How to Start a Startup
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Sam caps off the How to Start a Startup series with things you should ignore when you start, but become important a year in (after product-market fit). Thanks for watching How to Start a Startup. Hope you learned a ton! From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183B Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Sam-altman-lecture-20-closing-thoughts-and-later-stage-advice-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Sam-altman-lecture-20-closing-thoughts-and-later-stage-advice-annotated See the slides at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec20/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec20/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64049 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64049 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/sam-altman-later-stage-advice
Three segments in this lecture: Tyler Bosmeny, founder and CEO of Clever, starts off today's lecture with an overview of the Sales Funnel, and how to get to your first $1 Million. Michael Seibel, founder of Justin.tv and Socialcam and Partner at Y Combinator, then goes over how to talk to investors - the pitch. Dalton Caldwell, founder of imeem and App.net https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://App.net and Partner at Y Combiantor, and Qasar Younis, founder of Talkbin and Partner at Y Combinator, then perform an investor meeting roleplay to give you a taste of how it actually might look behind the scenes. From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183B Lecture Transcript: genius.com/Tyler-bosmeny-lecture-19-sales-and-marketing-how-to-pitch-and-investor-meeting-roleplaying-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://genius.com/Tyler-bosmeny-lecture-19-sales-and-marketing-how-to-pitch-and-investor-meeting-roleplaying-annotated See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec19/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec19/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64048 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64048 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/sales-and-marketing-how-to-talk-to-investors
There's a lot that goes behind the scenes in running a startup. Getting the legal, finance (equity allocation, vesting), accounting, and other overhead right will save you a lot of pain in the long run. Kirsty Nathoo, CFO at Y Combinator, and Carolynn Levy, General Counsel at Y Combinator, cover these very important topics in this lecture. From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183B Lecture Transcript: genius.com/Kirsty-nathoo-lecture-18-mechanics-legal-finance-hr-etc-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://genius.com/Kirsty-nathoo-lecture-18-mechanics-legal-finance-hr-etc-annotated See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec18/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec18/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64047 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64047 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/legal-and-accounting-basics-for-startups
Hosain Rahman, CEO and Founder of Jawbone, covers the design process for building hardware products users love. Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Hosain-rahman-lecture-17-how-to-build-products-users-love-part-ii-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Hosain-rahman-lecture-17-how-to-build-products-users-love-part-ii-annotated See the readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec17/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec17/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64046 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64046 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/hosain-rahman-how-to-design-hardware-products
Building product, and talking to users. In the early stages of your startup, those are the two things you should focus on. In this lecture, Emmett Shear, Founder and CEO of Justin.tv and Twitch, covers the latter. What can you learn by talking to users that you can’t learn by looking at data? What questions should you ask? How can user interviews define or redefine your product goals? From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183B Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Emmett-shear-lecture-16-how-to-run-a-user-interview-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Emmett-shear-lecture-16-how-to-run-a-user-interview-annotated See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec16/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec16/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64045 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64045 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/emmett-shear-run-a-user-interview
You are not the only one whom your decisions impact. Ben Horowitz, founder of Andreessen Horowitz and Opsware, discusses this important management perspective that founders miss, with, of course, the gratuitous rap lyric or two sprinkled in. From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183B Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/B-horowitz-lecture-15-how-to-manage-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/B-horowitz-lecture-15-how-to-manage-annotated See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec15/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec15/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64044 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64044 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/ben-horowitz-how-to-manage
What should the CEO be doing on a day to day basis? How do you make sure the company is moving in the right direction? Keith Rabois, Partner at Khosla Ventures and former COO of Square, tackles the nitty gritty - How to Operate. Lots of actionable takeaways from this lecture! Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Keith-rabois-lecture-14-how-to-operate-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Keith-rabois-lecture-14-how-to-operate-annotated See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec14/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec14/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64043 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64043 From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183B Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/keith-rabois-how-to-operate
So you've learned how to get started, how to raise money, how to build products, and how to grow. Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn and Partner at Greylock Ventures, addresses many of the questions and confusions that might be cropping up - How to be a Great Founder. From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup Lecture Transcript: genius.com/Reid-hoffman-lecture-13-how-to-be-a-great-founder-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://genius.com/Reid-hoffman-lecture-13-how-to-be-a-great-founder-annotated See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec13/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec13/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64042 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64042 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/reid-hoffman-how-to-be-a-great-founder
Aaron Levie - founder of Box, enterprise master, Twitter comedic genius. In this lecture, he'll convince you to Build for the Enterprise. Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Aaron-levie-lecture-12-sales-and-marketing-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Aaron-levie-lecture-12-sales-and-marketing-annotated See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec12/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec12/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64041 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64041 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/aaron-levie-building-for-the-enterprise
Stripe and Pinterest - two companies well known for their strong cultures. The founders - John Collison, Patrick Collison, and Ben Silberman - take Q&A from Sam in part 2 of Hiring and Culture. Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Patrick-collison-lecture-11-company-culture-and-building-a-team-part-ii-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Patrick-collison-lecture-11-company-culture-and-building-a-team-part-ii-annotated See the readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec11/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec11/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64040 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64040 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/john-patrick-collison-and-ben-silberman
