00:00hi everyone my name is Sam almond and
00:03this is how to build the future today
00:04our guest is Jessica Livingston the
00:06founder of Y Combinator where I'm at
00:08Y Combinator has funded 1,500 startups
00:11and they are worth more than seventy
00:13billion dollars in total more than 10 of
00:15them are worth a billion dollars or more
00:17so in terms of how to create a unicorn
00:20Jessica Livingston probably knows more
00:22about this than maybe anybody else in
00:23the world so we are super delighted you
00:25came here today to talk to us thank you
00:28what I really want to get out of you is
00:30how founders get on a path to build a
00:34huge company so you have now for 11
00:36years seen founders come in one of just
00:39two or three people and an idea and
00:40sometimes those founders go on to do
00:43nothing most of the time sometimes they
00:44create a small success and sometimes
00:47they create these companies that really
00:48transform the world and NYC has been
00:50very fortunate to be involved in a lot
00:52of those Airbnb Dropbox stripe the list
00:55goes on and what I think would be really
00:58helpful is to talk about what the
01:01companies do during Y Combinator that
01:04allows them to then go on and build
01:05these super impactful companies so what
01:08have you observed the very best
01:09companies do when they're brand new well
01:12I've now seen more than a thousand
01:15companies go through I see so I'm very
01:17familiar what these companies do during
01:19YC and I'm first going to say that
01:22there's not really one path for everyone
01:24necessarily and a lot of times these
01:27successful startups get started almost
01:29accidentally but when they're at the
01:32point where they say yes I am gonna take
01:35this company seriously I'm going to
01:36apply to Y Combinator and then they they
01:39come here to Silicon Valley for three
01:40months the most successful founders I've
01:44noticed are totally focused on two
01:48things building their product and making
01:50something people want which of course is
01:52our motto and talking to their users and
01:56they do not let themselves get
01:58distracted by anything else and that
02:01seems so obvious but what's not obvious
02:04is how easily distracted founders can be
02:07by lots of other things go
02:10and the most successful startups are
02:13like hyper focused on their product what
02:16are some of the things that distract
02:17founders that seem like good ideas at
02:19the time oh um there's a lot of these
02:23and in fact in a talk that I gave it the
02:26female founders conference a couple
02:28months ago I referred to some of these
02:29things as like the startup equivalent of
02:32wolves in sheep's clothing because they
02:33really do seem like you're doing
02:35business a few of them are talking to
02:42big companies to try to form
02:44partnerships in an attempt to get better
02:46distribution or somehow you know get
02:50more users to do a lot of PR before
02:54you've nailed down the product to talk
02:56to Corp dev people when you're not
03:00thinking about being acquired yet you'll
03:03still have meetings with these people or
03:05you'll take meetings with investors when
03:08you're not in fundraising mode just to
03:10sort of build a relationship I mean
03:12those or go to going to conferences
03:14networking events all these things that
03:17seem like important things to do as part
03:20of your business are not important in
03:22the very early stages when it's critical
03:24to build your product how do you know
03:27when you have hit the product as you
03:28just said well I think when you have
03:32people using it like you can measure
03:34your growth and you can measure how many
03:36users you get and are they coming back
03:38are they paying for your product I mean
03:40that's just the greatest thing of all if
03:43you can charge for your product and and
03:45that that growth rate is still so for
03:48all the YC companies that have gone on
03:49to be these sort of household names did
03:51they all do this during YC where they
03:53just focused on their growth rate
03:54writing code talking to users and if
03:56they the companies ended up ignoring
03:58everything else uh yeah pretty much if I
04:00had to think back on the most successful
04:02startups all during YC they were super
04:05focused and they weren't all over the
04:08place in terms of ideas that they were
04:10working on or things that they were
04:13doing they were definitely focused did
04:16they have big plans even during YC like
04:18could Brian Chesky of Airbnb have told
04:21here's how we're gonna be a twenty five
04:22billion dollar company and here's we're
