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The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator
A behind-the-scenes look at how tomorrow’s hottest startups are being primed for greatness
Investment firm Y Combinator is the most sought-after home for startups in Silicon Valley. Twice a year, it funds dozens of just-founded startups and provides three months of guidance from Paul Graham, YC’s impresario, and his partners. Receiving an offer from YC creates the opportunity of a lifetime.
Acclaimed journalist Randall Stross was granted unprecedented access to Y Combinator, enabling a unique inside tour of the world of software startups. Over the course of a summer, we watch as a group of founders scramble to make something people want.
This is the definitive story of a seismic shift in the business world, in which coding skill trumps experience, undergraduates confidently take on Goliaths, and investors fall in love.
Investment firm Y Combinator is the most sought-after home for startups in Silicon Valley. Twice a year, it funds dozens of just-founded startups and provides three months of guidance from Paul Graham, YC’s impresario, and his partners. Receiving an offer from YC creates the opportunity of a lifetime.
Acclaimed journalist Randall Stross was granted unprecedented access to Y Combinator, enabling a unique inside tour of the world of software startups. Over the course of a summer, we watch as a group of founders scramble to make something people want.
This is the definitive story of a seismic shift in the business world, in which coding skill trumps experience, undergraduates confidently take on Goliaths, and investors fall in love.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 27, 2012
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4151 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 154 reviews
January 29, 2013
I really enjoyed the Launch Pad, which looks at a class of startups going through a famous startup incubator program. One thing that I liked was that the author wrote at length about many of the individual teams and made the startup class feel very human. The author also talked about the how the incubator works and the kind of feedback and advice it gives to its companies. As an aspiring entrepreneur, I found these bits of advice and insight to be very useful.
August 23, 2014
(FROM WSJ)
Silicon Valley is in the grip of a mania where the desire to "change the world" with innovative software mingles closely with a hunger to hit a Instagrammatical jackpot. The best place to see this phenomenon is in an unassuming building in Mountain View, Calif., on a street called Pioneer Way. This is the headquarters of Y Combinator (the name, inspired by a mathematical function, was intended as a welcoming signal to math nerds). Led by a charismatic hacker champion named Paul Graham, YC, as it is known, is the most prestigious of a number of so-called boot camps, incubators and accelerators: a company that breeds other companies.
Twice a year, YC's partners comb through applications from thousands of potential start-ups and choose a few dozen "founders" for its three-month program. It's the geek equivalent of getting into Harvard. In exchange for a small piece of the company, Y Combinator offers advice, freebies like cloud-hosting and connections to high-tech luminaries. The climax of each season is Demo Day, a kind of start-up Super Bowl, when founders present their ideas to an audience of the Valley's top investors—a 2½-minute endgame drill.
It all sounds like a plot for a reality-television show, but it is very real. While Instagram did not spring from YC, the program has had its jackpot winners. A YC company called Heroku sold itself to Salesforce for $212 million, and the still-private alum Dropbox has an estimated value of $4 billion. Y Combinator's reputation is so vaunted that Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and top angel investor Ron Conway, hoping to snare the next Dropbox, have created a fund that bestows $150,000 on every YC company, sight unseen.
No wonder Randall Stross was drawn to write "The Launch Pad," the first book-length study of Y Combinator. Mr. Stross, the author of books on Google and Steve Jobs and a business professor at San Jose State University, tracked Y Combinator's summer 2011 batch, intending to cast light on the Graham enterprise in particular and, more broadly, the gold-rush atmosphere of the Valley itself. (Mr. Stross's publisher boasts that he was the first to get "fly-on-the-wall access," but I had a similar behind-the-scenes pass when I followed the previous YC class for Wired magazine.)
The chronological procession of the YC program, with specific milestones leading to Demo Day, provides Mr. Stross with a fail-safe narrative scheme. Even so, the book could use more of the energy of its main subject, the fast-talking, geeky and brilliant Mr. Graham. Mr. Stross has a strong grasp of Silicon Valley history and business models (though I would have liked more detail on the wonky particulars on how investors put a value on start-ups). But storytelling is not his strong point. For instance, though Silicon Valley's chronic diversity problem is a suitable topic for discussion, spending an early chapter on why there aren't more women founders derails the story just as it should be gathering steam.
Sometimes Mr. Stross fails to follow up on interesting leads. Late in the book, he mentions that one founder was a former journalist who wrote a Forbes cover story about YC and ditched writing to pitch "the Groupon of groceries." Whoa—isn't that worth hearing more about? Other times, he gives almost verbatim accounts of long, inconclusive meetings. Readers might be tempted to take out their laptops and read email, just as people do in Silicon Valley.
