00:10head of Outreach at y combinator so I've
00:14been at YC for about nine years now and
00:16that means I've seen over 3 500
00:18companies go through the program and
00:20launch at YC one of the things my team
00:23does is help companies with their first
00:25launches and today I want to change the
00:28way you think about launching most
00:31Founders overthink their first launch
00:33they think they have just one shot at
00:36launching their product publicly and
00:38that the messaging has to be perfect or
00:40that no one will ever buy or use or
00:44invest in their product
00:45I talked to Founders constantly who
00:48lovingly prepare their launch for months
00:51but if you're like most startups you'll
00:54launch something and no one will care
00:56and if it takes you six months to get
00:58the first version of your product in
01:00front of anyone your startup may be dead
01:02before you get another chance to launch
01:04So In The Same Spirit of always be
01:07shipping I want you to think about
01:09launching as something that you do
01:11continually so here's what we're going
01:13to talk about today first we'll talk
01:15about when to launch and why second
01:17we'll walk through some strong one-line
01:19company descriptions including some that
01:22I pulled from the startup School
01:23community and third we'll talk about the
01:25types of launches you can do during
01:27startup school so first a lot of people
01:30ask when should I launch and the answer
01:33is ASAP it's probably right now why so
01:38Founders are really good at lying to
01:41themselves a lot of you have really
01:43strong convictions about what you're
01:45building and that's good Founders need
01:48that conviction but many of you have
01:50strong but theoretical Notions of how
01:53you're going to solve a problem and how
01:55people are going to interact with what
01:57you're building so putting your product
01:59out there even in its earliest state
02:01will help you determine whether you're
02:03solving a big enough problem that
02:05someone is willing to pay for you or use
02:07you even in the products really
02:10unpolished state so if you launch too
02:13early what's the worst case scenario
02:16what's the worst thing that can happen
02:17people might think the product is ugly
02:20or it sucks investors might hear about
02:23the product before it's ready you know
02:24competitors might see it or Worse no one
02:28will see it or no one will care and
02:30that's fine just launch again
02:33Airbnb launched three times before they
02:36really started to get users launching
02:38and having no one care that feels
02:40terrible but it's not a reason to give
02:42up it's a reason to iterate and launch
02:45again launch and iterate launch and
02:48iterate until you have a core of users
02:50who really love you Paul Buchheit he's
02:53the creator of Gmail and a long time YC
02:56group partner he has said it's better to
02:58make a few people really happy than to
03:01make a lot of people semi-happy
03:04so early on as long as you've made
03:06something that a few users absolutely
03:09love you are on the right track it'll be
03:13good for your morale to have even a
03:14handful of users who really love what
03:16you're doing and it'll help you figure
03:19out what to focus on
03:20what is it about your product that they
03:22love and how can you do more of that
03:25where can you find more users who love
03:28that sort of thing that you're doing if
03:30you have a core of users even 10 users
03:32who really love you all you have to do
03:34is expand that number and it might take
03:36a while but if you keep going cockroach
03:39style you can win in the end so now that
03:42we've determined you should all launch
03:44let's talk about something every one of
03:47you needs before you launch to create a
03:50strong one sentence pitch you need
03:54we believe that people who have thought
03:56deeply and about about an idea can
03:59explain it clearly and succinctly they
04:02use less words they can explain con
04:05complex Concepts in a way that a
04:07five-year-old can understand and having
04:09a clear idea is important because a
04:12clear idea is the best foundation for
04:14growth the best companies and movements
04:17grow organically by word of mouth and
04:20that's good news because Word of Mouth
04:22growth is the cheapest way to grow and
04:24if you think back to the first time you
04:26heard about something like say tick tock
04:27or a slack there's a good chance you've
04:30heard about it through a friend or
04:32co-worker talking about what you do
04:34clearly and succinctly is going to be
04:36one of your most important jobs as a
04:38Founder it's a skill that you'll need to
04:41convince potential co-founders investors
04:44users employees and eventually hopefully
04:47shareholders to believe in you it's also
04:50a skill you'll need to grow to grow you
04:52need to get all these groups of people
04:53talking about you to help you spread the
04:56word that's why it's necessary to make
04:58it easy for anyone your grandfather or
05:00the person that you meet at the airport
05:02to talk about what you're doing so that
05:05word can spread about you virally when
05:07people sit down at the dinner table they
05:09should be talking about you and your
05:11company and you don't have to be
05:13naturally good at talking about your
05:14company at first it takes some of our
05:16Founders at YC months to get comfortable
05:18doing this so here's how we think about
05:20coming up with a short memorable
05:22description of your company so first we
05:25recommend leading with what not with why
05:28and this may seem counterintuitive
05:31because we tell most stories
