Y Combinator Startup Podcast

#117 - Craig Cannon and Adora Cheung

13 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Craig Cannon is the Director of Marketing at Y Combinator. He usually hosts the YC podcast but is the guest on this episode about podcasting.Adora Che...

#116 - Domonique Fines and Cadran Cowansage

11 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Domonique Fines is the Director of Events at YC.Cadran Cowansage is the cofounder and CEO of Elpha. Elpha is a private online community for women in t...

#115 - Mike Knoop and Kevin Hale

06 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Knoop is cofounder and Chief Product Officer at Zapier, which was in the YC Summer 2012 batch. Zapier moves information between your web apps aut...

#114 - Karn Saroya

27 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Karn Saroya is the CEO and cofounder of Cover, which was in the YC Winter 2016 batch.Cover is a nationally licensed insurance brokerage. You can use t...

#113 - Caterina Fake and Kat Manalac

21 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Caterina Fake hosts the podcast Should This Exist? which is about how technology is impacting our humanity. It launches today on iTunes. She also...

#112 - Ryan Hoover and Dalton Caldwell

15 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Hoover is the founder of Product Hunt which was in the Summer 2014 YC batch and was acquired by AngelList. He also invests in startups through hi...

#111 - Jake Klamka and Kevin Hale

06 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Jake Klamka founded Insight. Insight provides intensive 7 week professional training fellowships in fields such as data science and data engineering....

#110 - Avni Patel Thompson and Kat Manalac

30 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Avni Patel Thompson founded Poppy, which helped parents book the best caregivers. They went through the YC Winter 2016 batch and recently shut down. A...

#109 - Samantha Bradshaw

23 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Samantha Bradshaw is a researcher at the Computational Propaganda Project and a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute. She’s been trac...

#108 - Cindy Mi and Qi Lu

16 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Cindy Mi is the founder and CEO of VIPKID. VIPKID is a 1-on-1 teaching platform where children in China learn english from North American teachers.Qi ...

#107 - Vinod Khosla and Sam Altman

09 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Vinod Khosla is the founder of Khosla Ventures, a firm focused on assisting entrepreneurs to build impactful new energy and technology companies. Prev...

#106 - Frank Lantz

20 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Frank Lantz is a game designer and Director of the NYU Game Center. He cofounded Area/Code Games and most recently released a game called Universal Pa...

#105 - Reham Fagiri and Kalam Dennis

14 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Reham Fagiri and Kalam Dennis are the founders of AptDeco, where you can buy and sell used furniture. They were in the YC Winter 2014 batch and you ca...

#104 - Leonard Susskind

06 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Leonard Susskind is a professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University and he’s regarded as one of the fathers of string theory.He’s w...

#103 - Michael Seibel

28 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Seibel is a partner and the CEO of YC. He cofounded Justin.tv, which was in the winter 2007 batch and Socialcam, which was in the winter 2012 ...

#102 - Andrew Kortina

20 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Kortina is the cofounder of Venmo and Fin. Fin is a high quality, on-demand, personal assistant and executive assistant service. You can get a ...

#101 - Brian Donohue

14 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Brian Donohue is President of Instapaper and a Product Engineering Manager at Pinterest.You can find him on Twitter @bthdonohue.The YC podcast is host...

#100 - Sam Altman

08 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sam Altman expands on ideas that have come up in several of his essays. Specifically: choosing projects, creating value, and finding purpose.Sam’s t...

#99 - Laura Deming

23 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Laura Deming is a partner at The Longevity Fund. They invest in companies that will allow us to live longer and healthier lives.You can learn more abo...

#98 - Shola Akinlade

16 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Shola Akinlade is CEO and cofounder of Paystack. Paystack helps businesses in Africa get paid online and offline. They’re based in Lagos, Nigeria an...

#97 - David Hua and Vincent Ning

11 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

David Hua is CEO and cofounder of Meadow. Meadow makes retail and delivery software for dispensaries. They were part of the Winter 2015 batch. You can...

#96 - Mathilde Collin

03 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Mathilde Collin is the cofounder and CEO of Front. Front is a shared inbox for teams and they were part of the YC Summer 2014 batch.You can check out ...

