni tried with Poppy 9:55 - The last six months of runway 13:25 - Choosing to shut Poppy down 17:25 - Pivot or shut down? 20:10 - Who did Avni have these hard conversations with? 24:35 - Communicating with investors during the process of shutting down 31:20 - How does Avni feel since shutting down Poppy? 38:30 - Tying self-worth to your accomplishments and how it feels after shutting down 39:30 - “This is what trying looks like.” 44:00 - The effects of having raised money 46:00 - Starting to think about what’s next 49:00 - Struggling with unstructured nothing 49:45 - Kindness
Jan 23, 2019 · 34 min
#109 - Samantha Bradshaw
Samantha Bradshaw is a researcher at the Computational Propaganda Project and a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute. She’s been tracking the phenomenon of political manipulation through social media. You can find Samantha on Twitter at @sbradshaww. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. *** Topics :53 - What is a bot? 2:53 - When computational propaganda began 3:53 - Changes in bot tactics since 2016 5:53 - Using bots for content creation 7:28 - WhatsApp and the upcoming Indian election 9:23 - Trends in computational propaganda 10:53 - How bots integrate into platforms 13:23 - Responsibilities of platforms to remove fake accounts 14:53 - The role of governments in media manipulation 18:18 - Fake news and selecting news that aligns with your beliefs 19:53 - Are platforms getting better or worse? 21:33 - Samantha's personal internet habits 23:03 - Sentiment around tracking in the UK vs the US 24:23 - The Mueller report and US midterms 29:18 - Canadian elections 30:18 - 2020 US elections 30:53 - Deepfakes 31:48 - Optimistic thoughts for the future 33:08 - How to help against computational propaganda