04:24gonna look like seven years later I
04:26don't think they would have gone that
04:29far I think that all of the most
04:31successful founders have ambitious plans
04:35and they certainly start a lot smaller
04:37like they seem much less important when
04:40they're first getting started but I
04:42think the founders do have a grand plan
04:43I have to believe though that when
04:47they're all in the earliest phases none
04:49of them can predict just how big they'll
04:52be I don't think Brian Chesky knew that
04:55they'd be where they are today and how
04:58much strategizing do you think the
04:59companies do about how they're going to
05:01get from here to the next step for the
05:04step after that like during YC are they
05:06really just focused on trying to make a
05:08few users really happy or are they
05:09thinking about well we need to build up
05:12a monopoly and so an Airbnb 'z case will
05:14have that because we'll have one
05:15marketplace or is it really just like
05:17let's build this product people love and
05:20I really do think it starts as let's
05:23build this product and see where it goes
05:25in some cases let's solve our own
05:28problem and see where it goes I'm
05:30specifically thinking of stripe I mean
05:32they built that product because it was a
05:34pain in the ass for themselves they were
05:36solving something for themselves so I do
05:38think that they are saying let's build
05:41this and see where it goes however I
05:43think that the most successful ones do
05:47have that grander vision I remember
05:49specifically during YC air B&B said to
05:54themselves and and I think to investors
05:57we plan to become the eBay of space like
06:00they were nowhere near the eBay of space
06:02at that point but they had that vision
06:05and they were working toward that how
06:08much does the idea matter like you said
06:11came with this idea that turned out to
06:13actually be the eBay of space um but a
06:16lot of founders I think don't get
06:18started because they don't yet feel like
06:19they have the idea that can be the
06:21hundred billion dollar company so how
06:23important do you think it is to get the
06:24idea just right at the beginning or to
06:27just get started with something and then
06:28figure out where to take it I'm of the
06:31mind of just get started with something
06:35that's because we are funding companies
06:37at such an early stage that we're really
06:40funding the companies for the founders
06:42and for the attributes of the founders
06:45do they seem determined have they been
06:47able to ship something in the past do
06:49they seem you know open-minded about
06:51things are they domain experts a lot of
06:55times they don't get the idea right the
06:57very first time they might be in the
07:00general vicinity of being right but then
07:02they have to adjust their idea some
07:05founders totally fail with their I
07:07didn't have to have to change completely
07:09but I think it's more important to get
07:13started with something build it because
07:15your idea is always gonna evolve
07:17I mean Airbnb is like to me one of the
07:20most famous examples of an idea that has
07:24they came to us with their idea which
07:28was at the time renting out air beds in
07:31your home while you were there during
07:34conferences like that's pretty focused
07:36right and then they they said okay now
07:40we're gonna rent out air beds in your
07:41home but not during conferences then it
07:44was renting out your own home so it
07:47morph and did all of that morphing
07:49happened during the YC program no it did
07:52not happen specifically to take um I
07:55think it should I want to say it took
07:57about a year um I'm not a hundred
08:00percent certain but I remember what
08:02happened specifically was Airbnb was
08:05always very strict about the host being
08:07home so that they could provide
08:09breakfast right because it was a bed and
08:11breakfast stomachs um and then the
08:14famous story is that air or Airbnb is
08:17one of their hosts was Barry Manilow's
08:19drummer and he had this great place in
08:21New York City and he contacted them and
08:24said hey Barry's going on tour I'm gonna
08:26can I just rent out my my apartment
08:29while I'm not there I like the Airbnb
08:31Zrii like oh that doesn't really fit
08:34well that's how they figured up that's
08:35how we figured out how to like rent out
08:38whole spaces and to this day I think
08:41that that's like the majority of their
08:43business but it took something like that
08:45to get them to even consider
08:47are doing it could you tell the story of
08:50what you thought the first time you met
08:52the Airbnb founders when they came in to