#95 - Eli Schwartz

27 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Eli Schwartz is the Director of SEO and Growth at SurveyMonkey. He came in to answer commonly asked questions about SEO.Eli blogs about SEO and g...

#94 - Joan Lasenby

17 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Joan Lasenby is a University Reader in the Signal Processing and Communications Group of the Cambridge University Engineering Department, and is a Col...

#93 - Peter Reinhardt

06 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Reinhardt is cofounder and CEO of Segment.  Segment helps companies capture data from every customer touchpoint and send it to the too...

#92 - Ryan Petersen

30 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Petersen is the founder and CEO of Flexport.Flexport is a global freight forwarder powered by software and analytics. They are making internation...

#91 - David Zeevi

22 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

David Zeevi is a James S. McDonnell independent fellow at the Rockefeller University Center for Studies in Physics and Biology. He focuses on developi...

#90 - Jessica Brillhart

16 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Jessica Brillhart is the founder of Vrai Pictures. They’re an independent immersive content studio.Before founding Vrai, Jessica was the Principal F...

#89 - Geoff Ralston and Adora Cheung Discuss Startup School

07 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Geoff Ralston and Adora Cheung are both partners at YC.This episode is about Startup School. It’s a free, online course we’re offering that starts...

#88 - Office Hours with Michael Seibel

03 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Seibel is a Partner and the CEO of YC. He cofounded Justin.tv, which was in the Winter 2007 batch and Socialcam, which was in the Winter ...

#87 - Elad Gil

27 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Elad Gil is an entrepreneur, operator, and investor. He cofounded Color Genomics and Mixer Labs. Worked at Google and Twitter. And has invested in com...

#86 - Jocko Willink and Mike Sarraille

20 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Jocko Willink and Mike Sarraille served together as Navy SEALs and now work together at Echelon Front, a company Jocko cofounded.We met up to talk abo...

#85 - YC Partner AMA at the Female Founders Conference

11 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Recorded live at our Female Founders Conference in New York, an AMA with Kat Manalac, Kirsty Nathoo, Adora Cheung, Holly Liu, Jessica Livingston, and ...

#84 - João Batalha and Luís Batalha

06 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

João Batalha and Luís Batalha are cofounders of Fermat’s Library.Fermat’s Library is a platform for annotating papers. Each week they send out a...

#83 - Scott Aaronson

29 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Scott Aaronson is the David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, and director of its Quantum ...

#82 - Henrique Dubugras of Brex and Anu Hariharan

27 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Henrique Dubugras is the cofounder of Brex, which provides corporate cards for startups.Anu Hariharan is a Partner at YC.Brex went through YC in ...

#81 - Announcing Work at a Startup

22 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Jared Friedman is a partner at YC and before that cofounded Scribd (YC S06).Matt Long a software engineer at YC and before that cofounded Crocodo...

#80 - Office Hours with Adora Cheung

13 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Adora Cheung is a partner at YC and she also cofounded Homejoy, which went through YC in the Summer 2010 batch.For this episode we took questions from...

#79 - Liz Wessel

31 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Liz Wessel is the cofounder and CEO of WayUp. WayUp is a job and internship platform for college students and recent graduates. They were part of the ...

#78 - Simon Benjamin

25 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Simon Benjamin is a Professor of Quantum Technologies at Oxford. He is also the Principle Investigator for Oxford’s project on Quantum Optimisation ...

#77 - John Preskill

16 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

John Preskill is a theoretical physicist and the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech.He once won a bet with Steven Hawking,...

#76 - Carola Schönlieb

09 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Carola Schönlieb is an applied mathematician at the University of Cambridge. She’s also a Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute and the head o...

#75 - Sean Mitchell

04 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sean Mitchell is the cofounder and CEO of Rezi. REZI helps landlords find high quality, long-term tenants in 48 hours. They were part of the Wint...

#74 - Linda Xie and Avichal Garg

02 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Linda Xie is the cofounder of Scalar Capital, a cryptoasset fund. Before that she was a Product Manager at Coinbase (YC S12).Avichal Garg is...

#73 - Patrick Moberg and Holly Liu

27 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Patrick Moberg is the cofounder of Playdots, which is a mobile game studio in New York. They make Dots, Two Dots, and Dots and Co.Holly Liu is is a Vi...

