Y Combinator Startup Podcast

Sam Altman expands on ideas that have come up in several of his essays. Specifically: choosing projects, creating value, and finding purpose.Sam’s the president of YC Group and co-chairman of OpenAI. You can find him on Twitter @sama.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics1:25 - From The Days Are Long But The Decades Are Short - Minimize your own cognitive load from distracting things that don’t really matter. It’s hard to overstate how important this is, and how bad most people are at it.3:50 - Stepping back and evaluating your work5:30 - Creating metrics for your projects6:30 - Taking a year off 9:30 - Figuring out when to commit11:30 - Poker12:30 - From Productivity - Sleep seems to be the most important physical factor in productivity for me. Exercise is probably the second most important physical factor. The third area is nutrition. 15:00 - From You and Your Research by Richard Hamming - "If what you are doing is not important, and if you don't think it is going to lead to something important, why are you at Bell Labs working on it?"16:30 - From The Days Are Long But The Decades Are Short - Things in life are rarely as risky as they seem. Most people are too risk-averse, and so most advice is biased too much towards conservative paths.17:30 - Perspective shifts20:15 - From Productivity - My system has three key pillars: “Make sure to get the important shit done”, “Don’t waste time on stupid shit”, and “make a lot of lists”.22:30 - What Happened to Innovation24:50 - From You and Your Research by Richard Hamming - He who works with the door open gets all kinds of interruptions, but he also occasionally gets clues as to what the world is and what might be important. 26:50 - The deferred life plan doesn’t work31:50 - From The Merge - Our self-worth is so based on our intelligence that we believe it must be singular and not slightly higher than all the other animals on a continuum. Perhaps the AI will feel the same way and note that differences between us and bonobos are barely worth discussing. 34:10 - Weight training35:30 - The Way to Love by Anthony de Mello

Laura Deming is a partner at The Longevity Fund. They invest in companies that will allow us to live longer and healthier lives.You can learn more about them at Longevity.vc.Laura’s on Twitter @LauraDeming.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:22 - Why focus on longevity now?2:12 - How did Laura get started in longevity?3:22 - Why raise a fund?5:52 - What does Laura do personally for longevity?9:07 - Worm and mouse studies10:44 - Craig's personal habits12:37 - Human studies15:22 - Mica asks - Do you think immortality is going to be achieved by: 1. Curing all disease and stop aging so we could live with our own bodies forever 2. OR is going to be something like porting our brain, "mind" to a computer/robot?17:37 - Most likely strategies to increase lifespan19:47 - Ryan Hoover asks - Ask about the ethics of longevity. Jack J. Fernandes asks - Do people actually want to live longer?21:44 - Mica asks - How would immortality change society? Wouldn't we become more complacent? Since we have "forever" to do things wouldn't that diminish our rate of innovation? And since less new individuals are being created we would have access to less new ideas. We would just stop creating new Newtons, Einsteins, Mozarts…24:52 - Cognitive enhancement25:52 - Daily habits34:12 - Tech environment changes in the past 5-10 years39:22 - What percentage of people in labs want to start companies?41:37 - Pioneer43:57 - Confidence45:52 - Podcasting49:12 - Choosing media to consume52:17 - Sam Betesh asks - The last thing that led to a step function change in average life span was germ theory. What new areas of research might provide the next step function change?55:07 - Extending fertility windows57:22 - Jason Choi asks - What % of longevity is attributable to lifestyle choices vs genetics and the progress of technology in influencing both.58:37 - Fatih asks - is blood transfusion a thing or just a hoax1:00:42 - Rapamycin1:02:27 - Testosterone1:04:37 - Chris asks - Aubrey De Grey, IIRC, mentioned a number of times that we might, in the future, replace organs and tissues with new organic ones before they fail. Is this actually a reasonable idea, or is it more likely that we'll replace them with synthetic ones, if we replace them at all?1:06:07 - Mica asks - Laura did a "cookie diet" for one month. Why did you do it? How did you feel? Doesn't it go against all the research on longevity? ;-)1:08:07 - Is Laura actually not doing anything strange in her diet?