08:53interview for YC I mean I know they were
08:55in kind of a rough place they were
08:56totally out of money every investor had
08:58said no to them yes we actually do not
09:00know what a rough place they were in I
09:03know that now from hearing stories but
09:05they this was 2009 right this was
09:08actually in the fall of 2008 well we did
09:10the interviews in November and for
09:13people that weren't around in fall of
09:152008 it was really a grim time to be
09:19doing a start-up in Silicon Valley
09:20because the macroeconomic conditions had
09:23collapsed so macroeconomic conditions
09:24had collapsed no one knew what was gonna
09:27right angels were you know closing their
09:30checkbooks people oh we're gonna hold
09:32off on investing it was really sort of a
09:34scary time and so I room I do remember
09:38we went into interview saying we're only
09:40gonna choose companies that we think
09:42could make it to profitability really
09:44quickly on their own and then they can
09:47like live as a cockroach because you
09:48just weren't sure they'd be able to
09:49raise any money at all right we weren't
09:51sure that they that come March at demo
09:53day that we had no idea what what
09:56investors would be doing and so we were
09:58really sort of frightened it would be a
09:59disaster if we had this big demo day and
10:02none of the startups could get more
10:04funding that would be bad so we were
10:07very strict so the Airbnb --zz came in
10:11they were sort of a last minute addition
10:12to the the interview process I remember
10:16Michael Seibel one of the partners here
10:19said hey can you slot these guys in
10:23least come have them come in so we said
10:25fine and I remember during the interview
10:28Paul tried to change their idea we
10:32thought this idea of like renting out
10:33air beds was a little weird um what did
10:36he try to change it to I don't even
10:38remember it's embarrassing well good
10:40thing he didn't I know I know he but he
10:42did try to like pitch them a new idea
10:44and they're like no no um and and that's
10:47just one of those things they knew they
10:49were onto something because they
10:51themselves were hosts and that is one of
10:55um about founders is that like when when
10:58you're using your own product or solving
11:01you have all this like these insights
11:04that no one else has and the Airbnb ease
11:07we're renting out their their room in
11:10their apartment because they couldn't
11:11pay their own rent so they had a lot of
11:14insights into sort of funny given the
11:16current controversy on Airbnb that
11:18Airbnb started as an affordable housing
11:19company I you know it's it's outrageous
11:25so um they were using they were using
11:28their own product they had these
11:30insights that it was this wonderful
11:32experience when someone comes out of
11:34town to have hosts that can help them
11:36and show them around and and they they
11:39knew they were on to something
11:40so they convinced us that their idea had
11:45legs and that their users you know the
11:47few users they had loved them I remember
11:51more about the founders though I really
11:53like the founders they were very
11:56convincing when they spoke you could
11:58tell they had thought about this problem
12:00a lot they didn't have all the answers
12:02by any means but they just seemed like
12:05they had thought about this a lot and I
12:07remember also they brought in as a gift
12:10the cereal boxes Obama ohms and cap cap
12:14and McCain's or something and the 2008
12:17presidential election 2008 presidential
12:19election and they had made these cereal
12:21boxes with like Cheerios and Captain
12:23Crunch in them and which sounds so silly
12:25because their cereal but I remember they
12:29said oh yeah you know we designed these
12:31and then we went out and got Cheerios
12:34and we stuffed him in there and glue gun
12:36the boxes together and we've been giving
12:38them away and I thought oh my god these
12:40guys are like glue gunning the cereal
12:42box they why were they doing this um
12:46they really were doing this because they
12:48were out of money and this is like a
12:50Hail Mary for them and they they did
12:53wind up making a lot of money from these
12:55but to us they were doing it as sort of
12:58a fun thing because their Airbnb they
13:00provide breakfast coincided with the
13:02presidential elections but the original
13:06driving reason was just like they
13:07couldn't raise any money they couldn't
13:09raise any money anything they could to
13:10survive oh my god when you we
13:13again during the interview we did not
13:15know these stories but when you hear the
13:16stories of the problems that they had
