We've cut down the seventh week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.Kevin Hale gave both lectures this week. Kevin’s a partner at YC and cofounded Wufoo. His first lecture is on how to improve conversion rates and his second lecture is on pricing for startups.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/***Topics00:00 - Intro 00:27 - Kevin Hale - How to Improve Conversion Rates1:02 - Why we care about conversion rates2:02 - Shareware conversion rate is .5%2:22 - Casual download games is 2%2:32 - Freemium SaaS range from 1.5 to 5%3:57 - Knowledge spectrum5:52 - The one button interface6:37 - What is the call to action? And the magic moment.8:02 - What is it?8:38 - Is it right for me?9:02 - Is it legit?9:22 - Who else is using it?9:52 - How much? What's the catch?10:39 - Where can I get help?11:30 - Kevin Hale - Startup Pricing 10113:15 - Monetization gives you the biggest bang for your buck14:35 - Price thermometer16:35 - Mistake 1 - Prices are too low16:55 - Mistake 2 - Underestimate costs 17:08 - Mistake 3 - Don't understand your value17:27 - Mistake 4 - Focus on wrong customers18:05 - Sales and profit over a product's life19:20 - Why is pricing innovation hard?21:27 - How to optimize prices 22:32 - $1B formula24:05 - Price and complexity26:55 - 10 - 5 - 20 rule28:20 - Summary

YC Partner Kevin Hale walks us through the process of evaluating ideas and how founders should think about their startups.

We've cut down the first week of Startup School lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast. First, a lecture from Kevin Hale. Kevin is a YC partner and a cofounder of Wufoo. His lecture is about How to Evaluate Startup Ideas.Then, a lecture from Eric Migicovsky. Eric is a YC partner and the founder of Pebble. His lecture is about How to Talk to Users.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/***Topics00:00 - Intro00:43 - Kevin Hale on How to Evaluate Startup Ideas2:04 - How can I predict if an investor will like my idea?2:50 - A startup idea is a hypothesis5:44 - Problem6:59 - Solution8:16 - Insight8:57 - Unfair advantages13:45 - Two beliefs about startups15:19 - Eric Migicovsky on How to Talk to Users17:36 - Three common errors people make when talking to users20:20 - Five questions to ask in a user interview20:28 - What's the hardest part about doing the thing you're trying to solve?21:02 - Tell me about the last time that you encountered this problem21:22 - Why was this hard?23:08 - What, if anything, have you done to try to solve this problem?24:10 - What don't you love about the solutions you've already tried?25:21 - Three stages in which talking to users is extremely beneficial26:07 - Idea stage30:40 - Prototype stage33:41 - Iterating towards product market fit

In this lecture, YC Partner Kevin Hale goes over how to package up your idea and communicate it to an investor. He shares his tips on how to craft your pitch in a clear and concise way that effectively grabs your audience's attention.

YC Partner Kevin Hale talks about the importance of building a successful working relationship with your cofounders, and setting up processes to optimize for the strengths of your team.