Shola Akinlade is CEO and cofounder of Paystack. Paystack helps businesses in Africa get paid online and offline. They’re based in Lagos, Nigeria and were part of the Winter 2016 batch.Shola’s on Twitter @shollsman.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:26 - What is Paystack?01:06 - Shola's background and previous company4:26 - Paystack's YC application6:01 - Meeting his cofounder7:26 - Interviewing at YC10:21 - Joining YC as a Nigerian company10:56 - Differences between startups in Nigeria and the US13:26 - Nigeria's payments market15:56 - Paystack's growth19:26 - Expanding to other countries and hiring25:26 - The best part of doing YC29:26 - Crypto developments in Africa30:21 - Creative Joe asks - How difficult is it to get into YC?30:56 - Educating US investors32:06 - Paul Israel asks - What gaps do you think still exist in the Nigerian fintech space?33:01 - Nelson asks - Are there any conventional startup advice that did not work for Paystack as their target market is Africa?35:21 - Nelson asks - What are some important lessons he learnt while building Paystack?37:46 - Nelson asks - What are some applications he would love to see been built on top of Paystack?39:56 - Building for Africa42:16 - Nestor Ezeagu asks - Do you think something like GoFundMe could work in Nigeria?42:46 - Car Joyy asks - Can I receive payments as an MVP ecommerce site before registering as a company?44:06 - Achyut Shrestha asks - What’s your tech stack?44:41 - Jordan Jackson asks - What are the biggest cultural differences that you account for in UX and product design?48:41 - Shola's outlook50:36 - What he misses about life before Paystack52:51 - Paystack in five years54:16 - Music recommendations

David Hua is CEO and cofounder of Meadow. Meadow makes retail and delivery software for dispensaries. They were part of the Winter 2015 batch. You can check them out at GetMeadow.com. David’s on Twitter @Hua.Vincent Ning is CEO and cofounder of Nabis. Nabis is a cannabis services group. They offer distribution, logistics, sales, and marketing. You can check them out at GetNabis.com. Vincent's on Twitter @vcning.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:38 - What David brought with him5:48 - Microdosing6:48 - What are people buying?10:38 - Customer demographics12:00 - CBD14:58 - Changing vocabulary around cannabis17:13 - What is Meadow?17:38 - What is Nabis?17:53 - Why did they choose to not do cannabis product manufacturing?22:38 - Fundraising as a cannabis company26:08 - Why is there not one dominant cannabis company?29:53 - Legalization across Canada31:38 - Banking as a cannabis company36:13 - Taxes37:38 - Price sensitivity40:14 - Brand loyalty43:23 - What will the market look like in 5-10 years?50:08 - Cannabis media52:23 - Psychedelics56:38 - Exonerations and social equity programs

Mathilde Collin is the cofounder and CEO of Front. Front is a shared inbox for teams and they were part of the YC Summer 2014 batch.You can check out Front at https://frontapp.com/The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:25 - Tuomas Grannas asks - What's your favorite LEGO theme?1:25 - What is Front?3:50 - Google Inbox shutting down5:25 - Prioritizing features7:50 - Features that have increased Front usage9:50 - What Front looked like at launch12:45 - Early user acquisition15:40 - Starting Front and meeting her cofounder19:10 - The idea for Front20:25 - When her cofounder was diagnosed with cancer23:20 - Hardest moments running Front25:25 - Employee retention30:55 - Transparency32:40 - Front's office in France33:30 - KP asks - What is the one unique insight about the problem you didn’t have at the start but only discovered later after your launch?36:15 - Did she consider other ideas Front?37:40- Jordan Jackson asks - Email at least for me - has taken on a different meaning in a life of messaging apps and chat platforms. It is more serious in a way. How do you see email evolving and the ecosystem that encompasses in peoples lives?39:55 - If she could remove any email feature41:20 - When did they hit product market fit?45:05 - Meditation

Eli Schwartz is the Director of SEO and Growth at SurveyMonkey. He came in to answer commonly asked questions about SEO.Eli blogs about SEO and growth at elischwartz.coYou can find him on Twitter at 5le.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:23 - Does SEO matter in 2018?2:23 - Where should a company start with SEO?3:53 - Who’s doing SEO well?4:48 - Why is Amazon doing SEO well?5:48 - How should you crosslink?7:33 - Paying for links7:58 - SEO don’t dos8:38 - Things that are no longer useful in SEO9:43 - Keywords13:08 - Reviews13:48 - Content17:48 - Images23:08 - Link building28:23 - How much time to give SEO?28:53 - Mobile30:58 - Ranking32:08 - International SEO34:18 - Translation37:38 - International search39:53 - GDPR42:13 - Hiring someone to do SEO44:08 - What to do when you organic SEO disappears46:53 - Metrics for an SEO hire48:53 - Tools for SEO50:23 - Getting started in SEO