13:19trying to fundraise prior to YC it's
13:23they had one investor like leave in the
13:26middle of a pitch just walk out without
13:27even saying good goodbye no one believed
13:31this idea was good or certainly would be
13:34big did you know at the time that the
13:37idea could be great or was it for you
13:38really just a bet on those three guys as
13:40founders I have to admit it was more of
13:43a bet on the three founders they seemed
13:45really good I did sort of like the idea
13:49of of being able to stay in people's
13:51homes but I have to admit I was I was
13:55not thinking it was gonna be huge just
13:58because that story was so interesting
13:59what was it like when you met the
14:00Carlson brothers I think they were 19
14:02and 17 when they started stripe and they
14:04came in and said we're gonna do this
14:06crazy thing and we're teenagers and
14:08we're going to take on the financial
14:10system of the world how does that
14:11conversation go well I have to admit we
14:14met Patrick years earlier when he was 16
14:18or 17 still living in Ireland because he
14:21looked up Paul and we had him over for
14:23dinner so it wasn't like we first met
14:26them at a YC interview um we we I think
14:32Patrick was working on some other idea
14:34first or something and we had you know
14:38high regard for him he certainly was
14:40good at building things and he had like
14:42a Wikipedia app so we knew he was like a
14:44talented programmer he introduced us to
14:47his 16 year old brother 16 there we go
14:50he was 16 when we met him John was um
14:53and I'm trying to remember when they
14:56said oh we're gonna take on the
14:57financial industry I think we were kind
14:59of like do you realize how hard this is
15:02and like you don't have connections um
15:05but they were intrepid they're like well
15:07we don't have connections we'll find
15:09connections and they just thought that
15:11is actually a really good question that
15:13you bring up because it shows how
15:16determined they were and how focused
15:19they were and I mean you think like the
15:22head of a bank is going to take a
15:24old startup founder seriously it seems
15:28pretty implausible right but they were
15:30good enough that they were able to
15:32convince these banks to work with them
15:36are there other traits in in the
15:39founders that go on to really change
15:41change the future the size determination
15:44that separate the very best founders
15:46from the mediocre founders have you have
15:51you noticed any other traits that kind
15:52of founders should aspire to that really
15:55want to have a big impact yes um if I
15:58had to say the most important traits of
16:01the most successful founders I've
16:04already mentioned determination that is
16:06by far the most important more than
16:08intelligence more than intelligence more
16:11than previous success you know in school
16:14I mean remember when we started Y
16:15Combinator our hypothesis was Oh we'll
16:20just fund all the best hackers from MIT
16:22and Harvard and they'll turn out to be
16:24great startup founders that is not true
16:27that is absolutely not true a lot of
16:30them are good and in fact Patrick was
16:33from MIT but it's it's not true for the
16:36most part determination is the most
16:38important thing again sort of
16:42understanding your users and building a
16:44product with a great user experience is
16:48second most important not being
16:51distracted not getting lured down these
16:55paths that aren't going to be important
16:59for building building your your product
17:02being flexible minded I've always felt
17:05is very important because you have this
17:08idea and you test it out and it doesn't
17:10always work the first time and so you
17:12have to be able to say okay I thought I
17:14was going to do this but let's try this
17:16even though I have like a lot of energy
17:18vested in this let's try this direction
17:20you really have to be open-minded and
17:24then ultimately you have to be a good
17:26leader you have to be convincing and a
17:29good leader because you are going to be
17:32convincing employees to join you you're
17:35investors to invest in you when you do
17:39get to the point where you're doing
17:40deals with bigger companies you have to
17:42convince them like your whole world is
17:44convincing people and so you have to be
17:46able to communicate your idea and and
17:49convince people why they should care
17:51about you more than any of the other
17:52hundreds of startups out there so now
17:55I'd like to talk about your startup Y
17:57Combinator and and how you started that
17:58could you tell us the story of starting
