Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator and renowned startup accelerator, shares his insights on founding success and the power of spotting extreme winners in the tech landscape. He discusses his early hustle at 14 and turning down a lucrative offer from Peter Thiel. Garry emphasizes the importance of capital-as-a-service and offers crucial advice for AI founders. He also reflects on lessons learned from Paul Graham, underlining the unique sauce that keeps YC ahead of its Silicon Valley counterparts.

Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator, discusses the transformative power of writing, the impact of forums on shaping the internet, the importance of good documentation in coding and writing, the power of impactful writing and storytelling in startups, and explores Vennabar, Bush, and the Memics.

My guest today is Garry Tan, founder and managing partner of early-stage venture firm, Initialized Capital. Before starting Initialized, Garry was a partner at Y Combinator, employee number 10 at Palantir, and co-founder of YC backed blog platform Posterous. Our discussion covers what’s missing in the investment world, how to best systematize venture investments, and what he learned from Paul Graham. Please enjoy my conversation with Garry Tan.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the new digital hub for market intelligence. The Tegus platform empowers Investors and Corporate Development teams to invest smarter by pairing best-in-class technology with the highest quality user-generated content and data. Find out why a majority of the top firms are using Tegus on a daily basis. Head to tegus.co/patrick for your free trial.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Lemon.io. The team at Lemon.io has built a network of Eastern European developers ready to pair with fast-growing startups. We have faced challenges hiring engineering talent for various projects - and Lemon.io offered developers for one-off projects, developers for full start to finish product development, or developers that could be add-ons to the existing team. Check out lemon.io/patrick to learn more.   -----   Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.    Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:02:45] - [First question] - Why he’s interested by software and the global brain [00:06:23] - How the shift from global to local manifests in his investing and company activities [00:11:42] - Ways to increase throughput that would benefit everybody in the investing world  [00:17:13] - What software he would build if there were no limitations and what happens at the systems level of securing deals at Initialize  [00:23:33] - Why there is no objective application process for early-stage capital and how much human judgment we can remove from approving funding [00:26:49] - Shared characteristics amongst new inventions he finds favorable  [00:31:49] - Whether he’s able to evaluate an idea without a prototype [00:33:33] - Why travel planning software was the worst idea of 2012 and what he sees as the bad idea of today [00:36:06] - The most common reasons for failure in these types of businesses [00:39:07] - Is big enabling technology shifts what manifests in successful outcomes? [00:40:37] - The role of media and how it intersects with investing [00:44:29] - What he attributes to the success of his firm and thriving in chaos [00:48:11] - Would he press a button that would have made his childhood easy, and whether he’s met founders who haven’t come across adversity in their lives  [00:50:00] - His thoughts on the world today via the lens of his portfolio [00:53:12] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him   

In this episode we’re talking to Garry Tan, the president & CEO of Y Combinator. We go full circle with Garry as we chat about his path from turning down a job with Peter Thiel, to founding a YC-backed company in 2008, then starting his own multi-billion dollar fund in 2011, and finally returning to run Y Combinator in 2023. Garry knows about programming, design, running startups, and investing in them, so there are lessons and stories for everyone in this episode.

Garry Tan, President and CEO of YCombinator, shares valuable startup advice on cofounder dynamics, paying attention to competition, healing adverse childhood experiences, users lying until they pay, and the importance of founder culture in startups. He also talks about why SF is the best place for product-market fit and the hosts discuss their takeaways.

Garry Tan, President and CEO of Y Combinator, shares unconventional advice for founders. He discusses believing in yourself, managing teams and resolving conflict, addressing mental health, the startup process, the power of human connection, and balancing academics with entrepreneurship.

Notorious founder-turned-investor Garry Tan discusses AI innovation at Y Combinator, predicting startup longevity, shifting demographics of founders, building in San Francisco, and making YC a beacon for creators.

Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator and a politically active tech leader, shares insights on the evolving landscape of technology and politics. He delves into the necessity of community engagement in San Francisco and highlights the contrasting dynamics between small startups and big tech. Discussions revolve around Lina Khan's antitrust strategies, emphasizing fair competition for startups. Tan also explores innovative investment opportunities in sectors beyond AI while humorously addressing his future in politics.

The podcast explores the rise of brave San Francisco Asian men like Chino Yang and Garry Tan, challenging stereotypes and advocating for empowerment. It delves into the impact of drug housing decisions in Chinatown, political turmoil post-lockdown, and the dynamics of Asian hate crimes in the city.

Garry Tan, YCombinator CEO, discusses his journey from tech to politics, emphasizing the need for tech representation in policy-making. He explores empowering grassroots movements, navigating immigration policies, AI's societal impact, and the effects of regulations on entrepreneurship and innovation in tech.