How do you find a co-founder and build a great partnership? YC's Catheryn Li (who also built our Co-Founder Matching tool) and Visiting Partner Divya Bhat cover the importance of having co-founders, how to get & vet one, and the ways to build a successful working relationship with them. Apply to Y Combinator : https://yc.link/SUS-apply Work at a Startup : https://yc.link/SUS-jobs Looking for a co-founder? Sign up for Co-Founder Matching: https://www.ycombinator.com/cofounder-matching...
Jan 24, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Step inside the Group Partner Lounge to hear Y Combinator Group Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss the traps founders often fall into when looking at the competition. They identify the particular types of companies you should watch out for and many more you are wasting your time worrying about. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Jan 18, 2023•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you're looking to maximize your startup's potential, start by setting the right goals. Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell provide tips and strategies for setting goals that will help keep you and your new business focused on success—plus provide examples of bad goals to avoid. Apply to Y Combinator : https://yc.link/DandM-apply Work at a Startup : https://yc.link/DandM-jobs...
Jan 16, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Step inside the Group Partner Lounge to hear Y Combinator Group Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss how you should handle rejection from investors and why you should "believe the no, not the why." Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Jan 12, 2023•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Step inside the group partners' lounge to hear Y Combinator Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss how startups should approach launching and the exceptions to the rules. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Jan 11, 2023•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast How do you get your first customers? YC Group Partner & former Head of Growth at Airbnb, Gustaf Alströmer, gives tactical advice to answer this question for all kinds of companies — whether you're B2B or B2C — and discusses why it's important for founders to do sales early on. Apply to Y Combinator : https://yc.link/SUS-apply Work at a Startup : https://yc.link/SUS-jobs...
Jan 03, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast One of the most common topics that founders ask us about is pricing and monetization. In this talk, YC Group Partner Aaron Epstein outlines 9 different business models, and highlights lessons from top YC companies on how to best monetize and price your product. Business Model Guide : https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Gh-business-model-guide Apply to Y Combinator : https://yc.link/SUS-apply Work at a Startup : https://yc.link/SUS-jobs...
Dec 27, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast YC often says "talk to your users", but actually doing that is surprisingly tricky. YC Group Partner Gustaf Alströmer gives non-obvious advice on how to talk to both current and potential users, how to run a great user interview, and how to interpret the feedback in these conversations. Apply to Y Combinator : https://yc.link/SUS-apply Work at a Startup : https://yc.link/SUS-jobs...
Dec 20, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast YC's Jared Friedman shares a framework for how to get and evaluate startup ideas. He delves into examples of YC companies and the inside stories of how they came up with the ideas that turned into billion-dollar companies. Even if you have an existing idea, this talk helps founders confirm that their idea is good and/or provides a framework for a future pivot. Apply to Y Combinator : https://yc.link/SUS-apply Work at a Startup : https://yc.link/SUS-jobs...
Dec 15, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Harj Taggar shares his advice on the types of people best suited to be startup founders and how to prepare to start a company in the future. Apply to Y Combinator : https://yc.link/SUS-apply Work at a Startup : https://yc.link/SUS-jobs...
Dec 13, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Thinking of a new startup idea? Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the types of ideas to stay away from—what we commonly refer to as "tarpit ideas." Apply to Y Combinator : https://yc.link/DandM-apply Work at a Startup : https://yc.link/DandM-jobs...
Dec 01, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast With the YC S22 batch coming to a close, Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel reflect on the recent batch and their experience fundraising. The two group partners also clear up some misconceptions about Y Combinator based on feedback from founders. Apply to Y Combinator : https://yc.link/DandM-apply Work at a Startup : https://yc.link/DandM-jobs...
Nov 29, 2022•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the qualities that make a founder overly optimistic or far too pessimistic about their startup. Where is the right middle ground? Apply to Y Combinator : https://yc.link/DandM-apply Work at a Startup : https://yc.link/DandM-jobs...
Nov 24, 2022•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the problems with zero sum games within tech culture. Is your startup making a positive impact on the world or are your business practices a net negative in society? Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Nov 17, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the best approaches to developing a healthy lifestyle that ultimately helps you run and grow a successful startup. Funders, take care of yourselves out there. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Nov 10, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on the midwit meme, how it applies to startups, and the best example: Elon Musk. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Nov 03, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on software hacks that don't scale. Companies discussed include Google, Facebook, Twitch, and imeem. Watch the first video on doing things that don't scale here: https://youtu.be/4RMjQal_c4U Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Oct 27, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mutiny ( YC S18 ) uses AI and data to convert website visitors into customers. Today, the fastest growing B2B companies such as Notion and Snowflake use Mutiny to identify ideal customers, determine sections of websites that will increase conversion, and produce copy that converts visitors into customers. YC’s Anu Hariharan sat down with Mutiny co-founder and CEO Jaleh Rezaei to talk about their recent acquisition of Intellipse, an AI marketing platform, as well as how AI will impact the next er...
Oct 24, 2022•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on common pitfalls in the advice from different types of investors and why you, the founder, are ultimately responsible for the success of your company. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Oct 20, 2022•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about Paul Graham's essay "Do Things That Don't Scale" and what it really means for founders. Read the essay here: http://paulgraham.com/ds.html Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Oct 13, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about the importance of understanding incentives and doing research when it comes to building a world-changing startup. To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back? Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Oct 06, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about OpenSea, Gusto, and the importance of building simple products that solve a real problem. To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back? Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Sep 29, 2022•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about where the ideas for Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe came from. Then they discuss what you can learn from these founders. To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back? Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Sep 12, 2022•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on the importance of talking to your users, why successful founders are ok with rejection from potential customers, and how protecting your ego by not talking to your users can kill your startup. To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back? Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Sep 05, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about solutions in search of a problem, whether or not to follow your passion, how to figure out what to work on, and how to motivate yourself. To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back? Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Aug 29, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about investor terms and incentives. To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back? Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/...
Aug 25, 2022•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell are back for episode 2 of Rookie Mistakes to discuss common mistakes founders make when fundraising, and how to avoid them. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs...
Aug 18, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gusto ( YC W12 ) provides growing businesses with everything to take care of their team. Today, more than 200,000 businesses use Gusto for payroll, employee benefits, talent management, and more. And with the recent addition of Gusto Embedded , developers now use Gusto’s APIs and pre-build UI flows to embed payroll, tax filing, and payments infrastructure into products. YC’s Anu Hariharan sat down with Gusto co-founder and CPO Tomer London to talk about building for new customer segm...
Aug 15, 2022•2 hr 58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gusto ( YC W12 ) provides growing businesses with everything to take care of their team. Today, more than 200,000 businesses use Gusto for payroll, employee benefits, talent management, and more. And with the recent addition of Gusto Embedded , developers now use Gusto’s APIs and pre-build UI flows to embed payroll, tax filing, and payments infrastructure into products. YC’s Anu Hariharan sat down with Gusto co-founder and CPO Tomer London to talk about building for new customer seg...
Aug 15, 2022•2 hr 58 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the first episode of Rookie Mistakes, Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss co-founder mistakes. To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact you wish you knew when you started your company or a rookie mistake you wish you could take back? Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs...
Aug 09, 2022•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