#72 - Miles Brundage and Tim Hwang

25 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Miles Brundage is an AI Policy Research Fellow with the Strategic AI Research Center at the Future of Humanity Institute. He is also a PhD candidate i...

#71 - Claire McDonnell and Jennifer Kim on Building an Inclusive Company Culture

20 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Claire McDonnell is cofounder and COO of True Link Financial (YC S13). True Link is a financial services firm that offers money management, investment...

#70 - CoinList Cofounder Andy Bromberg and Ramon Recuero

18 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Andy Bromberg is the cofounder and CEO of CoinList. Coinlist provides financial infrastructure for token creators and investors.Ramon Recuero is an en...

#69 - Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe and Sam Altman

13 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Anne Wojcicki is the cofounder and CEO of 23andMe, which provides direct-to-consumer genetic testing.Sam Altman is the president of YC Group. He inter...

#68 - Cost vs Quality in Edtech - Keith Schacht, Avichal Garg, and Geoff Ralston

06 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Keith Schacht is the cofounder of Mystery Science, which makes lessons that inspire kids to love science. They were part of the Summer 2017 YC batch.A...

#67 - 3D Home Printing for the Developing World - Alexandria Lafci and Brett Hagler of New Story Charity

04 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Alexandria Lafci and Brett Hagler are cofounders of New Story Charity.New Story Charity builds homes and communities in the developing world. They wer...

#66 - Breaking Down HackerRank's Survey of 40,000 Developers with Vivek Ravisankar

30 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Vivek Ravisankar is the CEO and cofounder of HackerRank, which was in the Summer 2011 batch.They surveyed 40,000 developers on things including t...

#65 - Funding Is an Outcome of Building a Good Business - Porter Braswell of Jopwell

21 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Porter Braswell is the CEO and cofounder of Jopwell (YC S15). Jopwell is a career advancement platform for Black, Latinx, and Native American students...

#64 - Researching Psilocybin's Effects on Depression - Dr. Rosalind Watts

15 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Rosalind Watts is a clinical psychologist at the Psychedelic Research Group at Imperial College London.The Psychedelic Research Group focuses on t...

#63 - The Number One Goal is Getting Started - Avni Patel Thompson of Poppy

02 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Avni Patel Thompson is the founder and CEO of Poppy (YC W16). Poppy lets parents book the best caregivers with just a text.We recorded this episode at...

#62 - Dan Lewis, CEO of Convoy, on the Future of Freight

28 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Lewis is the CEO and Cofounder of Convoy.Convoy matches shippers with freight carriers, which helps the trucking industry run more efficiently bec...

#61 - Sam Altman on Masters of Scale

22 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Reid Hoffman interviews Sam Altman on this uncut interview from the Masters of Scale podcast.

#60 - Startup Investor School Preview with Geoff Ralston

07 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Geoff Ralston is a Partner at YC and before that he cofounded Imagine K12.This episode covers Startup Investor School. Startup Investor School is a fr...

#59 - Providing Fair Financial Products for the 56% of the US Without Access to Them - Jake Rosenberg of LendUp

31 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Jake Rosenberg is the cofounder and CTO of LendUp (W12). They provide access to quality credit cards and loans without hidden fees or d...

#58 - It's Surprising How Much Small Teams Can Get Done - Sam Chaudhary of ClassDojo

24 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sam Chaudhary is the cofounder and CEO of ClassDojo. They've raised $30M and have 30 employees.Karen Lien is an Edtech Principal here at YC.The YC pod...

#57 - Alex Blumberg of Gimlet Media

17 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Blumberg is the cofounder of Gimlet Media. Gimlet makes several podcasts you’ve probably heard of–StartUp, The Pitch, and Reply All are ...

#56 - Leah Culver of Breaker and Tom Sparks of YC Answer Your Questions About Security and Podcasting

05 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Leah Culver is cofounder and CTO of Breaker, which is a social podcast listening and discovery app. They went through YC in the Winter 2017 batch. Lea...

#55 - Tim Urban of Wait But Why

03 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Tim Urban cofounded the blog Wait But Why with Andrew Finn in 2013.His posts about Artificial Intelligence, Elon Musk, and the Fermi Paradox have been...