18:01Y Combinator yeah it was it was very
18:03much started in the same way that a
18:06startup is started where Paul and I had
18:10this idea we really felt that that the
18:14investment world was broken if you were
18:17an early-stage startup and you just
18:19wanted to like test something out you
18:21either had to go to VC and get five
18:24million dollars which is virtually
18:25impossible at that early stage or you
18:28had to know someone who was rich and
18:29could give you money and we thought
18:32there could be something better we
18:33thought there could be like a
18:35standardized branded form of funding so
18:38if you wanted $25,000 or whatever you
18:42could come to Y Combinator and we'd make
18:45it very easy for you so we thought okay
18:49let's start an investment company and it
18:53was just gonna be Paul and me and then
18:56we sort of lured in his old co-founders
18:58Robert Morris and Trevor Blackwell to be
19:00part of this even though they were
19:01full-time on something else and we said
19:04gosh none of us know anything about
19:05angel investing well let's learn so how
19:09should we do that let's fund a whole
19:11bunch of companies at once and learn a
19:14lot so we set up a website and we said
19:18come join the summer founders program it
19:20was back in Cambridge Massachusetts in
19:22it was for the summer of 2005 and we
19:25started working on it let's just say in
19:27January and and we posted an application
19:31we wanted to change a few specific
19:33things we wanted to make it very easy
19:36for people to find us and apply they
19:39didn't have to have a connection to us
19:41we had an application of like 20
19:43questions we wanted to make it very
19:48we're giving you $12,000 you know per
19:51startup or eighteen thousand if you had
19:53three founders but it was very specific
19:55amount for this amount of stock and our
19:58paperwork is going to be real
20:00straightforward you can see it in
20:01advance and we're going to make the
20:04decision that day we'll interview you
20:06and tell you that night and that never
20:09happened back before us no one got a
20:11same-day decision for the most part so
20:15200 people applied they had known about
20:18Paul because of his essays you were one
20:21of them it was came out from Stanford I
20:23remember that interview very well and we
20:28found eight companies to fund that
20:30summer and we learned very very quickly
20:33into the three months that funding
20:36startups in a batch was incredibly
20:39powerful and it was powerful in that you
20:41could teach them all sort of the same
20:43things at once and they became
20:46colleagues because starting a start-up
20:49as one or two people is very lonely and
20:51very isolating and back then in 2005
20:54there was no information online about
20:57early-stage startups at all so no one
21:00knew what they were doing so it was sort
21:02of a nice atmosphere so even why coming
21:05it was an example of this start with an
21:08idea you don't know much about build
21:10something people want and iterate yes
21:13we started with my light and start small
21:15do it lightweight start small and evolve
21:18and we realized we had dinners on
21:20Tuesday nights which actually we still
21:22have to this day and we have guest
21:23speakers come in we had paperwork that
21:26we gave them I personally helped
21:28everyone incorporate their company um
21:31what else did you spend your time on
21:32that first summer oh my god what didn't
21:35I spend my time on like as any startup
21:37there was like too much for everyone to
21:39do Paul spent his time advising the
21:42startups on their ideas because I didn't
21:44really know that much about startups I
21:46was doing everything to get Y Combinator
21:50up and running I mean we had to get in
21:52our office we had to cook dinners I was
21:54growing grocery shopping and Paul was
21:58um we were recruiting speakers to speak
22:00that summer this is now most people
22:02picture doing when they think about
22:03starting a really important company I
22:04think it's good to note this isn't my
22:06god there's so much unglamorous work
22:09that founders have to do early on and
22:12you just have to do it um but I'm I was
22:15delivering air conditioners to different
22:17people um we had eight startups in that
22:20batch and they were all living scattered
22:22around the Harvard Square area and there
22:25was a heat wave and we were like we
22:27can't have our founders not being able
22:29to work so I went to Home Depot and I
22:32bought like ten air conditioners and
22:34delivered them to everyone why don't you
22:36know that summer the Y Combinator was
22:37going to work um we had a feeling pretty
