Damn good startup advice
Make something people want
In 2008, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia had maxed out their credit cards and were trying to save their failing business. In desperation, they made and sold politically themed cereal boxes for forty dollars each. They applied to the angle investor Y Combinator, co-founded by Paul Graham. Their interview went badly. Having listened to the proposition, Paul asked, Are people actually doing this? Why? What’s wrong with them? Paul seemed to reject the idea. While packing to leave, Joe handed one of their cereal boxes to Paul who was bemused by the strange gift. Joe explained how selling them stopped their startup from going under. Paul quipped, Wow, you guys are like cockroaches. You just won’t die. This was the catalyst Paul needed to invest. Hence, had it not been for a novelty cereal box and Y Combinator we would not have Airbnb.
In addition to Airbnb, Y Combinator (YC) invested in and supported the early development of other startups, e.g. DropBox, Reddit and Stripe. YC freely shares valuable startup resources.
📚 Y Combinator library
Y Combinator’s library includes videos, podcasts and essays for startup founders. Sections include:
Startup school. A series of talks which address questions such as, Should You Start a Startup?, How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas and How to Get Your First Customers.
Dalton and Michael. Two tech startup founders chat. Subjects include: Why You Shouldn't Copy Your Tech Idols and Will OpenAI kill all startups?
Design review. Apps and websites are critiqued by experts. Topics include: Building a Better Mobile App, Critiquing AI Startup Websites and Critiquing Startup Websites.
🗞️ Hacker News
It’s fantastic to see the work Y Combinator is doing to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in the startup community. Hacker News is one of my favourite sources of pointers to hackers and their hacks! - Satya Nadella (Microsoft CEO)
Hacker News (HN) is a social news website focusing on computing and entrepreneurship. The word hacker, in the name, refers to the hacker culture where people enjoy tinkering with technology. HN is run by Y Combinator. Many successful and would be startups use the site. I post this weekly blog there.
✍️ Paul Graham’s essays
What you need to succeed in a startup is not expertise in startups. What you need is expertise in your own users. - Paul Graham
Paul Graham is a Silicon Valley icon. He co-founder Y Combinator with Jessica Livingston, his wife. Paul freely shares startup advice in his original and insightful essays. I particularly enjoy:
Do things that don’t scale. This seems counter-intuitive to many who have visions of massively growing their fledgling ideas. However, products often take a manual push from their founders to get going.
A project of one’s own. Paul said, If I had to choose between my kids getting good grades and working on ambitious projects of their own, I'd pick the projects.
How to Do Great Work. Paul’s suggestions include: focus on our strengths, work on things that matter, be persistent, take risks and seek user feedback.
➕ Other resources
Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston interview by Bloomberg Studio 1
How to Join the New Rich post by Phil Martin
How to Create a Hit Product post by Phil Martin
It is hard for me to beat Paul Graham’s advice so I’ll let him close out this post. Marketplaces are so hard to get rolling that you should expect to take heroic measures at first. In Airbnb's case, these consisted of going door to door in New York, recruiting new users and helping existing ones improve their listings.
Have fun.
Phil…