05:33chronologically it's natural to start
05:36with you know how you discover the
05:38problem you're solving and why it's
05:41and one reason a lot of you do this is
05:43because you're all very ambitious people
05:45and you want to solve these big problems
05:47and that's really awesome and Founders
05:49need that ambition but
05:51when you only have a limited time with
05:54someone it's important to give them
05:55context up front so start with the
05:58company name and what you do and there's
06:00no need to set up the problem just get
06:02to the point so I'll use a real example
06:05from a YC companies application the
06:07company is called pave if they'd started
06:09with why they were building this company
06:11they would have said many of my friends
06:13are super confused about their stock
06:15options and it pisses me off how
06:18stressed they get thinking about them
06:19but before you give me the back story
06:21again start with one sentence that tells
06:23me what you're building First Press
06:25people and investors and even other
06:28Founders get pitched tens of times per
06:31you know per day definitely per week and
06:34they have particularly short attention
06:36spans so here's the actual description
06:39of the company pave pave lets companies
06:41plan communicate and Benchmark your
06:44compensation in real time this is a
06:47straightforward description of what
06:48they're building and who they're
06:49building for they are building 2 tools
06:52to make compensation and pay more
06:54transparent for companies uh and and
06:57their employees so hopefully whoever
06:59you're talking to asks follow-up
07:02questions and then you can get to the
07:04why later so the second mistake Founders
07:07make is adding a lot of meaningless
07:09marketing speak to their pitches so this
07:11is a tweet from Gary tan he said
07:13meaningless jargon is the number one
07:16issue I spend time trying to fight when
07:18helping startups so here is an actual
07:21description of a company don't worry
07:23it's not a startup School company or a
07:25YC company indiecloud is a know-how and
07:28Synergy platform don't say like
07:31this it has zero informational content
07:33about what you actually do when you're
07:36describing your company the person
07:38you're talking to should have some idea
07:40of you know what they'd have to build to
07:42reproduce what you're talking about a
07:45know-how Synergy platform could
07:46literally be anything it could be a
07:48collaborative edtech company or it could
07:50be a Marketplace for experts like you
07:53literally have no idea what you what
07:54you'd have to build to reproduce a
07:57know-how Synergy platform another
07:59mistake Founders make is rambling they
08:01just go on and on and on and don't do
08:03this the person you're talking to will
08:05have already zoned out so here's the
08:08actual description Airbnb used on their
08:10YC application we built the first Online
08:13Marketplace that lets Travelers book
08:15room to locals instead of hotels this is
08:18a tight description it describes the
08:21problem they're solving and who they're
08:22solving it for so here's one I pulled
08:25from the startup School Forum open queue
08:28find and talk to your target B2B users
08:31fast again they tell you the problem
08:33they're solving and who they're solving
08:36it for they're making it easy for B2B
08:38companies to reach potential customers
08:40and you can sort of imagine what you
08:42might have to build to reproduce what
08:44they're doing okay here's another one I
08:46pulled from the startup School Forum yum
08:49it's a clever name adaptive ml driven
08:51mental health for your team and I get
08:53this what this is It's a digital mental
08:56health tools to help your team cope with
08:58stress and burnout but I think you can
09:01Workshop it a little bit if you're
09:03showing this to potential customers I
09:05think they'll care less about the fact
09:07that the product is ml driven and more
09:09about the fact that it's personalized
09:11digital therapy so I I changed it up to
09:13personalized digital therapy programs
09:16for your team some people ask me whether
09:18the X for y construction is too cliche
09:21to use when describing their company and
09:24let's be honest the term you know Uber
09:27for x or Airbnb B for X has been a bit
09:30I want to emphasize that all of you
09:32should have a one-line description that
09:34does not use the X for y construction
09:36but the X for y construction can be used
09:40in certain cases so for example paisy
09:43which is a YC Alum can describe
09:46themselves as stripe for his former
09:48Soviet Union countries but they could
09:50also describe themselves as payment
09:53processing for former Soviet countries
09:55but let's talk about when it's okay to
09:58use the X for y Construction
10:00going back to paisy if the founders are
10:03talking to people in Silicon Valley so
10:05investors or press for example uh then
10:08it might make sense you might use the X
10:10for y analogy if it really is the best
10:13way to paint a picture of what you're
10:15building very quickly if you go with
10:17this construction you need three
10:19ingredients first of all X should be a
10:24second it should be reasonably clear why
10:28and third y should be a huge market so
10:32one YC company described themselves
10:34early on as buffer for Snapchat even
10:37know buffer is doing well as a company
10:39it's not a company that not everyone
10:41necessarily knows when I was reading
10:43this description in their YC application
10:45I literally had to go to Google and
10:47Google buffer so in this case you're