To be sure, there is an abundance of editorial options when your dramatis personae includes 63 start-ups, each with its own story. Which to focus on? Fortunately, Mr. Stross offers sufficient portraiture to give us a sense of the young entrepreneurs. Even when the business plan seems dicey—I doubt that the next Facebook will spring from a website decoding hip-hop lyrics—it's fascinating to see how the eager founders attempt to create a great product, attract Web eyeballs and win over investors. And Mr. Stross hits a jackpot of his own when he lights on the story of Codecademy.
The founders of that start-up, Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski, began the session as one of the runts of the litter. The idea that got them into YC was BizPress, a system enabling business owners to easily create a company website. But after exploring the market, they realized that their ideal customer didn't exist—businesspeople were perfectly happy outsourcing the work. So a few weeks into the session, the pair "pivoted" to a plan for a phone app. Mr. Graham rejected it, and with less than a month before Demo Day, Messrs. Sims and Bubinski had bupkis.
Then Mr. Sims had an inspiration—create a website with fun tutorials in programming. The pair feared that they couldn't possibly get this idea online by Demo Day. But four days before the event, their bare-bones affair, dubbed Codecademy, went live—by mistake. It drew 250,000 users and was the hit of the big day. Soon after, the young founders received $2.5 million in investment. In January, hundreds of thousands of users, including New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, accepted the company's challenge to learn coding in a year.
It's too soon to tell if Codecademy will be the next Dropbox. But as Mr. Graham himself wrote recently, the financial payoff of accelerators like Y Combinator depends on such outsize wins. When Mr. Graham did the numbers, he found that of the $10 billion aggregate value of YC companies, 75% came from two of them, Dropbox and Airbnb. When I was following Y Combinator, I heard Mr. Graham frequently say that he put money into this company or that not because he was sold on the idea but because it was audacious—so big that if it succeeded and he missed out he would be kicking himself forever. "I was scared not to invest," he would say.
Venture capitalists are learning the same lesson. Even if you're already loaded, missing an opportunity to fund a ten-bagger like Dropbox or Instagram will haunt you to your grave. Mr. Stross does mention this phenomenon but could have done more to explain how much it motivates investors. Such second-guessing leads to more investment and a hunger to get in early, not only on the well-vetted Y Combinator start-ups but ones from TechStars, 500 Startups and countless other boot camps.
Either way, Codecademy's unlikely rise illustrates that there is at least one sector of the economy that is still going wild. Once on the launch pad, a tech company can quickly shoot into the stratosphere. As Mr. Stross notes, "All beginnings embody hope." And Silicon Valley is where hope still rules.
Silicon Valley is in the grip of a mania where the desire to "change the world" with innovative software mingles closely with a hunger to hit a Instagrammatical jackpot. The best place to see this phenomenon is in an unassuming building in Mountain View, Calif., on a street called Pioneer Way. This is the headquarters of Y Combinator (the name, inspired by a mathematical function, was intended as a welcoming signal to math nerds). Led by a charismatic hacker champion named Paul Graham, YC, as it is known, is the most prestigious of a number of so-called boot camps, incubators and accelerators: a company that breeds other companies.
Twice a year, YC's partners comb through applications from thousands of potential start-ups and choose a few dozen "founders" for its three-month program. It's the geek equivalent of getting into Harvard. In exchange for a small piece of the company, Y Combinator offers advice, freebies like cloud-hosting and connections to high-tech luminaries. The climax of each season is Demo Day, a kind of start-up Super Bowl, when founders present their ideas to an audience of the Valley's top investors—a 2½-minute endgame drill.
It all sounds like a plot for a reality-television show, but it is very real. While Instagram did not spring from YC, the program has had its jackpot winners. A YC company called Heroku sold itself to Salesforce for $212 million, and the still-private alum Dropbox has an estimated value of $4 billion. Y Combinator's reputation is so vaunted that Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and top angel investor Ron Conway, hoping to snare the next Dropbox, have created a fund that bestows $150,000 on every YC company, sight unseen.
No wonder Randall Stross was drawn to write "The Launch Pad," the first book-length study of Y Combinator. Mr. Stross, the author of books on Google and Steve Jobs and a business professor at San Jose State University, tracked Y Combinator's summer 2011 batch, intending to cast light on the Graham enterprise in particular and, more broadly, the gold-rush atmosphere of the Valley itself. (Mr. Stross's publisher boasts that he was the first to get "fly-on-the-wall access," but I had a similar behind-the-scenes pass when I followed the previous YC class for Wired magazine.)