22:42early on like first couple of weeks I
22:44would say within the first month we're
22:46like this is really interesting and
22:48people are working on very interesting
22:51ideas I mean you were working on
22:53location stuff on your phone it wasn't
22:55like reddit was in there we're very
22:58interested in reddit um the justin.tv
23:00and twitch guys just inanimate we're
23:03working on a calendar unfortunately
23:07Google Calendar launched and that's
23:08killed them yeah I mean matter these are
23:10these were interesting things um and so
23:13we were very excited about the ideas
23:15it's a great story about investing in
23:17people that it was Justin's third Y
23:19Combinator startup I think that ended up
23:21being a billion dollar exit yeah yeah
23:24and I see one him three times and it
23:26worked out on a third and it worked out
23:27the third time's a charm
23:28yes I mean this is again going back to
23:31your funding the people just inanimate
23:36um I'll just this is a bit of a tangent
23:39but it's important to remember they were
23:40college roommates and like best friends
23:43or growing up and so they had known each
23:45other for a long time and had this like
23:47great trust and so when they wanted to
23:50build something they were both excellent
23:51programmers you know and that's as good
23:55of a bet as you can make that ultimately
23:56here is it that Co found to have
23:58co-founders at all and then how
24:00important is it that the co-founders
24:01have a pre-existing relationship like
24:03that I think it's critical um I think I
24:07think there have been cases of
24:09successful startups with one
24:11founder but I'm sure they will tell you
24:13it's extremely hard and overwhelming
24:17emotionally draining
24:19you have no peer who you can rely on for
24:22moral support and and holding all of
24:26that you know it's a big burden for
24:28people emotionally I think also at the
24:30very early stages there's so much to get
24:33done that you need more than one person
24:35doing it you know you can't be out
24:37fundraising and building the product at
24:39the same time so yes it's important to
24:41have a co-founder it's not impossible um
24:43I will say it's critical that you know
24:46your co-founder well um because if you
24:49don't if you like me at a hackathon and
24:52think you ever see that work out rarely
24:55I'm trying to think of an example and
24:57off the top of my head I can't think of
24:59an example Wow um of two people who were
25:01introduced or sort of bolted on to each
25:04other at the last minute ever working
25:06I'm sure there are examples of it has
25:08having that work but I can't think of
25:11them um the the relationship becomes so
25:15stressed as a start-up goes on its path
25:18I mean you have like in Port you could
25:20get sued and you have to deal with this
25:22or you get an acquisition offer that's
25:24really tempting and that can cause
25:26friction you know so many things can
25:29cause friction and tension it's really
25:31like a marriage and I know we all laugh
25:34at how we compare founder relationships
25:37to a marriage but in many ways it's kind
25:39of there's a lot of truth to that yeah
25:40yeah so you said about within the first
25:44month you don't know why she was on to
25:46something but when did you first realize
25:47that why she was going to be as vague as
25:50it has turned out to be did you have any
25:53idea of that that summer I don't think
25:55we had any idea of that that summer we
25:57knew we were onto something and and
26:00after that summer we knew we had to come
26:04out to Silicon Valley that was an
26:05important next decision for us we knew
26:08that people could easily copy us and we
26:11didn't want someone else to be the Y
26:12Combinator of Silicon Valley like we
26:14wanted to be the Y Combinator of Silicon
26:17and I remember Paul saying we got to go
26:19out there and I remember thinking like
26:20ah we have two months to do this
26:23was that really driven by not wanting to
26:27well we did not want someone else to be
26:29the Y Combinator Silicon Valley notice
26:31that was great startups a lot that they
26:33really don't they really hate their they
26:35really hate getting copied I think
26:36that's an interesting point well you
26:39know I think no one likes getting copied
26:42just um it's it's unpleasant I'm used to
26:45um and you just can't worry about it
26:48your oh if you are building something
26:50great you're gonna get copied um so
26:53anyway so we came out here and that was
26:55also very important for us because we
26:57didn't have relationships in Silicon
26:59Valley we didn't know the investors out
