Y Combinator Startup Podcast

#133 - Updates for Startup School 2019 and Office Hours with Kevin Hale

Jul 3, 2019

Kevin Hale, a Partner at Y Combinator and co-founder of Wufoo, dives into the latest updates for Startup School 2019. He shares key insights on building exceptional customer experiences early on, emphasizing personal support and intuitive design. Hale also discusses navigating product-market fit and the importance of audience building before launching a product. He highlights strategies for startups to pivot effectively and provides valuable tips on vetting co-founders, likening it to choosing the right partner in life.

54:30

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Episode guests

Kevin Hale

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Episode notes

Intro

5min

Enhancing Startup School: Community and Focus

4min

Building Exceptional Customer Experiences in Early Startups

3min

Designing User-Friendly Experiences

12min

Navigating Startup Ideas and Growth

13min

Navigating Product Market Fit in Startups

14min

The Dating Game: Finding the Right Co-Founder

4min

Kevin Hale is a Partner at YC. Before working at YC he cofounded Wufoo.

Kevin’s on the podcast today to do some Office Hours and talk about this year’s edition of Startup School.

If you’d like to sign up or learn more, check out https://StartupSchool.org.

The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

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

00:51 - Stats from Startup School 2018

2:11 - Updates for Startup School 2019

8:41 - Sign up at StartupSchool.org

9:16 - Sean Maina asks - In the early days of Wufoo, how did you give a great customer experience?

11:56 - Design affordances

14:11 - Sunil Tej asks - How was Wufoo 10x better than the market when they just got started?

18:11 - Building an audience before a product

20:41 - Wufoo's growth

23:56 - Coming up with the idea for Wufoo

27:56 - Companies pivoting during YC

29:26 - Building a product in an unsexy space

32:56 - Sivaraj Ghanesh asks - How do you know if you've achieved product market fit? Or if your product just isn't noticed yet?

43:56 - Sivaraj Ghanesh asks - How do you gauge the size of a market?

46:26 - Tips for Startup School success

50:41 - Advice on vetting cofounders

54:11 - Sign up at StartupSchool.org

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