The chronological procession of the YC program, with specific milestones leading to Demo Day, provides Mr. Stross with a fail-safe narrative scheme. Even so, the book could use more of the energy of its main subject, the fast-talking, geeky and brilliant Mr. Graham. Mr. Stross has a strong grasp of Silicon Valley history and business models (though I would have liked more detail on the wonky particulars on how investors put a value on start-ups). But storytelling is not his strong point. For instance, though Silicon Valley's chronic diversity problem is a suitable topic for discussion, spending an early chapter on why there aren't more women founders derails the story just as it should be gathering steam.
Sometimes Mr. Stross fails to follow up on interesting leads. Late in the book, he mentions that one founder was a former journalist who wrote a Forbes cover story about YC and ditched writing to pitch "the Groupon of groceries." Whoa—isn't that worth hearing more about? Other times, he gives almost verbatim accounts of long, inconclusive meetings. Readers might be tempted to take out their laptops and read email, just as people do in Silicon Valley.
To be sure, there is an abundance of editorial options when your dramatis personae includes 63 start-ups, each with its own story. Which to focus on? Fortunately, Mr. Stross offers sufficient portraiture to give us a sense of the young entrepreneurs. Even when the business plan seems dicey—I doubt that the next Facebook will spring from a website decoding hip-hop lyrics—it's fascinating to see how the eager founders attempt to create a great product, attract Web eyeballs and win over investors. And Mr. Stross hits a jackpot of his own when he lights on the story of Codecademy.
The founders of that start-up, Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski, began the session as one of the runts of the litter. The idea that got them into YC was BizPress, a system enabling business owners to easily create a company website. But after exploring the market, they realized that their ideal customer didn't exist—businesspeople were perfectly happy outsourcing the work. So a few weeks into the session, the pair "pivoted" to a plan for a phone app. Mr. Graham rejected it, and with less than a month before Demo Day, Messrs. Sims and Bubinski had bupkis.
Then Mr. Sims had an inspiration—create a website with fun tutorials in programming. The pair feared that they couldn't possibly get this idea online by Demo Day. But four days before the event, their bare-bones affair, dubbed Codecademy, went live—by mistake. It drew 250,000 users and was the hit of the big day. Soon after, the young founders received $2.5 million in investment. In January, hundreds of thousands of users, including New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, accepted the company's challenge to learn coding in a year.
It's too soon to tell if Codecademy will be the next Dropbox. But as Mr. Graham himself wrote recently, the financial payoff of accelerators like Y Combinator depends on such outsize wins. When Mr. Graham did the numbers, he found that of the $10 billion aggregate value of YC companies, 75% came from two of them, Dropbox and Airbnb. When I was following Y Combinator, I heard Mr. Graham frequently say that he put money into this company or that not because he was sold on the idea but because it was audacious—so big that if it succeeded and he missed out he would be kicking himself forever. "I was scared not to invest," he would say.
Venture capitalists are learning the same lesson. Even if you're already loaded, missing an opportunity to fund a ten-bagger like Dropbox or Instagram will haunt you to your grave. Mr. Stross does mention this phenomenon but could have done more to explain how much it motivates investors. Such second-guessing leads to more investment and a hunger to get in early, not only on the well-vetted Y Combinator start-ups but ones from TechStars, 500 Startups and countless other boot camps.
Either way, Codecademy's unlikely rise illustrates that there is at least one sector of the economy that is still going wild. Once on the launch pad, a tech company can quickly shoot into the stratosphere. As Mr. Stross notes, "All beginnings embody hope." And Silicon Valley is where hope still rules.
January 10, 2018
Good introductory book to startups and founders. While most of the examples are specific to Y Combinator, there are many lessons and takeaways you can get about the startup environment. There is a decent amount of information on how to implement a strong accelerator program through proper vetting of candidates as well as how to prepare the participants for Demo Day. There is also a lot of advice in terms of startups for how to generate ideas, how to start one, and how to grow one, although it’s mostly in the words of the experts in the book rather than practical methods to do so. He begins and ends the book with Marc Andreessen’s well-known saying, “Software is eating the world”, reminding us that startup culture is here to stay.
November 11, 2021
Some good stuff on the earlier days of Y Combinator and how Paul Graham thinks
May 1, 2016
If you like reading about startups and technology, you'll enjoy this. It's well written and researched and nicely structured.
I'd not say I came away with it with deep and nuanced insights, but I wasn't necessarily looking for that. As a much deeper primer on YC's mentality and how they operate, it was definitely worth reading.
Plus, who doesn't like those stories of the early days of startups where a small and passionate team of committed founders are battling to succeed against overwhelming odds (etc)?
