Today's episode is a regap of the sixth week of start up school. First we'll have a lecture from tim brady, a partner at y c. He shares six things that you can do now to help create a solid foundation for your company. Then we'll hear from dalton caldwell, director of admissions and pivoting. His lecture covers pivoting and his advice on how founders should think about it.
We've cut down the sixth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.
First a lecture from Tim Brady. Tim’s a partner at YC. His lecture covers the importance of building a good culture early and shares six things that you can do now to help create a solid foundation for your startup.
Then a lecture from Dalton Caldwell. Dalton is a partner at YC and he’s also the head of admissions. His lecture covers pivoting and his advice on how founders should think about it.
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/
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Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:38 - Tim Brady on Building Culture
1:13 - Culture is behavior and the right behaviors support a good business
4:38 - Six things new startups can do now
5:00 - 1. Be proud of the problem you are solving
7:31 - 2. Create a long term vision that others will follow
9:36 - 3. List your values then model the behavior
12:34 - 4. Align your culture with your customer
14:49 - 5. Discuss the importance of diversity to your company
16:43 - 6. Put a hiring process into practice. Plan to evolve it.
18:24 - Dalton Caldwell on Pivoting
18:53 - The term "pivot"
20:20 - Why pivot?
21:33 - Good reasons to pivot
22:35 - Good reasons not to pivot
23:13 - Why people take too long to pivot
26:01 - Anecdotes
27:22 - Product market fit
28:34 - How to find a better idea
30:40 - It's ok to not work on an idea that requires venture capital
31:34 - Venture vs. non-venture scale ideas
32:52 - When is the best time to pivot
33:48 - More pivoting thoughts
35:07 - Idea quality scores
37:11 - Brex
39:51 - Retool
41:37 - Magic
43:22 - Segment
45:16 - Dalton's summary