#54 - Growth Office Hours: Round 2

15 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Anu Hariharan and Gustaf Alstromer are partners at YC. This episode is a follow-up to Anu's Growth Guide and the first Growth Office Hours.The YC podc...

#53 - Be Wary of Solving a Small, Rare Problem - Des Traynor of Intercom

13 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Des Traynor is the cofounder of Intercom.Here's his talk Product Strategy Means Saying No and the blog post.

#52 - Making Physical Retail as Easy as Opening an Online Store - Ali Kriegsman and Alana Branston of Bulletin

08 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Ali Kriegsman and Alana Branston are the founders of Bulletin.Bulletin is a platform that allows brands to share the cost of a physical store.The...

#51 - There's an Art to Getting Brilliant People to Surprise Themselves - Kevin Slavin of The Shed

06 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin Slavin is the Chief Science and Technology Officer of The Shed, which is an art center in New York that’s opening in 2019.Before The Shed...

#50 - Growth Office Hours with Anu Hariharan and Gustaf Alstromer

01 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Anu Hariharan and Gustaf Alstromer are Partners at YC.This episode is a follow-up to Anu's Growth Guide.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

#49 - Microbes, Robots, and Ambition - Robin Sloan on His Novel Sourdough

29 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Robin Sloan is a writer and media inventor based in Oakland.He just released his second novel, Sourdough.Kat Manalac is a Partner at YC.The YC podcast...

#48 - The Future of Bike Sharing with Ofo Cofounder Yanqi Zhang and Anu Hariharan

17 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Yanqi Zhang is a cofounder and COO of Ofo.Anu Hariharan is a Partner at YC.

#47 - Baidu's COO, Qi Lu Discusses AI with Daniel Gross

15 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Qi Lu is the COO of Baidu.Daniel Gross is a Partner at YC.

#46 - Tencent's Chief eXploration Officer, David Wallerstein on WeChat, QQ, and Gaming

10 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

David Wallerstein is Tencent's Chief eXploration Officer.Anu Hariharan is a Partner at YC.

#45 - Building Dota Bots That Beat Pros - OpenAI's Greg Brockman, Szymon Sidor, and Sam Altman

08 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Greg Brockman is the CTO and cofounder of OpenAI.Szymon Sidor is a Research Scientist at OpenAI.Sam Altman is the President of Y Combinator and Co-Cha...

#44 - Cindy Mi on Building VIPKID, the World's Largest English Learning Platform for Children

03 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Cindy Mi is the founder and CEO of VIPKID. VIPKID is a 1-on-1 teaching platform where children in China learn english from North American teachers.Anu...

#43 - Casey Neistat and Matt Hackett on Live Video's Struggle for Interestingness

01 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Matt Hackett and Casey Neistat are the cofounders of Beme, which was acquired by CNN last year.You might already know Casey from his YouTube channel w...

#42 - Robotics and 3D Printing with Voodoo Manufacturing

26 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Oliver Ortlieb and Max Friefeld are two of Voodoo Manufacturing's four cofounders.Voodoo went through YC in the W17 batch. They bridge the gap between...

#41 - Experiments in Art and Technology with Artforum Editor Michelle Kuo

18 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Michelle Kuo is Editor in Chief of Artforum.Kat Mañalac is a Partner at YC.Michelle came in to chat with us about art and technology and, in particul...

#40 - Content Marketing Tips from Experts at First Round Capital and Andreessen Horowitz

13 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Camille Ricketts is the Head of Content and Marketing at First Round Capital.Sonal Chokshi is an Editorial Partner at Andreessen Horowitz.

#39 - Mr. Robot's Technical Producer and Writer - Kor Adana

11 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Kor Adana is a writer and technical producer on Mr. Robot.Mr. Robot season three premieres tonight.

#38 - The More You Communicate with Users, the Higher Chance You'll Build Something They Want - Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt

04 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Hoover is the founder of Product Hunt.Get a 10% discount on Ship pro plans by using this link.

#37 - Don't Start a Blog, Start a Cult - Mr. Money Mustache

27 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Pete Adeney, more commonly known as Mr. Money Mustache, retired at 30 after working as a software engineer for about ten years.He blogs at M...