I'd not say I came away with it with deep and nuanced insights, but I wasn't necessarily looking for that. As a much deeper primer on YC's mentality and how they operate, it was definitely worth reading.
Plus, who doesn't like those stories of the early days of startups where a small and passionate team of committed founders are battling to succeed against overwhelming odds (etc)?
November 12, 2018
This is a niche book. YCombinator is an elite startup launch pad — the funding partners even before angles. Their most famous alumni so far is Dropbox.
The author was embedded in the 2011 batch of YCombinator and documented what they went through. From the book you can glimpse the processes of forming a startup from the founders vantage as well as from that of investors.
The author was embedded in the 2011 batch of YCombinator and documented what they went through. From the book you can glimpse the processes of forming a startup from the founders vantage as well as from that of investors.
December 31, 2021
Eloquently written. Provides an enjoyable plot (Who would have thought, a startup book can provide such storytelling?). Perfect for those looking for the real taste of startup journey and the inside story of YC (duh).
I was expecting a boring yet detailed writing, but rather I found gold.
I was expecting a boring yet detailed writing, but rather I found gold.
Read
July 4, 2012I worked on this book a bit near the beginning--when we acquired it--but wasn't on the project when the final manuscript came in.
July 15, 2013
In-depth look at the internal workings of the world's most prestigious accelerator. Definitely worth reading if you like that sort of thing.
September 24, 2016
A superb book thats really helped me understand the startup life and reality better.
August 8, 2017
Well written, so could easily deserve 4 or 5 stars. But offers very little new to someone that has been involved with startups actively, read PG's essays, etc.
December 27, 2018
4.5 stars
March 12, 2019
A great book on what goes on inside Y Combinator told in such an engaging manner. I listened to the audible book which was even better!
February 23, 2020
Not so long ago when I heard about some local startups that had been in Y Combinator it felt something really mystical, today this tends to be less so because so many companies have passed the program (and this book was written in 2012, the dominance of Silicon Valley has been diminishing since then). In my view the biggest factor here the requirement to stay in the valley for the duration of the program and participate F2F, this is creating total immersion to the ecosystem. At times I felt like they are looking for no-lifer techies who have minimal other commitments and can fully dedicate themselves to the cause (while sales and other business development activities are seen as a generally hated but necessary evil.). There wasn't actually that much content about Y Combinator itself, most of the text was about the companies and founders in the program and most of them were unknown to me. As also mentioned in other reviews that this book does not provide much new to a person who is already actively in the startup scene.
April 6, 2020
Not a lot of new stuff for people who area already familar with YC. I liked chapters on how to pitch during Demo day
May 14, 2019
While reading stories about the companies I was missing the ending: what happened to them?
Fortunately, I was able to able to compile a list about most of the companies from summer 2011 batch, find it here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Partial list from: https://yclist.com/
Official list: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies...
Fortunately, I was able to able to compile a list about most of the companies from summer 2011 batch, find it here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Partial list from: https://yclist.com/
Official list: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies...
December 21, 2020
الكتاب يحوي الكثير من التفاصيل الهامة لما يحدث داخل أهم مسرعة ريادة أعمال في العالم
مسرعة Y Combinator
هذه التفاصيل مهمة لأي شخص يرغب بالاستفادة من الدروس التي تحدث في هذه المسرعة ليتعمل منها ويستخدمها
الكتاب أعطاني الكثير من الأفكار والالهامات في دعم المشاريع الريادية
مسرعة Y Combinator
هذه التفاصيل مهمة لأي شخص يرغب بالاستفادة من الدروس التي تحدث في هذه المسرعة ليتعمل منها ويستخدمها
الكتاب أعطاني الكثير من الأفكار والالهامات في دعم المشاريع الريادية
January 25, 2022
It's somewhat of a sequel to E-boys. Lots of stories about YC and early stage startups. Good read, from today's perspective it's very optimistic (dominant narrative about technology has become negative). Also, after covid sillicon valley and YC has uploaded itself to the cloud so that had changed as well.