Brian Chesky, Founder of Airbnb, and Alfred Lin, Former COO of Zappos and Partner at Sequoia Capital discuss how to build a great company culture. Lecture 10 from YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Alfred-lin-lecture-10-company-culture-and-building-a-team-part-i-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Alfred-lin-lecture-10-company-culture-and-building-a-team-part-i-annotated See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec10/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec10/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64039 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64039 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/brian-chesky-and-alfred-lin-culture
Sam leads a panel Q&A on fundraising in this lecture with Marc Andreessen, Founder of Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz, Ron Conway, Founder of SV Angel, and Parker Conrad, Founder of Zenefits. Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Marc-andreessen-lecture-9-how-to-raise-money-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Marc-andreessen-lecture-9-how-to-raise-money-annotated See Ron Conway's slide, and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec09/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec09/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64038 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64038 This audio is under Creative Commons license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/marc-andreessen-ron-conway-and-parker-conrad
Lecture 8 features 3 speakers: Stanley Tang, Founder of Doordash, covers How to Get Started. Walker Williams, Founder of Teespring, covers Doing things that Don't Scale. Justin Kan, Founder of TwitchTV and Partner at Y Combinator, covers Press. Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/William-sydney-walker-lecture-8-doing-things-that-dont-scale-pr-and-how-to-get-started-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/William-sydney-walker-lecture-8-doing-things-that-dont-scale-pr-and-how-to-get-started-annotated See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec09/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec09/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64037 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64037 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/how-to-get-started-and-things-that-dont-scale
Kevin Hale, Founder of Wufoo and Partner at Y Combinator, explains how to build products that create a passionate user base invested in your startup's success. This is lecture 7 from startupclass.co https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co Links: Transcript of this speech on genius.com https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://genius.com/Kevin-hale-lecture-7-how-to-build-products-users-love-part-i-annotated Slides and readings https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec07 TechCrunch: WuFoo Exits For $35 Million, After Raising Only $118,000 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/25/wufoo-35-million-surveymonkey/ Kevin Hale on twitter: @ilikevests https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://twitter.com/ilikevests/status/522147146741874688 Discussion page on startupclass.co https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64036 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/kevin-hale-build-products-users-love
Alex Schultz gives an overview of Growth for startups, speaking from a position of authority as the VP of Growth at Facebook. Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Alex-schultz-lecture-6-growth-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Alex-schultz-lecture-6-growth-annotated View the readings Alex refers to, his slide deck, at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec06/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec06/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64035 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64035 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/alex-schultz-growth
Business Strategy and Monopoly Theory Peter Thiel, founder of Paypal and Palantir, discusses business strategy and monopoly theory in "Competition is For Losers". Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Peter-thiel-lecture-5-business-strategy-and-monopoly-theory-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Peter-thiel-lecture-5-business-strategy-and-monopoly-theory-annotated See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec05/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec05/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64034 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64034 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/peter-thiel-competition-is-for-losers
So you have an idea. How do you go from zero users to many users?Adora Cheung, Founder of Homejoy, covers Building Product, Talking to Users, and Growing, in Lecture 4 of How to Start a Startup. Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Adora-cheung-lecture-4-building-product-talking-to-users-and-growing-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Adora-cheung-lecture-4-building-product-talking-to-users-and-growing-annotated See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec04/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec04/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64033 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64033 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/adora-cheung-building-product-talking-to-users
Counterintuitive Parts of Startups, and How to Have Ideas Paul Graham delivers an informative (and highly amusing) talk, addressing counterintuitive parts of startups, in Lecture 3 of How to Start a Startup. Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Paul-graham-lecture-3-counterintuitive-parts-of-startups-and-how-to-have-ideas-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Paul-graham-lecture-3-counterintuitive-parts-of-startups-and-how-to-have-ideas-annotated See the readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec03/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec03/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64032 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64032 Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/paul-graham-before-the-startup
Sam Altman finishes up "Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution" by covering Team and Execution, in Lecture 2 of How to Start a Startup. Links: Blog post: Stupid Apps and Changing the World by Sam Altman https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://blog.samaltman.com/stupid-apps-and-changing-the-world Blog post: Do things that don't scale by Paul Graham https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://paulgraham.com/ds.html Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/sam-altman-team-ideas-and-execution
Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Sam-altman-lecture-1-how-to-start-a-startup-annotated https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Sam-altman-lecture-1-how-to-start-a-startup-annotated Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, and Dustin Moskovitz, Cofounder of Facebook, Asana, and Good Ventures, kick off the How to Start a Startup Course. Sam covers the first 2 of the 4 Key Areas: Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution; and Dustin discusses Why to Start a Startup. See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec01/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec01/ Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64030 https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64030 This video is under Creative Commons license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ Links: Lecture Transcript https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/http://tech.genius.com/Sam-altman-lecture-1-how-to-start-a-startup-annotated See the slides and readings https://awesound.com/click-auid/tempauid/startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec01/ Click to view: show page on Awesound https://awesound.com/ycombinator/sam-altman-and-dustin-moskovitz-products-team
