Y Combinator Startup Podcast #123 - Harry Zhang and Kevin Hale
Apr 24, 2019
Harry Zhang, co-founder of Lob, a company transforming physical mail through APIs, joins Kevin Hale, a Y Combinator partner, to dive deep into the startup world. They discuss Lob's unique origins and early challenges, from securing their first big customer to navigating pricing strategies. The duo also tackles the competitive landscape for tech talent, exploring how to attract top engineers. Insights on equity compensation and lessons learned from early sales experiences round out a conversation rich with practical advice for aspiring founders.
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Unexpected First Customer
- Lob's first customer was a 16-year-old running a Team Fortress 2 store.
- He used Lob's API to combat fraud by mailing codes with physical letters, an unexpected use case.
Landing Top-Tier Clients
- Find a lighthouse customer, a prominent client who validates your product.
- Leverage their success story to attract similar high-tier clients, building credibility.
Pricing Structure Evolution
- Lob initially structured pricing like AWS reserved instances but later changed it.
- They introduced a platform fee alongside per-piece pricing, differentiating tech value from commodity mail costs.