April 28, 2019
台灣資本市場不大，因此新創產業的規模也不大。過去這一二十年，有一個產業在全球蓬勃發展，就是投資新創公司的孵化器、加速器、天使投資、風險投資...相關的領域。新創公司快速的席捲不同產業，最知名的例子就是Uber和Airbnb了。Uber成立不到10年，已經徹底改變全球運輸產業的商業模式。老牌旅館集團希爾頓花了數十年才遍及全球，Airbnb的客房數不到幾年就超越了。現在的年輕人崇尚時髦年輕有活力的新創公司，有時甚至鄙視老廠牌。在這股創業熱的背後，孵化器扮演了很重要的角色。孵化器和加速器這兩個詞經常被人交替使用，不過嚴格來說，孵化器不提供辦公空間，加速器則會提供新創團隊工作所需的場所。全世界最知名的孵化器叫做Y Combinator，也就是這本書的主角。
Paul Graham是這間孵化器的靈魂人物，保羅本身就是一位極度成功的創業家，1996年他創立了一間軟體公司Viaweb，設計的產品在1998年以5000萬美金賣給雅虎，這個產品就是後來的雅虎商店。獲得了一輩子不愁吃穿的財富，保羅開始思考怎麼幫助其他創業家創業呢? 靈機一動，為何不辦一間"創業者的學校"呢? 2005年Y Combinator正式開班授課~
每一年兩梯次，夏季和冬季，Y Combinator都會開放申請，精挑細選後，選出最具潛力的隊伍，展開為期三個月的創業訓練營，來自全美的創業團隊齊聚矽谷，由Y Combinator合夥人擔任導師，指導創業家們如何正確的創立屬於自己的公司。因此你可以說這是一個專屬於創業家的訓練營，而且錄取本營隊本身就是一項認證。三個月結束後，會有一場展示日，矽谷最知名的投資人會齊聚Y Combinator聽取簡報，評估最有潛力的隊伍，接著進入融資階段。學員最大的目標就是在這三個月內使出渾身解數，爭取最大的估值!
這本書出版於2012年，經過六七年的努力，Y Combinator廣受好評，成為全球最具代表性的孵化器，其所孵化的公司包含Airbnb,Dropbox,Reddit,Stripe...等等，總估值超過1000億美金。第一屆只有個位數的隊伍，但到了2012年的夏季，隊伍數量暴增至64隊。我剛剛去他們官網一看，規模已經成長到一屆有189個隊伍了。每一支入選的隊伍都能無條件獲得Y Combinator 15萬美元的種子基金，期許在創業初期助他們一臂之力。
我本來以為這本書會讀起來很無趣，沒想到意外的有趣。而且也獲得很多這個領域的知識和見解。作者是一位記者，獲准參與2012年夏季的課程，並且把所見所聞記錄下來。因此讀這本書就像親自參與了一整期的課程，如果你想認識孵化器，或者你是一個對創業有熱情的讀者，都能從中汲取有益的知識。
說到創業，你想到什麼呢? 自從網路融入每個人的生活後(1990年後)，有一種人迅速竄起，那就是黑客(程序員)。如果你念的是電腦科學或資訊管理相關的科系，就業前景一片看好。馬克安德森(Netscape創辦人，現在是一位風投)說過一句很有名的話:[軟體正在吞噬全球!] Program or be programmed.寫程式正成為每一個行業的必備技能。黑客創立的公司也已經統治了我們生活的方方面面，最大型的科技公司幾乎都是黑客創立的。這股趨勢來勢洶洶，數位化轉型即將成為每一間企業面臨的一大挑戰吧。
Paul Graham是這間孵化器的靈魂人物，保羅本身就是一位極度成功的創業家，1996年他創立了一間軟體公司Viaweb，設計的產品在1998年以5000萬美金賣給雅虎，這個產品就是後來的雅虎商店。獲得了一輩子不愁吃穿的財富，保羅開始思考怎麼幫助其他創業家創業呢? 靈機一動，為何不辦一間"創業者的學校"呢? 2005年Y Combinator正式開班授課~
每一年兩梯次，夏季和冬季，Y Combinator都會開放申請，精挑細選後，選出最具潛力的隊伍，展開為期三個月的創業訓練營，來自全美的創業團隊齊聚矽谷，由Y Combinator合夥人擔任導師，指導創業家們如何正確的創立屬於自己的公司。因此你可以說這是一個專屬於創業家的訓練營，而且錄取本營隊本身就是一項認證。三個月結束後，會有一場展示日，矽谷最知名的投資人會齊聚Y Combinator聽取簡報，評估最有潛力的隊伍，接著進入融資階段。學員最大的目標就是在這三個月內使出渾身解數，爭取最大的估值!
