Y Combinator Startup Podcast

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 examples from Michael’s time working on Justin.tv and Socialcam. You can find Amy at her site foundercoach.io and on Twitter at @amybue . Michael is on Twitter at @mwseibel . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 00:41...

Marques Brownlee is a YouTuber. He has over 8 million subscribers to his channel MKBHD where he reviews electronics, drives electric vehicles, and interviews people such as Kobe Bryant and Bill Gates. You can find Marques on YouTube and on Twitter at @MKBHD . The YC Podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:00 - Intro 00:26 - What does Marques attribute his channel's success to? 2:41 - The...

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 Cheung is a Partner at YC. You can find Adora on Twitter at @nolimits and Craig at @craigcannon . *** Topics 00:21 - Adora's intro 1:26 - Craig's intro 4:06 - Starting the YC podcast 5:21 - Podcast metrics 6:21 - Tips on creating a podcast 8:31 - Picki...

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 tech. Join Elpha to read Dom's AMA . You can find Dom on Twitter at @domoniquefines and Cadran at @cadran_c . *** Topics 00:30 - Dom’s intro 00:50 - How Dom started in events and her background 2:25 - Deciding to not go to law school 3:55 - Choosing...

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 automatically. Kevin Hale is a Visiting Partner at YC. Before YC Kevin was the cofounder of Wufoo, which was funded by YC in 2006 and acquired by SurveyMonkey in 2011. You can find Mike on Twitter at @mikeknoop and Kevin at @ilikevests . The YC podcast...

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 their app to take a picture of property you want to insure and they’ll connect you with their insurance partners so that you can get the best price and coverage. You can find Karn on Twitter at @karnsaroya . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon...

Caterina Fake hosts the podcast Should This Exist?  which is about how technology is impacting our humanity. It launches today on iTunes . She also cofounded Flickr, Hunch, and Findery and is an investor at Yes VC . Kat Manalac is a partner at YC. You can find Caterina on Twitter at @Caterina and Kat at @KatManalac . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:32 - Caterina's new...

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 his Weekend Fund . Dalton Caldwell is a Partner at YC where he runs admissions. Ryan is on Twitter at @rrhoover  and Dalton is at @daltonc . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:27 - Ryan's intro 00:52 - Dalton's intro 1:27 -...

Jake Klamka founded Insight . Insight provides intensive 7 week professional training fellowships in fields such as data science and data engineering. Insight was in the YC Winter 2011 batch. Kevin Hale is a Visiting Partner at YC. Before YC Kevin was the cofounder of Wufoo, which was funded by YC in 2006 and acquired by SurveyMonkey in 2011. You can find Jake on Twitter at @jakeklamka and Kevin a...

Avni Patel Thompson founded Poppy, which helped parents book the best caregivers. They went through the YC Winter 2016 batch and recently shut down. Avni asked to come on the podcast to talk about what the process of shutting down was like. Kat Manalac is a partner at YC. You can find Avni on Twitter at @APatelThompson and Kat at @KatManalac . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon - @Craig...

Samantha Bradshaw is a researcher at the Computational Propaganda Project and a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute . She’s been tracking the phenomenon of political manipulation through social media. You can find Samantha on Twitter at @sbradshaww . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics :53 - What is a bot? 2:53 - When computational propaganda began 3:53 - Changes...

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 Lu is the CEO of YC China and Head of YC Research. *** Topics 00:23 - Qi's intro 00:38 - Cindy's intro 1:38 - Moving to a new province as a teenager 4:38 - Being an educator and an entrepreneur 8:23 - Starting VIPKid in a hyper-competitive market 1...

Vinod Khosla is the founder of Khosla Ventures , a firm focused on assisting entrepreneurs to build impactful new energy and technology companies. Previously he was the founding CEO of Sun Microsystems, where he pioneered open systems and commercial RISC processors. How to Build the Future is hosted by Sam Altman . *** Topics 00:30 - Vinod’s intro 01:20 - A zero-million-dollar company vs a zero-bi...

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 Paperclips in which you’re an AI that makes paperclips. Frank’s on Twitter @flantz and his site is franklantz.net . The YC podcast is hosted by  Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:27 - "Games are the aesthetic form of thinking and doing" 6:57 - VR skep...

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 can find them at AptDeco.com . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 0:21 - What is AptDeco? 1:06 - Why did Reham and Kalam start it? 2:51 - Were they considering other ideas? 5:06 - How did they prepare to start AptDeco after business...

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 written several books including:  The Black Hole War ,  The Cosmic Landscape , and the Theoretical Minimum series . He also has over 100 lectures on YouTube . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 0:26 - Being perceived as an ou...

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 batch. In this episode Michael comments on five of his essays. The essays are: Why Should I Start a Startup? , One Order of Operations for Starting a Startup , The Real Product Market Fit , Users You Don’t Want , and Why Does Your Company Deserve Mor...

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 $100 credit to try Fin at https://fin.com/yc Andrew blogs at https://kortina.nyc/ The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:32 - Human dignity and work 8:07 - Creating jobs 10:07 - From The Beautiful Struggle // The Beautiful Game - Yo...

Brian Donohue is President of Instapaper and a Product Engineering Manager at Pinterest . You can find him on Twitter @bthdonohue . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:19 - The history of Instapaper 8:19 - Free competitors enter the market 10:19 - How Brian joined Instapaper 14:34 - Transitioning from paid to freemium 19:19 - Pinterest's acquisition of Instapaper 26:34 - Movin...

Sam Altman expands on ideas that have come up in several of his essays. Specifically: choosing projects, creating value, and finding purpose. Sam’s the president of YC Group and co-chairman of OpenAI . You can find him on Twitter @sama . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 1:25 - From The Days Are Long But The Decades Are Short - Minimize your own cognitive load from distracting...

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 about them at Longevity.vc . Laura’s on Twitter @LauraDeming . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:22 - Why focus on longevity now? 2:12 - How did Laura get started in longevity? 3:22 - Why raise a fund? 5:52 - What does Laura do...

Shola Akinlade is CEO and cofounder of Paystack . Paystack helps businesses in Africa get paid online and offline. They’re based in Lagos, Nigeria and were part of the Winter 2016 batch. Shola’s on Twitter @shollsman . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:26 - What is Paystack? 01:06 - Shola's background and previous company 4:26 - Paystack's YC application 6:01 - Meeting his c...

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 check them out at GetMeadow.com . David’s on Twitter @Hua . Vincent Ning is CEO and cofounder of Nabis . Nabis is a cannabis services group. They offer distribution, logistics, sales, and marketing. You can check them out at GetNabis.com . Vincent'...

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 Front at https://frontapp.com/ The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:25 - Tuomas Grannas asks - What's your favorite LEGO theme? 1:25 - What is Front? 3:50 - Google Inbox shutting down 5:25 - Prioritizing features 7:50 - Features...

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 growth at elischwartz.co You can find him on Twitter at 5le . The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon . *** Topics 00:23 - Does SEO matter in 2018? 2:23 - Where should a company start with SEO? 3:53 - Who’s doing SEO well? 4:48 - Why is Amazon doi...