Y Combinator Startup Podcast YC Partners Answer Your Questions | Office Hours
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Oct 21, 2025 Founders grapple with essential decisions about go-to-market strategies for AI, weighing options like partnerships and acquiring firms. The importance of measurement in automation is highlighted, along with advice on navigating product pivots and when to hire. The panel emphasizes learning quickly through smaller customers and the need for founders to understand sales fundamentals before utilizing AI sales roles. Insights on open sourcing SaaS products and the value of testing ideas help navigate the tricky terrain of startup growth.
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Start Narrow, Automate Gradually
- Build a narrow AI product that solves one valuable task for legacy professionals and sell that to firms rather than trying to automate everything at once.
- Track measurable automation progress over time and prioritize technical hires to keep automation moving forward.
Measure Automation, Protect Engineers
- Set a specific metric (e.g., percent automated or percent technical staff) and improve it month over month to avoid scaling too early with manual work.
- Maintain enough technical people so engineering can keep shipping automation while operations run.
Work From A Customer's Office
- Vessence founders without legal backgrounds built their MVP by working out of a large law firm's office for months to learn workflows and get buy-in.
- Embedding with domain customers early can shortcut product development and validation.