這本書出版於2012年，經過六七年的努力，Y Combinator廣受好評，成為全球最具代表性的孵化器，其所孵化的公司包含Airbnb,Dropbox,Reddit,Stripe...等等，總估值超過1000億美金。第一屆只有個位數的隊伍，但到了2012年的夏季，隊伍數量暴增至64隊。我剛剛去他們官網一看，規模已經成長到一屆有189個隊伍了。每一支入選的隊伍都能無條件獲得Y Combinator 15萬美元的種子基金，期許在創業初期助他們一臂之力。
我本來以為這本書會讀起來很無趣，沒想到意外的有趣。而且也獲得很多這個領域的知識和見解。作者是一位記者，獲准參與2012年夏季的課程，並且把所見所聞記錄下來。因此讀這本書就像親自參與了一整期的課程，如果你想認識孵化器，或者你是一個對創業有熱情的讀者，都能從中汲取有益的知識。
說到創業，你想到什麼呢? 自從網路融入每個人的生活後(1990年後)，有一種人迅速竄起，那就是黑客(程序員)。如果你念的是電腦科學或資訊管理相關的科系，就業前景一片看好。馬克安德森(Netscape創辦人，現在是一位風投)說過一句很有名的話:[軟體正在吞噬全球!] Program or be programmed.寫程式正成為每一個行業的必備技能。黑客創立的公司也已經統治了我們生活的方方面面，最大型的科技公司幾乎都是黑客創立的。這股趨勢來勢洶洶，數位化轉型即將成為每一間企業面臨的一大挑戰吧。
April 24, 2019
Although not written by a Y Combinator founder, this book provides a nice story about the YC experience.
May 28, 2018
VC Interview questions:
-Please tell us about a time you most successfully hacked some non-computer system to your advantage.
-Please tell us something about each founder that shows they are an animal.
-What are your future users hacking together now to fix the issue you’re addressing?
-Want to know revenue projections — know they won’t be right, want to see how you think. I.e.: show how you can get to a $B 5 years from now — very exciting to a VC
-If you seem fearsome like you are going to take over the world then they will think you are
-Best startups at hiring found all their employees outside of Silicon Valley and moved them there
Presentation:
-First 15 seconds most important (when ppl decide if they will pay attention). Ex: “We build a great lyrics site and we have incredible hockey stick growth.” Ex: “Clerky is making lawyers obsolete.”
-In the beginning be concrete — not a People company — a B2C to on-demand company
-We have a *speaks slowly* $2 trillion dollar market size
-Make then imagine a massive market size
-Be enthusiastic during the insightful, surprising parts (doing so throughout makes you seem like a salesperson)
-Use the Blackberry test — is my presentation the one where they are going to check their Blackberry
-Speak slowly — especially if you are foreign
Win by:
1. Being cheaper.
2. Focusing on a niche.
3. Be 10x better.
Hire at the beginning through friends of friends. Post on Facebook saying you are looking for ______.
Try to get rejected at least once every single day. Endure oneself to the pain of rejection.
2% of google searches are for lyrics
Video games:
-Engagement
-Use platforms like Twitch to keep users engaged until next paid version comes out
-Turn it into a spectator sport
-Twitch gives 50% of revenue to streamers
Leads:
-Get business card
-Ask if you can add their email to the system
Post Docs:
-highly mobile
-not employees of college so can act as sales reps
-connections to 3 institutions: undergrad, PhD, and Postdoc location
-don’t get paid much so open to jobs
-likely to move to another place - spread idea around
-Please tell us about a time you most successfully hacked some non-computer system to your advantage.
-Please tell us something about each founder that shows they are an animal.
-What are your future users hacking together now to fix the issue you’re addressing?
-Want to know revenue projections — know they won’t be right, want to see how you think. I.e.: show how you can get to a $B 5 years from now — very exciting to a VC
-If you seem fearsome like you are going to take over the world then they will think you are
-Best startups at hiring found all their employees outside of Silicon Valley and moved them there
Presentation:
-First 15 seconds most important (when ppl decide if they will pay attention). Ex: “We build a great lyrics site and we have incredible hockey stick growth.” Ex: “Clerky is making lawyers obsolete.”
-In the beginning be concrete — not a People company — a B2C to on-demand company
-We have a *speaks slowly* $2 trillion dollar market size
-Make then imagine a massive market size
-Be enthusiastic during the insightful, surprising parts (doing so throughout makes you seem like a salesperson)
-Use the Blackberry test — is my presentation the one where they are going to check their Blackberry
-Speak slowly — especially if you are foreign
Win by:
1. Being cheaper.
2. Focusing on a niche.
3. Be 10x better.
Hire at the beginning through friends of friends. Post on Facebook saying you are looking for ______.
Try to get rejected at least once every single day. Endure oneself to the pain of rejection.
