Y Combinator

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.***Topics00:26 - What is Paystack?01:06 - Shola's background and previous company4:26 - Paystack's YC application6:01 - Meeting his cofounder7:26 - Interviewing at YC10:21 - Joining YC as a Nigerian company10:56 - Differences between startups in Nigeria and the US13:26 - Nigeria's payments market15:56 - Paystack's growth19:26 - Expanding to other countries and hiring25:26 - The best part of doing YC29:26 - Crypto developments in Africa30:21 - Creative Joe asks - How difficult is it to get into YC?30:56 - Educating US investors32:06 - Paul Israel asks - What gaps do you think still exist in the Nigerian fintech space?33:01 - Nelson asks - Are there any conventional startup advice that did not work for Paystack as their target market is Africa?35:21 - Nelson a

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's on Twitter @vcning.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:38 - What David brought with him5:48 - Microdosing6:48 - What are people buying?10:38 - Customer demographics12:00 - CBD14:58 - Changing vocabulary around cannabis17:13 - What is Meadow?17:38 - What is Nabis?17:53 - Why did they choose to not do cannabis product manufacturing?22:38 - Fundraising as a cannabis company26:08 - Why is there not one dominant cannabis company?29:53 - Legalization across Canada31:38 - Banking as a cannabis company36:13 - Taxes37:38 - Price sensitivity40:14 - Brand loyalty43:23 - What will the market look like in 5-10 years?

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.***Topics00:25 - Tuomas Grannas asks - What's your favorite LEGO theme?1:25 - What is Front?3:50 - Google Inbox shutting down5:25 - Prioritizing features7:50 - Features that have increased Front usage9:50 - What Front looked like at launch12:45 - Early user acquisition15:40 - Starting Front and meeting her cofounder19:10 - The idea for Front20:25 - When her cofounder was diagnosed with cancer23:20 - Hardest moments running Front25:25 - Employee retention30:55 - Transparency32:40 - Front's office in France33:30 - KP asks - What is the one unique insight about the problem you didn’t have at the start but only discovered later after your launch?36:15 - Did she consider other ideas Front?37:40- Jordan Jackson asks - Email at least for me - has taken on a different meaning in a life of messaging a

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.coYou can find him on Twitter at 5le.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:23 - 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 doing SEO well?5:48 - How should you crosslink?7:33 - Paying for links7:58 - SEO don’t dos8:38 - Things that are no longer useful in SEO9:43 - Keywords13:08 - Reviews13:48 - Content17:48 - Images23:08 - Link building28:23 - How much time to give SEO?28:53 - Mobile30:58 - Ranking32:08 - International SEO34:18 - Translation37:38 - International search39:53 - GDPR42:13 - Hiring someone to do SEO44:08 - What to do when you organic SEO disappears46:53 - Metrics for an SEO hire48:53 - Tools for SEO50:23 - Getting started in SEO

Joan Lasenby is a University Reader in the Signal Processing and Communications Group of the Cambridge University Engineering Department, and is a College Lecturer and Director of Studies in Engineering at Trinity College. Here's a list of her published work.In this episode we talk about Joan’s research into 3D reconstruction from multiple cameras and her interest in geometric algebra.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:32 - What's a tangible example of geometric algebra?1:52 - What is geometric algebra?6:47 - What resparked interest in geometric algebra?7:42 - Why is it important?11:32 - When did Joan start working on it?13:27 - Rotations17:17 - Computer vision in the early 90s19:32 - Joan's fellowship at the Royal Society23:32 - What's changed in computer vision since the 90s to allow for Joan's drone research?30:07 - Machine learning in computer vision31:52 - How Joan and her students are applying machine learning35:02 - Unifying qualities of geometric algebra41:02 - Joan's paper ending up

Peter Reinhardt is cofounder and CEO of Segment.  Segment helps companies capture data from every customer touchpoint and send it to the tools where it can be used most effectively.They were part of the YC Summer 2011 batch.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:26 - What is Segment?1:56 - Segment’s first customers3:31 - Their YC application4:26 - Going through YC5:56 - Realizing their first product didn’t work10:56 - Launching Analytics.js12:11 - Experiencing product market fit17:21 - Debating whether to launch or build out the product19:41 - Evan Farrell asks - You mentioned in the SS lecture that you had to totally pivot to Analytics.js to find PMF, is it possible to purely iterate on something people kinda like to find PMF, or should it be clear from the outset if a new idea is something people want?20:56 - The importance of having a skeptic on your team23:56 - Customer interviews26:56 - Benjamin Liam asks - How did they know they have the right messaging to explain their product?2