27:01here and that's when we started to meet
27:03the investors and that's an incredibly
27:06important component of Y Combinator that
27:09we have you know great relationships
27:11with investors and they they come to our
27:14demo days and they invest in our
27:16startups because again we are like first
27:19gear for startups we're helping them get
27:21started and then we want to introduce
27:23them to like wonderful later stage
27:26investors so once you you got to Silicon
27:28Valley and started running the program
27:29out here then did you know it was gonna
27:32be really bad not yet not yet I think I
27:36think when we had a feeling that it was
27:39gonna be really good was when I you know
27:43reddit got bought and that was very
27:46exciting news for us but I think like
27:49when Dropbox started getting some
27:52traction then we thought like whoa this
27:55could be a contender here this is you
27:57know someone doing really really well
27:58and you were funded and our sort of
28:01companies were sort of flourishing and
28:03that that's when we knew I think I think
28:06this could be and what does it like
28:08looking back now and you know what why
28:10commenter has become this this pretty
28:11influential thing that has impacted a
28:13lot of people in a lot of industries
28:14like looking back is there anything
28:16you're like well if I knew YC was going
28:18to be as important as it's become I
28:20would have done this differently or
28:21anything that any lessons that you take
28:24away or is it just like well this
28:25happened and I was only ever looking one
28:28step ahead in time you know
28:30there's always things that you do a
28:32little bit differently
28:35possibly we would have hired more
28:37partners earlier on so that we could
28:39have accomplished more I mean for many
28:42years it was just Paul and me full time
28:46and so there was only so much we could
28:48do so we didn't do much outreach and we
28:51you know I wish maybe we could have done
28:53more of that earlier on um
28:56but you know in the grand scheme of
28:58things there's not there's no like
29:01massive massive mistake I think we sort
29:04of grew organically and what is it that
29:06you did as you were growing organically
29:08that has made YC works so well you know
29:11a recent someone recently told me
29:12they're not 2,500 accelerators around
29:14the world Oh God however all every
29:17billion plus dollar companies so far
29:19ever to come out mix alright I think
29:21there's 11 have have happened in part of
29:23YC so that's a you know a great credit
29:27to you and Paul but what did you do in
29:28the early days that set up YC to to do
29:31this well there were a couple things and
29:33you know sometimes I would be nervous
29:37about sharing some of our secret weapons
29:40but I'm going to share one because it
29:43would be great if people copied this but
29:45they won't one of the most important
29:48things is that is that Y Combinator
29:51always started to be founder friendly we
29:54were not doing this to make money
29:57um we were doing this to see if we could
30:00encourage more startups to get started
30:02because we felt that would be good for
30:03the world like more people starting
30:05startups more innovation that's good for
30:08the world and so we didn't do it
30:10thinking we could make money and we
30:12weren't trying to like squeeze out the
30:14best deals in every situation we were
30:17always driven by what's best for the
30:19founders what's best for the startups
30:21are terms in our investment paperwork
30:23are very founder friendly and I think
30:27that's attracted um good founders who
30:30want to be treated fairly and not to be
30:34um it's interesting you see that among
30:36many of Y C's most successful founders
30:38they're they want to make a lot of money
30:39but that is far from the primary mission
30:44be the most successful startup founder
30:47if you were driven by money you have to
30:49be driven by a greater purpose
30:51so why cease version of this was just
30:52like it'd be good for the world to treat
30:54founders better and have a lot more
30:55startups yes yes now we hoped we made
30:59some money because we couldn't keep self
31:00funding for the rest of our lives we
31:02couldn't be self-sustaining if we didn't
31:04make some money and by the way for many
31:06years we didn't hate conning it takes I
31:08remember that people forget that people
31:10forget yeah how long it takes to make
31:12money as an investor um so we were
31:15always driven by like this benevolence
31:17um and I think it's still part of our
31:20DNA I truly believe that um I think we
31:25gave great advice um you know