2% of google searches are for lyrics
Video games:
-Engagement
-Use platforms like Twitch to keep users engaged until next paid version comes out
-Turn it into a spectator sport
-Twitch gives 50% of revenue to streamers
Leads:
-Get business card
-Ask if you can add their email to the system
Post Docs:
-highly mobile
-not employees of college so can act as sales reps
-connections to 3 institutions: undergrad, PhD, and Postdoc location
-don’t get paid much so open to jobs
-likely to move to another place - spread idea around
April 13, 2018
This is the book i wish i had read before i sent my first application to Y combinator in 2015. The book takes a closer look at founders, their start up and the the ecosystem of Silicon Valley in relation to Y combinator (but not necessarily) . I like how in one of the chapters, it opens your mind to the facts that idea you've been baby sitting for months or even years might not be as viable as you think it is, it gives real life example of founders who had to change their ideas after being accepted into the program and in some cases as late as a few weeks before Demo day (for example, codeacademy was a last minute idea, and yes the founders are yc alumni's - read the book to find how many of this now successful companies are actually yc alumni's, seems to me like yc have this x factor that graces your start up if you're accepted)
The Information gleaned from this book can be applied on anyone and anywhere. Stross does a good job of divulging PG idea on how other places can emulate the silicon valley start up culture, like enticing a lot of hackers together with their unruliness, which makes a lot of sense if you think about it.
This is a really book and i'd not only recommend it to YC applicants but anyone thinking of starting a start up.
The Information gleaned from this book can be applied on anyone and anywhere. Stross does a good job of divulging PG idea on how other places can emulate the silicon valley start up culture, like enticing a lot of hackers together with their unruliness, which makes a lot of sense if you think about it.
This is a really book and i'd not only recommend it to YC applicants but anyone thinking of starting a start up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2013
As soon as I found out that there was a fly on the wall book written about Y Combinator Startup school, I had to buy it.
The book delves into the world of startups, angel funds, VC funding, and what it takes to make a success of a startup. I found it interesting that most of the founders were 'hackers', indeed on the application to get into YC one of the questions was to 'describe your most interesting hack.' It seemed Paul Graham favoured hackers for their enthusiasm, coding experience, and determination to succeed. I had to check out one of the startups in the book called CodeAcademy, which teaches non-programmers to program in various languages, definitely worth checking out.
I couldn't put the book down and couldn't wait to hear about the fate of the summer of 2011 batch of founders at YC.
The book also disperses some great advice to would be founders, and businesses in general.
If you're in business, thinking about it, or dreaming about it, you'll love this book.
The book delves into the world of startups, angel funds, VC funding, and what it takes to make a success of a startup. I found it interesting that most of the founders were 'hackers', indeed on the application to get into YC one of the questions was to 'describe your most interesting hack.' It seemed Paul Graham favoured hackers for their enthusiasm, coding experience, and determination to succeed. I had to check out one of the startups in the book called CodeAcademy, which teaches non-programmers to program in various languages, definitely worth checking out.
I couldn't put the book down and couldn't wait to hear about the fate of the summer of 2011 batch of founders at YC.
The book also disperses some great advice to would be founders, and businesses in general.
If you're in business, thinking about it, or dreaming about it, you'll love this book.
May 29, 2014
As soon as I found out that there was a fly on the wall book written about Y Combinator Startup school, I had to buy it.
The book delves into the world of startups, angel funds, VC funding, and what it takes to make a success of a startup. I found it interesting that most of the founders were 'hackers', indeed on the application to get into YC one of the questions was to 'describe your most interesting hack.' It seemed Paul Graham favoured hackers for their enthusiasm, coding experience, and determination to succeed. I had to check out one of the startups in the book called CodeAcademy, which teaches non-programmers to program in various languages, definitely worth checking out.
I couldn't put the book down and couldn't wait to hear about the fate of the summer of 2011 batch of founders at YC.
The book also disperses some great advice to would be founders, and businesses in general.
If you're in business, thinking about it, or dreaming about it, you'll love this book.
The book delves into the world of startups, angel funds, VC funding, and what it takes to make a success of a startup. I found it interesting that most of the founders were 'hackers', indeed on the application to get into YC one of the questions was to 'describe your most interesting hack.' It seemed Paul Graham favoured hackers for their enthusiasm, coding experience, and determination to succeed. I had to check out one of the startups in the book called CodeAcademy, which teaches non-programmers to program in various languages, definitely worth checking out.
I couldn't put the book down and couldn't wait to hear about the fate of the summer of 2011 batch of founders at YC.
The book also disperses some great advice to would be founders, and businesses in general.
If you're in business, thinking about it, or dreaming about it, you'll love this book.
November 1, 2012
interesting book about a group of 63 entrepreneurs who attend boot camp for startups run by paul graham. each group gets to present its product to investors with guidance from a proven group of business creators. most are college students, some who don't even have solid ideas when they are admitted to the camp, and very few are women. it's interesting to read about foreigner's views of how great it is that americans have opportunities like this. one british attendee said he was considered a freak back home for wanting to start his own company. they pretty much admit this is a young man's game, who can afford to fail and fail big and who doesn't have family ties to weigh him down. overall this was an interesting read. paul graham is certainly successful enough that he doesn't have to spend his time on this so it's admirable that he cares enough to bring along the next generation.