Ryan Petersen is the founder and CEO of Flexport.Flexport is a global freight forwarder powered by software and analytics. They are making international trade easier for over 10,000 companies in 70 countries. They were part of the YC Winter 2014 batch.***Topics0:23 - What is a freight forwarder?3:08 - Selling electric scooters on eBay 15 years ago5:53 - Ryan’s business school experience10:23 - Amazon competing with their vendors13:23 - Matt Susk asks - What were the most important takeaways from Columbia Business School? Would you encourage entrepreneurs to pursue a MBA?17:03 - Tyler Hogge asks - How did you get your first three clients at Flexport?20:03 - Being a solo founder23:08 - Varun Khurana asks - What's your strategy for rapidly hiring the best talent in so many different global hubs?25:53 - Challenges of scaling Flexport27:38 - Some of Ryan’s favorite books29:43 - Scaling culture34:23 - Jassim Ali asks - How has the Trump policy on foreign trade affected your business so far?39:23 - PowerDecal asks -

David Zeevi is a James S. McDonnell independent fellow at the Rockefeller University Center for Studies in Physics and Biology. He focuses on developing computational methods for studying microbial ecology in the human gut and in the marine environment, and its contribution to human and environmental health.He was one of the authors on the paper Personalized Nutrition by Prediction of Glycemic Responses.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.Apply for $120K in funding from YC.***Topics01:15 - Why did David start working on personalized nutrition?4:45 - How did the measure the effects of food in their study?11:55 - How was the study standardized across people?15:55 - How they measured an individual’s gut microbiome.17:30 - What is the gut microbiome?22:05 - Is there an ideal gut microbiome?23:20 - How do you manipulate your gut microbiome?24:50 - Fecal transplants.26:55 - Elizabeth Iorns asks - Does post prandial glucose response regulation track with weight regulation? I.e. can they use their test to determ

Jessica Brillhart is the founder of Vrai Pictures. They’re an independent immersive content studio.Before founding Vrai, Jessica was the Principal Filmmaker for VR at Google.The YC Podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Questions 00:23 - Starting VRAI10:23 - Story in film vs. VR12:38 - Gaming19:53 - Conditions at Omaha - The Weather Channel in VR22:38 - Jessica's upcoming projects27:48 - Andrew Peterman asks - How long until we'll be able to create 3D 360° video from cell phone hardware+amazing software?30:13 - Matt asks - Where do you see VR in 10 years?30:28 - Michael Hodapp asks - Does VR still have long term mass adoption potential, or will the market shift to AR?32:23 - Will people be in VR for a significant percentage of their time in the future?40:58 - Virginia Pigato asks - How can a traditional storyteller adapt to vr?50:13 - Can Olcer asks - What key but non-obvious thing is missing for VR to become mainstream?52:08 - Matt MacVey asks - What are some of the most exciting or scariest parts of soci

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 on August 28th.We’re also offering equity-free grants of $10,000 to 100 companies that participate in the course.Anyone can sign up for the course at StartupSchool.org.Read the transcript here.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics0:40 - What is Startup School?3:40 - Who are the speakers this year?5:00 - What are the different paths in Startup School?7:00 - Success stories from last year’s Startup School.8:55 - Why offer $10,000 grants?10:00 - What deals are offered to the startups in Startup School?11:00 - When does the course start?12:45 - What are the requirements to complete the course?15:15 - What are the topics that will be covered?18:00 - What happens during office hours sessions?22:30 - Who else is working on this course at YC?

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.For this episode we took questions from the internet. If you have questions for a future office hours episode, just tweet them our way.Read the transcript here.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.We're accepting applications from startups for the Winter 2019 funding cycle. Apply here.Questions00:25 - Why is YC worth 7% of your company?6:25 - Generating leverage when fundraising12:07 - Youssef asks - How did you validate your product market fit?15:00 - LC Carrier asks - How does YC feel about companies who don't want to raise VC after the program?17:05 - Edmilson Rodrigues asks - Do companies need to be incorporated already to participate in YC?18:50 - Alex Rodriguez asks - What do you look for in startups that haven't had good growth but continue to push through (e.g. AirBnB) that makes you accept them?26:50 - Fedor Paretsky asks - Do you have te