10:49better off describing the problem that
10:52you're solving so here's an X for y
10:54example from the startup School
10:55community that I think works hark alive
10:57is Airbnb for dance and movement classes
11:00it paints a fast picture of what Harker
11:03live is but honestly you could also just
11:05as easily say harkalive is a Marketplace
11:08for dance and movement classes so to
11:10review the best one-liners are
11:12descriptive they describe what you do
11:14the problem and who you're solving it
11:17they're conversational and don't use
11:19jargon or marketing language and there's
11:21no long-winded lead up they're concise
11:24short and sweet so now that you know
11:27what you need for a good one sentence
11:29pitch let's talk about why you want to
11:32launch continuously even before you have
11:34a fully functioning product
11:36launching early gives you the chance to
11:39practice and refine your idea you can a
11:42B test the idea or messaging on people
11:44you get an opportunity to see how people
11:47respond to it and then once you have a
11:50product launching through different
11:51channels will give you an opportunity to
11:54see how people respond to the actual
11:55product and launching on different
11:57channels will also help you determine
11:59whether you're even talking to the right
12:01users different channels will naturally
12:03reach different audiences so let's talk
12:06about some of the types of launches you
12:09can do in your early stages here are
12:11different types of launches and I'm
12:12going to go through each one of these
12:14briefly so first is the silent launch
12:17and this is something every one of you
12:19should do while you're in startup school
12:20I clicked on 10 random startup School
12:23companies today and only half of them
12:25had landing pages so you don't need
12:28anything fancy at the very least you
12:31need a domain name your company name a
12:33short description a way for users to
12:36contact you and a call to action your
12:38call to action might be sign up for a
12:40newsletter or sign up to here when we
12:42launch here's an example of a startup
12:44School company landing page Lara they
12:47have their domain name a company name
12:49short description and a call to action
12:51sign up for the wait list and this is
12:54all you really need the next type of
12:56launch is to friends and family
12:58even if you're at idea stage you can
13:00test out your one to two sentence pitch
13:02on friends and family and once you have
13:04an MVP you should do a friends and
13:07family launch as quickly as possible so
13:10in its earliest days Reddit was shared
13:13among the founders of the first YC batch
13:16I use the Wayback machine to find the
13:18earliest view of Reddit I can find from
13:202005. so this was even before they
13:23called upvotes upvotes so share your
13:26product with friends and family watch
13:28them use the product and ask them for
13:30feedback but one thing about the friends
13:32and family launch don't stay in this
13:34phase for too long because your friends
13:36and family might not be the ideal users
13:38for what you're building and sometimes
13:40their feedback isn't going to be as
13:42helpful as a real users next type of
13:45launch launching to strangers I want to
13:48share the MVP for doordash this is the
13:50very first version of the doordash site
13:52when they first started out the founders
13:54were building other things they were
13:56building tech for small business owners
13:58and so they started approaching store
14:00owners for feedback and they spent a lot
14:03of time talking to this one store
14:05manager Chloe she was the manager of a
14:07macaron store in Downtown Palo Alto in
14:10talking to Chloe they realized that the
14:11app they were building really didn't
14:13solve any of her problems but just as
14:15they were about to leave Chloe always
14:16said hey there's just one thing I want
14:18to show you and it was this thick
14:20booklet with pages and pages of pages of
14:24she said this drives me crazy I have no
14:26drivers to fulfill them and I'm the one
14:28doing all the deliveries over the course
14:30of the next few weeks the founders
14:32interviewed over 200 small business
14:35owners across the bay area and they kept
14:37hearing the same issue deliveries are
14:41then after they you know absorbed enough
14:44information about the product they built
14:46this their MVP in just a few hours
14:50so if they'd waited too long to get
14:53direct feedback from their customers
14:54they might have spent way longer you
14:56know six months plus building out the
14:59wrong solution for small business owners
15:01so I'd recommend you get out there even
15:03if it makes you slightly uncomfortable
15:04and start talking to your potential
15:06customers as soon as possible do what
15:08doordash did and talk to 200. so next is
15:11one of my favorite ways to launch
15:13through online communities so I think
15:16you should plan a launch for every
15:17single community that you are part of
15:19when a company goes through YC for
15:21example they have the option of
15:23launching on Bookface before they launch
15:25publicly Bookface is our internal
15:27platform for Founders it's like Facebook
15:29meets LinkedIn meets quora all for YC
15:32Founders and there are currently over 6
15:35000 Founders on bookbase so for many
15:37companies in YC it's a good way to get
15:39some first users and some early feedback
15:42and it's a fairly low risk way to launch
15:44because you're launching in front of a
15:46friendly community of other Founders
15:47there are countless examples of
15:49companies that have launched and gotten