June 18, 2013
After first reading an excerpt from this book in a magazine, I had to read this book, which provides insight into the world of startups. This book covers the setup for the Y Combinator program (application process, development period, interaction with other teams, funding procurement, sendoff back to the world, and followup months later). For each phase, the author describes the specifics of a few teams, sometimes returning to teams that have been previously described for an earlier phase, so that you start to feel like you know them, while at the same time getting a sense for a variety of situations and levels of success. From the view of an outsider....amazing. I also really enjoyed "Planet Google"--another book by the same author. Randall Stross is truly gifted in capturing the energy of the world of technology.
March 8, 2016
I was absolutely enthralled by this account of the Summer 2011 batch of start ups funded by Y Combinator in Silicon Valley. The author had unprecedented access to the session, giving readers a glimpse behind the curtain of everything from the interview process to the launch of many of the companies.
It was fascinating to see the evolution of the companies as they refined their products, or in some cases abandoned products all together to start over. I was particularly inspired by one pair of founders who scrapped their first and second ideas to shift to a third option late in the summer, a product that went on to become a well known and highly valued web service today. (I won't tell you the company - you'll have to read the book yourself to find out.)
If you have any entrepreneurial bent hidden anywhere inside you, I highly recommend this book.
It was fascinating to see the evolution of the companies as they refined their products, or in some cases abandoned products all together to start over. I was particularly inspired by one pair of founders who scrapped their first and second ideas to shift to a third option late in the summer, a product that went on to become a well known and highly valued web service today. (I won't tell you the company - you'll have to read the book yourself to find out.)
If you have any entrepreneurial bent hidden anywhere inside you, I highly recommend this book.
December 9, 2016
It's hard to read this book and not let your opinion on it be tainted by your thoughts on Silicon Valley, and the start-up and tech cultures. I think that those who are living in these cultures, or on the fringes will find it enjoyable, however living in the UK, the story doesn't resonate in the same way.
From what I can tell (from media), the story told is pretty accurate. Focussing on teams as they progress through the incubator is a good way of hitting all the main points. The book also covers some of the criticism of Y Combinator.
You're not going to learn any secrets from behind the curtains of Y Combinator in this book, however the anecdotes do provide the reader with a view of what it's like to be a start-up founder in SV. How relatable you find that story, and ultimately how enjoyable you find the book, will be dependent on your own view on the SV start-up culture.
From what I can tell (from media), the story told is pretty accurate. Focussing on teams as they progress through the incubator is a good way of hitting all the main points. The book also covers some of the criticism of Y Combinator.
You're not going to learn any secrets from behind the curtains of Y Combinator in this book, however the anecdotes do provide the reader with a view of what it's like to be a start-up founder in SV. How relatable you find that story, and ultimately how enjoyable you find the book, will be dependent on your own view on the SV start-up culture.
March 2, 2017
A first-hand account from inside the world's premier startup incubator, The Launch Pad is a short but poignant look at Y-Combinator. The book follows the Winter 2011 batch of 63 potential startups (which includes future heavyweight companies like RapGenius and CodeAcademy) through their 3-month journey of going from an idea to a company that can compete in the tech space with notable alumni Dropbox, Twitch, & AirBnB. The book goes very in depth and details all of the conversations that take place between the founders and the directors from Y-Combinator. Through this, the reader will gain invaluable insight from Y-C cofounder Paul Graham into what separates an Airbnb or Dropbox from a dud. Entrepreneurs, business folks, and startup founders alike will learn so much from this book and may even be inspired to start their own company.
March 25, 2018
Picked up this book to better understand the software industry and the art of startup investing. The drama of building a startup over the course of a 3 month period and pitching investors gave the book a great sense of drama. I also liked that Stross explored the question of why Y Combinator has funded very few female founders. For aspiring startup founders, the sections on preparing a 2 minute pitch about your company will be particularly helpful. The book was well narrated by René Ruiz.
Two areas where the book was lacking. I would have liked more discussion of the business side of startups (there was one great story of startup sales to be fair). Further, I found it surprising that there was no real discussion of "bootstrapping startups" (i.e. software companies that grow completely without investor money).
Two areas where the book was lacking. I would have liked more discussion of the business side of startups (there was one great story of startup sales to be fair). Further, I found it surprising that there was no real discussion of "bootstrapping startups" (i.e. software companies that grow completely without investor money).
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