Elad Gil is an entrepreneur, operator, and investor. He cofounded Color Genomics and Mixer Labs. Worked at Google and Twitter. And has invested in companies including Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe.He just released the High Growth Handbook, which is a guide to scaling startups published by Stripe Press.It contains tactical advice on key issues for post product-market fit companies such as the role of the CEO, hiring executives, late stage fundraising, M&A, and other topics. It also includes interviews with people in tech, including Sam Altman, President of YC Group.You can find the High Growth Handbook on Amazon.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.We're accepting applications from startups for the Winter 2019 funding cycle. Apply here.***Topics01:04 - Why should an entrepreneur read the High Growth Handbook?5:35 - On Marc Andreessen's comment, "The companies that charge more tend to grow faster."6:50 - Myths about startups7:50 - Leon Coe asks - What types of businesses do you avoid investing in?9:

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 about a new initiative they’ve set up called Overwatch. Overwatch is a talent acquisition firm that matches employers with veterans from special operations forces and combat aviation. You can learn more about Overwatch at EFOverwatch.com.They’re also hosting an event called the Muster in San Francisco on October 17th and 18th. You can sign up at ExtremeOwnership.com.If you’d like to hear more from Mike and Jocko, check out Jocko Podcast Episode 134.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.We're accepting applications from startups for the Winter 2019 funding cycle. Apply here.***Topics01:04 - Intros5:07 - Mike and Jocko on how they transitioned out9:37 - How the military prepares people for the private sector13:47 - What is Overwatch?23:32 - Preconceptions about veterans28:24 - Advice for companies looking to hire veterans31:03 - Jocko's next book, The Dichotomy of

Recorded live at our Female Founders Conference in New York, an AMA with Kat Manalac, Kirsty Nathoo, Adora Cheung, Holly Liu, Jessica Livingston, and Carolynn Levy.This panel was hosted by Sharon Pope, Head of Marketing Programs at YC.We’re also posting the other talks from the Female Founders Conference today. You can see all of them and read the transcripts at blog.ycombinator.comIf you’d like to learn more about the Female Founders Conference, head over to femalefoundersconference.org

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 paper annotated by their community. Some recent papers were Birds and Frogs by Freeman Dyson and Von Neumann's First Computer Program by Donald Knuth.They’ve also built a Chrome Extension call Librarian for the arXiv which allows you to get direct links to references, do BibTeX extraction and make comments on papers.You can find them at FermatsLibrary.com.Read the transcript on our blog.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

Scott Aaronson is the David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, and director of its Quantum Information Center. Before teaching at UT, he taught Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. His research interests center around the capabilities and limits of quantum computers, and computational complexity theory more generally.If you’ve listened to our other episodes about quantum computers and are curious to learn more, check out Scott’s book Quantum Computing Since Democritus.And if you want to read Scott’s blog you can find that at scottaaronson.com/blog/.Read the transcript on our blog.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

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 the Winter 2017 batch and just closed their Series B, which was led by YC Continuity.In addition to discussing how the Brex team built out their service, Anu and Henrique also cover the specifics of what it takes to build a fintech startup in 2018. And Henrique shares advice for young founders, as he started his first company at 16.Read the transcript on our blog.

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 Crocodoc (YC W10).Today we’re talking about a project Jared, Matt, and several other people at YC have been working on. It’s called Work at a Startup and it’s like a common application for engineers to apply to many YC companies simultaneously.We’re also hosting a Work at a Startup Expo on July 28th in Mountain View where you’ll be able to meet 35 rapidly growing YC companies. You can learn more and apply to attend at workatastartup.com/expo.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

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 the internet. If you have questions for a future office hours episode, just tweet them our way.Questions0:41 - topherPedersen asks - How many users did you have when you applied to YC? Also, how much revenue had you generated?2:55 - Hatlii asks - How do you keep going if you can’t raise any money?4:54 - Alejandro Ruperti asks - When/how do you decide to walk away from something you started?10:41 - Chris Melnick-MacDonald asks - What advice and lessons did you learn in entering the #Canadian market?13:16 - Yahya Elamrani asks - Do I have to work on culture in the very early stage?15:39 - Adam Sanders asks - What was the best decision you made for Homejoy?16:53 - Ujjawal Chauhan asks - Would love to know what’s the one thing she’d do differently in hindsight if she were to start over again?20:35 - Nikita Butakov asks - What are some unique data science / machine

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 Winter 2015 YC batch.Read the transcript here.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.