Y Combinator Startup Podcast
Episodes
Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale | Office Hours
16 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A little over ten years ago Paul Graham published the essay "Do Things That Don't Scale." At the time, it was highly controversial advice that spoke t...
How to Survive the Crypto Boom & Bust Cycle | Main Function
16 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past decade crypto has been declared dead hundreds of times. But with the price of Bitcoin surging over the past few months it’s clear that...
Consumer Startup Metrics with Tom Blomfield | Startup School
16 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Startup School, YC Partner Tom Blomfield dives deeper into the metrics that matter most for consumer startups. Tom discusses paid a...
When Should You Trust Your Gut? | Dalton & Michael Podcast
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When you’re making important decisions as a founder — like what to build or how it should work — should you spend lots of time gathering input f...
Building Confidence In Yourself and Your Ideas | Dalton & Michael Podcast
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One trait that many great founders share is conviction. In this episode of Dalton & Michael, we’ll talk about finding confidence in what you'...
Stop Innovating (On The Wrong Things) | Dalton & Michael Podcast
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Startups need to innovate to succeed. But not all innovation is made equal and reinventing some common best practices could actually hinder your compa...
Should Your Startup Bootstrap or Raise Venture Capital? | Dalton & Michael Podcast
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Within the world of startups, you'll find lots of discourse online about the experiences of founders bootstrapping their startups versus the found...
How To Build A Tech Startup With No Technical Skills | Dalton & Michael Podcast
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Based on the thousands of companies YC has funded over the years, the biggest common element between all successful startups is having technical talen...
B2B Startup Metrics with Tom Blomfield | Startup School
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Tom Blomfield discusses one of the most important elements of running any startup: metrics! Tom sh...
Should You Be Optimistic About The Future of Technology? | Dalton & Michael Podcast
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Social media often promotes a doom and gloom outlook about our future society. But is that worldview accurate? In this episode, Dalton Caldwell and Mi...
AI and the Future of Law: The 10 Year "Overnight" Success Story | Main Function
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Casetext started out in 2013 as a crowdsourced law library — a sort of “Wikipedia meets Reddit” for the law. Ten years later, Casetext is one of...
How To NOT Get Screwed As A Software Engineer | Dalton & Michael Podcast
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The stories are true: technical founders (and early technical employees!) often end up with the short end of the stick when starting a company. In th...
Should You Quit Your Job At A Unicorn? | Dalton & Michael Podcast
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re an employee of a late stage company right now, how would you know when it’s time to move on vs. time to double down? The fact is there ...
Does Your Startup Need To Be In San Francisco?
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Should you and your startup live in San Francisco? Y Combinator Partners, Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell, debate their different opinions on wheth...
Will OpenAI Kill All Startups?
24 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How will the rise of AI impact startups and entrepreneurs? Join Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell for a discussion on the opportunities and challenge...
Silicon Valley's Cargo Culting Problem
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to building a startup you’re never doing it entirely from scratch. Inspiration and ideas can come from a variety of places, including ...
Setting KPIs and Goals with Divya Bhat | Startup School
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
YC Visiting Group Partner Divya Bhat talks about how to set your KPIs (key metrics) and how to prioritize your time. This talk helps founders launch f...
Tips For Technical Startup Founders | Startup School
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
YC Group Partner Diana Hu was the CTO of her YC startup Escher Reality, which was acquired by Niantic (makers of Pokemon Go). She shares her advice fo...
Secrets You Can Learn From Your Customers
05 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Successful startups don’t just build technology – they solve human problems. The key is listening to the people who really matter: your customers....
The Student's Guide To Becoming A Successful Startup Founder
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you're a high school or college student with big dreams of starting your own company, this video is for you. Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel...
Inside The Most Powerful Startup Community In The World
21 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Y Combinator is well-known for producing companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase and more. But what's the real story behind the success of YC and ...
How Startup Fundraising Works with Brad Flora | Startup School
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
YC Group Partner Brad Flora has seen startup fundraising from every angle: as a founder, as one of the most prolific angel investors in Silicon Valley...
How to Build An MVP with Michael Seibel | Startup School
14 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
YC Group Partner, Michael Seibel, explains how to build a minimum viable product (MVP) for your startup idea. Using examples from real YC companies, M...
How To Earn Customers For Life
14 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this first in-person episode, Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell reveal how startups can gain a competitive advantage by doing something deceptivel...
The REAL Potential of Generative AI
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is a large language model? How can it be used to enhance your business? In this conversation, Ali Rowghani, Managing Director of YC Continuity, t...
The Hard Conversations Founders Don't Want to Have
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Y Combinator group partners Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell discuss the importance of having honest and difficult conversations with startup founde...
The Best Way To Launch Your Startup with Kat Mañalac | Startup School
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
YC's Kat Mañalac wants to change the way you think about launching. In her talk, she shares the multitude of ways to launch and get attention for you...
Advantages Of A First-Time Founder
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Step inside the Group Partner Lounge to hear Y Combinator Group Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss the advantages of being a ...
The Cult of Conformity in Silicon Valley
10 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the unconventional becomes conventional? Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell discuss how the startup world has changed from being dom...