15:51their first or first thousand customers
15:53through online communities another
15:55community that you have access to is
15:57Hacker News they have something called
15:59show hn so many YC alumni Dropbox and
16:03git lab for example and hundreds more
16:05have launched on Hacker News Robin Hood
16:08is an example of another company that
16:10successfully launched on hn so back in
16:13December 2013 they had a really simple
16:15site and all it said was commission free
16:18trading stop paying up to ten dollars
16:21at the time they only had a button that
16:24let you join a waitlist the waitlist
16:26would show you how many people were
16:28ahead of you in line and how many people
16:29were behind you in line
16:31so it was a Friday night and they'd been
16:33working on building this wait list in
16:35preparation for a launch they were
16:37planning the following week with someone
16:39totally random posted them on hn and
16:41boom they got to number one on hn and
16:44ended up getting 10 000 signups the
16:46first day and then over 50 000 over the
16:49next week so each Community is different
16:52they have different tones audiences
16:54interests launched communities you're
16:57genuinely genuinely engaged with so be
17:00authentic don't get bogged down and too
17:03much marketing and promo language people
17:06these days just shut off when they see
17:08that do your research and get an
17:10understanding of what will compel
17:12members of that Community to be
17:13interested in what you're doing so we
17:15don't have time to do a huge Deep dive
17:18into these next types of launches but I
17:20wanted to skim them briefly and share
17:23some resources and things that I found
17:24recently so in a q a we did with the
17:27replit founders a few weeks ago you
17:29asked amjad and Haya how did you get
17:31your first users and they said you just
17:34have to be everywhere Hacker News
17:36Twitter Reddit Etc so I wanted to share
17:40a thread that YC Alum Catherine cross
17:42tweeted out about building her community
17:44on Tick Tock Anja Health Catherine's
17:46company helps parents freeze their
17:48babies umbilical cords and placentas for
17:50there's some stuff for their stem cells
17:52so she wrote This Thread about how she
17:55committed to posting tick tocks to start
17:57building a community in advance of the
17:59company's launch and in just a month she
18:02hit 10 000 followers so she shared this
18:04thread on tips for building a community
18:07on Tick Tock which uh we will link to in
18:10the chat there is of course the
18:12pre-order launch and if you are a
18:15hardware or product or physical product
18:17you can do a pre-order campaign on a
18:19platform like Kickstarter or Indiegogo
18:22so preparing uh for a pre-order launch
18:25could honestly be a whole presentation
18:27of its own and honestly there's a little
18:30bit more skepticism about crowdfunding
18:32and pre-orders than there was say five
18:34years ago so it's worth thinking about
18:36whether it's the right thing for your
18:38company but YC Alum ship Bob wrote a
18:42guide on pre-orders that talks about why
18:44you should or should not consider doing
18:46this type of campaign there are a lot of
18:48great you know sort of guides that walk
18:50you through uh pre-order campaigns and
18:52how to prepare for them online as well
18:53all right and then there's the waitlist
18:55launch we talked about a really good
18:57example of that with Robin Hood earlier
18:59and there are other examples like
19:01superhuman uh that launch successfully
19:03with a wait list one note on the
19:06waitlist launch the longer you wait to
19:08launch an actual product and the longer
19:11you wait to onboard people the harder it
19:14is to convert people from your waitlist
19:16so please don't sit on your waitlist for
19:19too long okay so why are we not going to
19:23talk about press it all in this talk
19:25these days if you were an early stage
19:27company that hasn't raised you know say
19:29a million or more it's going to be
19:32incredibly hard to land press stories at
19:34least in the U.S but that said even if
19:37you do land press it's not a silver
19:39bullet it's not a scalable way to get
19:42users it might help you get in front of
19:44some early users and investors but as
19:46you see press can't be counted on for
19:49sustained growth it will not get you to
19:52product Market fit so don't spend a ton
19:55of your time during startup School
19:56worrying about getting press what I do
19:58want to emphasize is while you're in
20:01startup school you should start to build
20:03your own Community it can be as simple
20:06as starting an email list of your
20:07supporters and figuring out you know how
20:10to engage them on an ongoing basis and
20:13you may be surprised who reads the email
20:15and shows up to help and in the future
20:16every time you release a new product or
20:19a new feature you can use all these
20:22channels to launch on them again
20:24stripe has always been great at engaging
20:27with the community each time a new
20:29product launches they blog about it
20:32they've the founders get on Hacker News
20:34and they talk to the hn community they
20:36spread the word on social media they
20:39stripe they are Masters at launching
20:42again and again so to sum up I want you
20:45to stop thinking about launching as just
20:48one moment in time if you launch and no
20:51one pays attention do what Airbnb did
20:54and launch again and again
![How To Succeed As A NEW & YOUNG Realtor [Deals Every Month + Luxury Listings]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FrtrRghgTayc%2Fhqdefault.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
