How Vanta’s Christina Cacioppo and Zapier’s Wade Foster took on a disciplined approach to fundraising ande flipped the equation of a typical startup founder.Christina Cacioppo is the founder of Vanta, andWade Foster is the founder of Zapier.Vanta automates security and compliance for startups, and Zapier automates work by connecting with over 5,000 apps.Same, Same but Different brings together two YC founders who will discuss a similar decision they made on their journey to building a growth-stage company. But like every journey, the path getting there and the results are unique to that startup.Christina and Wade flipped the equation of a typical startup founder: instead of raising money to enable a certain amount of growth, they eliminated the assumption of fundraising, controlled their spend, and evaluated how to ramp up spending based on what the business was bringing in. Given the current state of public markets, this mindset is pertinent, and we’re excited to dive into how C...
Diego Saez Gil is the founder of Pachama. Pachama is building a marketplace where companies can support carbon offset projects.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/***Topics00:00 - Welcome Gustaf and Diego 01:19 - Diego's background06:50 - What is Pachama?09:25 - Using remote sensing to track carbon11:37 - Connecting disparate groups13:04 - How much carbon does a typical company offset?15:28 - How big is the reforesting opportunity?17:09 - What are the incentives to offset carbon?18:40 - Why don't people trust carbon offsets?20:33 - What are the different forest conservation methods?25:20 - How does Pachama use technology?29:00 - Growth challenges30:20 - Who are the customers?32:12 - The future of the carbon market32:48 - Fundraising for a climate startup37:50 - Advice for people that wan...
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.Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/***Topics00:00 - Intro1:16 - Seed fundraising for Zyper and Tara3:26 - Tara's pivot4:31 - Series A fundraising for Zyper and Tara18:11 - Evaluating investors23:46 - Meeting with associates and partners30:35 - Raising a Series A as a female founder39:31 - Fundraising psychology 41:46 - What not to do when fundraising 45:01 - Talking to portfolio companies about investors46:21 - What it's like to run a Series A stage company 1:00:41 - The most important piece of advice for fundraising
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 YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ ***Topics00:00 - Intro00:30 - What is ZeroDown?1:50 - How did they test the idea?3:50 - What did they learn from companies that failed in the space?8:00 - Breaking down the product11:25 - ZeroDown's customers13:35 - Expanding to other markets15:50 - What if a downturn happens?17:10 - ZeroDown's hiring strategy20:10 - What are their hardest technical challenges?22:05 - ZeroDown's breadth and product strategy26:40 - Customer interviews28:35 - Should everyone own a house?29:50 - Home ownership in the future32:45 - Build something you really want to see in the world34:40 - Working with his cofounders was the most...
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 @mattcutts.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ ***Topics00:00 - Intro00:36 - Working at Google in 20002:48 - Did Google's success feel certain?3:53 - Building self-service ads7:23 - The evil unicorn problem8:23 - Lawsuits around search10:48 - Content moderation and spam14:38 - Matt's progression over 17 years at Google17:18 - Deepfakes18:43 - Joining the USDS21:03 - What the USDS does23:43 - Working at the USDS26:43 - Educating people in government about tech28:58 - Creating a rapid feedback loop within government31:48 - Michael Wang asks - How does USDS decide whether to outsource something to a private company, or build the software in h...
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 an Expert at YC.Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/***Topics00:00 - Intro00:32 - Adversarial interoperability 7:55 - So what should founders do?13:55 - Copyright19:55 - Remixing 27:00 - AT&T29:50 - Firms and state-like duties31:25 - Medium-term suggestions for founders39:25 - Conspiracy theories51:50 - Science fiction and predictions 56:55 - Peak indifference model
In this week’s lecture YC President Geoff Ralston shares parting advice for all the founders that participated in Startup School.If you want to sign up for next year’s edition of Startup School, you can put your name on the waitlist at StartupSchool.org.Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/***Topics00:00 - Intro00:31 - Geoff Ralston's Parting Advice00:51 - There is no one path3:19 - Find your path3:26 - Focus on what matters4:14 - Startups are hard4:46 - Things will go wrong8:04 - Determination10:21 - Default to action11:31 - Don't just not be evil. Be good.13:56 - Summary
We've cut down the tenth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.First, a lecture fromAli Rowghani. Ali is a partner at YC. His lecture covers how to lead.Then a lecture from Kevin Hale and Adora Cheung. Kevin and Adora are both partners at YC. Their lecture breaks down this year’s Startup School by the numbers and they share tips on what helped companies most.Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/***Topics00:00 - Intro00:36 - Ali Rowghani - How to Lead1:36 - Ali's background2:56 - There's no single archetype for a great leader so be yourself5:16 - Great leaders think and communicate clearly9:56 - Great leaders have good judgement about people12:56 - Great leaders have strong personal integrity and commitment13:46 - The transparency test14:41 - The best way to measure great leaders is in terms of t...
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 partner at YC. Her lecture covers modern startup financing.Then a lecture from Jared Friedman. Jared is also a partner at YC. His lecture focuses on advice for hard-tech and biotech founders.***Topics00:00 - Intro00:33 - Carolynn Levy - Modern Startup Financing1:33 - The basics: form a corporation, need money to grow?, sell a part of the company2:58 - Fundraising terms3:58 - What has changed: structure, access, focus5:10 - What hasn't changed: preferred stock financing, valuation and dilution, communication6:42 - Old way of raising early money: Series A preferred stock financing8:33 - What was broken?9:33 - The transition: bridge loan financings10:46 - Realization: convertible promissory notes are a better way to fund early stage startups12:01 - Modernization of the convertible - SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity)14:03 - When do pr...
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 partner at YC. Her lecture covers how to prioritize your time.Then a lecture from Kevin Hale. Kevin is also a partner at YC. His lecture is the second part of his talk on how to evaluate startup ideas.Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/***Topics00:00 - Intro00:32 - Adora Cheung - How to Prioritize Your Time2:12 - Real vs fake progress4:10 - How to determine if you're prioritizing the right tasks4:42 - Keep a spreadsheet of ideas related to moving your primary KPI7:32 - Grade the new and old ideas once a week based on potential impact9:52 - Consider the complexity of each task11:32 - Don't try to do everything at once11:52 - How do I know I'm prioritizing my time well?13:42 - What if I c...