Don't Make These Hiring Mistakes
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Step inside the Group Partner Lounge to hear Y Combinator Group Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss the many different mistake...
Keys To Successful Co-Founder Relationships with Cat Li & Divya Bhat | Startup School
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 Di...
How To Compete With Amazon and Google
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Step inside the Group Partner Lounge to hear Y Combinator Group Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss the traps founders often f...
The Secrets To Setting Smarter Goals
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you're looking to maximize your startup's potential, start by setting the right goals. Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell provide tips and ...
Investors Said No, Now What?
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Step inside the Group Partner Lounge to hear Y Combinator Group Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss how you should handle reje...
When to Launch Your Startup and When to Wait
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Step inside the group partners' lounge to hear Y Combinator Partners Harj Taggar, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora discuss how startups should approach l...
How to Get Your First Customers with Gustaf Alströmer | Startup School
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do you get your first customers? YC Group Partner & former Head of Growth at Airbnb, Gustaf Alströmer, gives tactical advice to answer this q...
Startup Business Models and Pricing with Aaron Epstein | Startup School
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 differ...
How to Talk to Users with Gustaf Alströmer | Startup School
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
YC often says "talk to your users", but actually doing that is surprisingly tricky. YC Group Partner Gustaf Alströmer gives non-obvious adv...
How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas with Jared Friedman | Startup School
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 o...
Should You Start a Startup? with Harj Taggar | Startup School
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Avoid These Tempting Startup Ideas
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 "t...
The Truth About Y Combinator
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 grou...
The Two Mindsets That Can Kill Your Startup
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the qualities that make a founder overly optimistic or far too pessimistic about their startup. Where is th...
What Basic Game Theory Teaches Us About Startups
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Most Important Lifestyle Habits Of Successful Founders
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the best approaches to developing a healthy lifestyle that ultimately helps you run and grow a successful s...
Elon Musk & The Midwit Meme
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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://ww...
Things That Don't Scale, The Software Edition
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on software hacks that don't scale. Companies discussed include Google, Facebook, Twitch, and imeem. Watch the firs...
Why Investors (including YC) Can’t Fix Your Company
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on common pitfalls in the advice from different types of investors and why you, the founder, are ultimately respons...
What Does It REALLY Mean To Do Things That Don't Scale?
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 h...
How To Change The World? Get The Small Things Right
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about the importance of understanding incentives and doing research when it comes to building a world-changing...
Simple Products That Became Big Companies
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about OpenSea, Gusto, and the importance of building simple products that solve a real problem. To cre...
Where Do Great Startup Ideas Come From?
12 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
Successful Founders Are OK With Rejection
05 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel on the importance of talking to your users, why successful founders are ok with rejection from potential customers,...
Should You Follow Your Passion?
29 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Understanding Investor Terms & Incentives
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk about investor terms and incentives. To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founders: Is there a simple fact y...
YC Founders Made These Fundraising Mistakes
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell are back for episode 2 of Rookie Mistakes to discuss common mistakes founders make when fundraising, and how to avo...
YC Founder Firesides: Gusto on building for new verticals
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gusto (YC W12) provides growing businesses with everything to take care of their team. Today, more than 200,000 businesses use Gusto for payroll, empl...
Co-Founder Mistakes That Kill Companies & How To Avoid Them
09 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the first episode of Rookie Mistakes, Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss co-founder mistakes. To create Rookies Mistakes we asked YC founde...
Dealing With Setbacks And The Startup Gut Punch
27 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the best approaches to managing the many setbacks startup founders can face over the lifetime of starting a...
Saving Your Startup During an Economic Downturn
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss Paul Graham's essay "Default Alive or Default Dead." They share strategies to cut your company's burn rate ...
Why You Should Leave Your FAANG Job
22 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the struggles of working at FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) and how to strategize leaving ...
How Future Billionaires Get Sh*t Done
22 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel take a look at Paul Graham's essay "Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule" and share tips on how to be more effectiv...
#157 - Diego Saez Gil
28 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Diego Saez Gil is the founder of Pachama. Pachama is building a marketplace where companies can support carbon offset projects.The YC podcast is hoste...
#156 - Amber Atherton and Iba Masood
18 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Amber Atherton is the founder and CEO of Zyper (YC W18).Iba Masood is the cofounder and CEO of TARA (YC W15).The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon....
#155 - Laks Srini
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Laks Srini is the cofounder and CTO of ZeroDown. Before that he was the cofounder and CTO of Zenefits.You can find him on Twitter at @laks_srini.The Y...
#154 - Matt Cutts
04 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Matt Cutts is the Administrator of the US Digital Service and previously he was the head of the webspam team at Google.You can find him on Twitter at ...
#153 - Cory Doctorow and Joe Betts-LaCroix
27 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Cory Doctorow is a blogger, journalist, and science fiction author. He’s also the co-editor of Boing Boing.Joe Betts-Lacroix is the CTO of VIUM and ...
#151 - Startup School Week 10 Recap - Ali Rowghani on How to Lead and Kevin Hale and Adora Cheung on Startup School 2019 by the Numbers
06 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We've cut down the tenth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.First, a lecture from Ali Rowghani. Ali is a part...