31:27surprisingly hard to get from investors
31:29yes yes there are some great investors
31:32out there that do give great advice but
31:34for the most part getting really good
31:35advice it's hard I think Paul Graham's
31:38exceptional at giving start-up advice
31:41and helping people with their ideas um
31:44and quite honestly um telling people
31:48like hey you're doing this you're doing
31:49wrong don't do it that way in a way
31:52that's very straightforward young and
31:55and and founders can respond to that
31:58um what else what are you know what are
32:02the important things about us I mean
32:05we've always had attracted from the very
32:07first batch that you were in I believe
32:09we attracted you know talented founders
32:14and they've gone on to be role models
32:17and attract other people that are
32:19talented like kind intelligent founders
32:24and so I think it's just sort of grown
32:26organically and and spread and we've
32:28kept a pretty pretty great community of
32:31founders over the years so there are a
32:34lot of people that have realized
32:35startups are really great ways to impact
32:38the world and get new technology built
32:40and distributed and at a young age now
32:43people are realizing they may want to
32:45start a start-up someday so if you're an
32:47ambitious you know teenager or college
32:51what should you spend your time line if
32:52you know someday you want to start a
32:53startup well there's a lot of things you
32:57do to prepare yourself to be a start-up
33:00founder the first is learn to code
33:05there's a lot of great online courses
33:07now if you don't already know how to
33:08code but I would strongly recommend that
33:11everyone learn to code even if you're
33:12not great you at least know how to do it
33:15and it helps you sort of judge other
33:17programmers build stuff with people it
33:21doesn't have to be like the next
33:23Facebook which by the way did start out
33:26obviously as a little side project um
33:28when it got started but just build
33:31something that you might like to use try
33:34to solve your own problem work with
33:36other people I mean especially if you're
33:38in college that is just the best place
33:41to meet potential co-founders um and get
33:45to know people and talk about
33:48interesting problems and try to solve
33:50them it does not have to be the next
33:51startup but it will at least get you
33:54thinking about problems it will get you
33:56like practicing launching something and
33:59listening to users and talking to users
34:02and after that if you're not ready to
34:06start a start-up right away go work at
34:08an early stage startup you can learn so
34:10much working at an early stage startup
34:12that you wouldn't working at a big
34:15company so that's probably my best
34:17advice of what to do to prep to become a
34:19start-up founder great ok last question
34:22yeah um you are probably the most
34:24successful female founder in Silicon
34:26Valley at this point so do you have
34:28advice for other female founders or
34:30aspiring female founders about what to
34:32do well it's definitely a subject I
34:36think about a lot because when we first
34:39started Y Combinator there were very few
34:41female founders they were scarce and I'm
34:46pleased that there are more these days
34:48and they're just continuing to be more
34:50and so I've spent a lot of time trying
34:53to help the women that we've funded to
34:57become more successful so that they can
34:59go on to inspire people because you have
35:02to have those role models so that you
35:04can think gosh maybe I could start a
35:07but I will give some advice based on my
35:09own experience you can't worry too much
35:12about what everyone's saying and all the
35:14noise and like oh it's so much harder as
35:17yes it's harder as a woman I've been
35:19discriminated against
35:21you know it's but I have always kept
35:24focused on my product and you know what
35:28I'm doing and I don't listen to all this
35:31stuff going on and I'm like building a
35:33product that people love and I think
35:35that the women we funded would say the
35:37same thing their startup founders you
35:40know they're not like necessarily like
35:42female startup founders there are first
35:44and foremost startup founders and they
35:45are caring about their product and their
35:47users and they are totally focused on
35:49that and so my advice is like just do it
35:53start a company apply the Y Combinator
35:56um and and you know build something
36:00people want great well thank you so much
36:03for joining us and funding my company
36:05and hiring me that's great thanks a lot
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