#36 - Your Whole Goal Is to Not Quit - Courtland Allen of Indie Hackers

22 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Courtland Allen is the founder of Indie Hackers, a place where the founders of profitable businesses and side projects can share their stories transpa...

#35 - The Technical Challenges of Measuring Gravitational Waves - Rana Adhikari of LIGO

15 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Rana Adhikari is a Professor of Physics at Caltech and a member of the LIGO team, who were the first to measure gravitational waves.Their detection pa...

#34 - Elizabeth Iorns on Biotech Companies in YC

13 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Elizabeth Iorns is cofounder and CEO of Science Exchange.Here's info on the YC Fall Tour.Apply to the Winter 2018 batch.

#33 - The Challenges a Repeat Founder Faces

08 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Tikhon Bernstam cofounded Scribd (YC S06) and Parse (YC S11).Read the transcript here.

#32 - Hosain Rahman on The "Defibrillator Experiences" of Jawbone

06 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Hosain Rahman is the CEO and Founder of Jawbone. Jessica Livingston is a cofounder of YC.Jessica interviewed Hosain during our 2014 Startup School and...

#31 - Spotting Ecommerce Trends in Shipping Data – Laura Behrens Wu

01 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laura Behrens Wu is the CEO and cofounder of Shippo.Read the transcript here.

#30 - Artist Lauren McCarthy Will Be Your Home's Brain

29 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Lauren McCarthy is an artist and assistant professor at UCLA.Her latest project LAUREN, is a human intelligent smart home. Lauren will visit your home...

#29 - Jack Dorsey On The Books That Helped Him Succeed

25 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Jack Dorsey is the CEO of Twitter and Square. This is his talk from Startup School 2013.Read the transcript here.

#28 - Prerequisites for Starting a Company - Phil Libin

23 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Phil Libin is the cofounder and CEO of All Turtles. Prior to that he was the CEO of Evernote. This is his 2013 Startup School talk.Watch the video her...

#27 - The CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate From the Bay

18 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Wade Foster is the CEO of Zapier (YC S12).Read the transcript and their de-location post here.

#26 - Founders of Science Exchange, Goldbely, and The Flex Company Discuss Fundraising

16 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

During the Female Founders Conference Kat Manalac invited three YC founders on stage to share their experiences of fundraising. The founders are Eliza...

#25 - Baidu's AI Lab Director on Advancing Speech Recognition and Simulation

11 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Adam Coates is the Director of Baidu's Silicon Valley AI Lab.Read the transcript here.

#24 - Padmasree Warrior on Designing Autonomous Vehicles - With Anu Hariharan at the Female Founders Conference

09 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Padmasree Warrior is the CEO of NIO.Anu Hariharan is a Partner at YC Continuity.

#23 - VMware Cofounder Diane Greene with Jessica Livingston at the Female Founders Conference

04 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Diane Greene is SVP of Google Cloud and she was also the CEO and cofounder of VMware.Jessica Livingston is cofounder of YC.

#22 - Morgan DeBaun on Reaching 20M Millennials - With Kat Manalac at the Female Founders Conference

02 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Morgan DeBaun is the founder and CEO of Blavity.Kat Manalac is a Partner at YC.

#21 - Emily Weiss on the Insights That Grew Glossier - With Amy Buechler at the Female Founders Conference

26 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Emily Weiss is the founder and CEO of Glossier.Amy Buechler is Batch Director at YC.Video and transcript are on the YC blog.

#20 - Making Music and Art Through Machine Learning - Doug Eck of Magenta

21 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Doug Eck is a research scientist at Google and he’s working on Magenta, a project making music and art through machine learning.If you want to learn...

#19 - Blockchain Investing - Olaf Carlson-Wee and Aaron Harris

19 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Olaf Carlson-Wee is the founder and CEO of Polychain Capital.Aaron Harris is a Partner at YC.

#18 - Q&A with YC Partners at the Female Founders Conference

14 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

This Q&A was recorded at our fourth annual Female Founders Conference.Partners: Kat Manalac, Jessica Livingston, Adora Cheung, Anu Hariharan, Caro...