#150 - Startup School Week 9 Recap - Carolynn Levy on Modern Startup Financing and Jared Friedman’s Advice for Hard-tech and Biotech Founders
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We've cut down the ninth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.First, a lecture from Carolynn Levy. Carolynn is a par...
#149 - Startup School Week 8 Recap - Adora Cheung on Prioritizing Your Time and Kevin Hale on Evaluating Startup Ideas
23 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We've cut down the eighth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.First a lecture from Adora Cheung. Adora’s a partne...
#148 - Startup School Week 7 Recap - Kevin Hale on Conversion Rates and Pricing
16 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We've cut down the seventh week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.Kevin Hale gave both lectures this week. Kevin’s a...
#147 - Startup School Week 6 Recap - Tim Brady on Culture and Dalton Caldwell on Pivoting
09 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We've cut down the sixth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.First a lecture from Tim Brady. Tim’s a partner at Y...
#146 - Startup School Week 5 Recap - Kirsty Nathoo and Kevin Hale
02 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We've cut down the fifth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.First a lecture from Kirsty Nathoo. Kirsty is a partne...
#145 - Startup School Week 4 Recap - Kat Mañalac and Gustaf Alströmer
25 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We've cut down the fourth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.First a lecture from Kat Manalac. Kat is a partn...
#144 - Startup School Week 3 Recap - Anu Hariharan and Adora Cheung
18 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We've cut down the third week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.First, a lecture from Anu Hariharan. Anu is a partner ...
#143 - Startup School Week 2 Recap: Michael Seibel, Adora Cheung, and Ilya Volodarsky
11 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We've cut down the second week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.First, a lecture from Michael Seibel. Michael is CEO ...
#142 - Startup School Week 1 Recap: Kevin Hale and Eric Migicovsky
04 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We've cut down the first week of Startup School lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast. First, a lecture from Kevin Hale. Kevi...
#141 - Diana Hu
28 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Diana Hu cofounded Escher Reality, which went through the Summer 2017 batch of YC. They were acquired by Niantic and she is now the head of their AR p...
#140 - Aaron Harris on Fundraising and Meeting with Investors
21 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Aaron Harris is a Partner at YC and before that he cofounded Tutorspree.He’s on Twitter @harris.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.Y Combinato...
#139 - Jay Reno
14 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Jay Reno is the CEO and founder of Feather. Feather is a furniture subscription service. They were in the Summer 2017 batch of YC.You can check out th...
#138 - Russ Roberts
07 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Russ Roberts is the host of the podcast EconTalk (iTunes, RSS, and YouTube), a research fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, and the author of s...
#137 - Startup School Podcast Preview with Kevin Hale
31 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is a preview of the Startup School podcast. We’re putting all the Startup School lectures on their own podcast feed. You can ...
#136 - Anu Hariharan on Managing a Board
24 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Anu Hariharan is a partner at YC. Today’s episode is about her recent post, How To Manage a Board.You can find her on Twitter @anuhariharan.If you’...
#135 - Camille Fournier
17 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Camille Fournier is a Managing Director at Two Sigma and the former CTO of Rent The Runway. She’s also the author of The Manager’s Path: A Guide f...
#134 - Sarah Nahm and Holly Liu
10 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Nahm is the CEO and cofounder of Lever. Lever builds modern recruiting software for teams to source, interview, and hire top talent. They were i...
#133 - Updates for Startup School 2019 and Office Hours with Kevin Hale
03 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Kevin Hale is a Partner at YC. Before working at YC he cofounded Wufoo.Kevin’s on the podcast today to do some Office Hours and talk about this year...
#132 - Dan Hockenmaier and Gustaf Alströmer
26 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Hockenmaier is the founder of the growth strategy firm Basis One. Prior to Basis One he was the Director of Growth Marketing at Thumbtack. You can...
#131 - Jeremy Rossmann
19 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Jeremy Rossmann is the cofounder of Make School. Make School is a college for computer science headquartered in San Francisco. Make School students do...
#130 - Tracy Young and Kat Manalac
12 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Tracy Young is a cofounder and the CEO of PlanGrid. PlanGrid makes mobile construction productivity software. They were acquired by Autodesk in 2018 a...
#129 - Simone Giertz
05 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 chan...
#128 - Michael Babineau and Kevin Hale
29 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Babineau is cofounder and CEO of Second Measure. Second Measure analyzes billions of credit card transactions to answer real-time questions on...
#127 - Vidit Aatrey and Adora Cheung
22 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 wer...
#126 - Chris Best and Jonathan Gill
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#125 - Brian Halligan and Kevin Hale
08 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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....
#124 - Jarvis Johnson
01 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 an...
#123 - Harry Zhang and Kevin Hale
24 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#122 - Max Rhodes and Anu Hariharan
17 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 Winte...
#120 - Austen Allred
03 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#119 - Amy Buechler and Michael Seibel
27 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 e...
#118 - Marques Brownlee
21 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Marques Brownlee is a YouTuber. He has over 8 million subscribers to his channel MKBHD where he reviews electronics, drives electric vehicles, and int...