Joan Lasenby is a University Reader in the Signal Processing and Communications Group of the Cambridge University Engineering Department, and is a College Lecturer and Director of Studies in Engineering at Trinity College. Here's a list of her published work.In this episode we talk about Joan’s research into 3D reconstruction from multiple cameras and her interest in geometric algebra.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:32 - What's a tangible example of geometric algebra?1:52 - What is geometric algebra?6:47 - What resparked interest in geometric algebra?7:42 - Why is it important?11:32 - When did Joan start working on it?13:27 - Rotations17:17 - Computer vision in the early 90s19:32 - Joan's fellowship at the Royal Society23:32 - What's changed in computer vision since the 90s to allow for Joan's drone research?30:07 - Machine learning in computer vision31:52 - How Joan and her students are applying machine learning35:02 - Unifying qualities of geometric algebra41:02 - Joan's paper ending up on Hacker News45:32 - Where could geometric algebra take hold?47:32 - Running and mobility48:32 - Where to learn more

Peter Reinhardt is cofounder and CEO of Segment.  Segment helps companies capture data from every customer touchpoint and send it to the tools where it can be used most effectively.They were part of the YC Summer 2011 batch.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.***Topics00:26 - What is Segment?1:56 - Segment’s first customers3:31 - Their YC application4:26 - Going through YC5:56 - Realizing their first product didn’t work10:56 - Launching Analytics.js12:11 - Experiencing product market fit17:21 - Debating whether to launch or build out the product19:41 - Evan Farrell asks - You mentioned in the SS lecture that you had to totally pivot to Analytics.js to find PMF, is it possible to purely iterate on something people kinda like to find PMF, or should it be clear from the outset if a new idea is something people want?20:56 - The importance of having a skeptic on your team23:56 - Customer interviews26:56 - Benjamin Liam asks - How did they know they have the right messaging to explain their product?28:26 - Idea generation33:11 - Danny Prol asks - What values and standards do you have in place for your team at Segment? And how do you actively build that culture into your company?37:26 - Ashwin Doke asks - How has GDPR impacted Segment's business model?39:41 - Andrew Pikul asks - Any advice he has on asking for more money than you're comfortable asking for. 42:11 - Juan Carlos Garza asks - How did YC help you to where Segment is right now?43:41 - Juan Carlos Garza asks - In an early stage, what's the thin line between ignoring a customer suggested feature or moving a customer requested feature to the core of your application?45:11 - Biggest learnings since YC45:16 - Important hires at Segment

Ryan Petersen is the founder and CEO of Flexport.Flexport is a global freight forwarder powered by software and analytics. They are making international trade easier for over 10,000 companies in 70 countries. They were part of the YC Winter 2014 batch.***Topics0:23 - What is a freight forwarder?3:08 - Selling electric scooters on eBay 15 years ago5:53 - Ryan’s business school experience10:23 - Amazon competing with their vendors13:23 - Matt Susk asks - What were the most important takeaways from Columbia Business School? Would you encourage entrepreneurs to pursue a MBA?17:03 - Tyler Hogge asks - How did you get your first three clients at Flexport?20:03 - Being a solo founder23:08 - Varun Khurana asks - What's your strategy for rapidly hiring the best talent in so many different global hubs?25:53 - Challenges of scaling Flexport27:38 - Some of Ryan’s favorite books29:43 - Scaling culture34:23 - Jassim Ali asks - How has the Trump policy on foreign trade affected your business so far?39:23 - PowerDecal asks - How do you poach clients from legacy providers?46:23 - Automation in freight forwarding49:23 - Jason Yannos asks - If you weren't operating Flexport and had to source a new idea to work on, where would you start?53:23 - Derisking product ideas56:53 - Biggest lessons learned at Flexport

David Zeevi is a James S. McDonnell independent fellow at the Rockefeller University Center for Studies in Physics and Biology. He focuses on developing computational methods for studying microbial ecology in the human gut and in the marine environment, and its contribution to human and environmental health.He was one of the authors on the paper Personalized Nutrition by Prediction of Glycemic Responses.The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.Apply for $120K in funding from YC.***Topics01:15 - Why did David start working on personalized nutrition?4:45 - How did the measure the effects of food in their study?11:55 - How was the study standardized across people?15:55 - How they measured an individual’s gut microbiome.17:30 - What is the gut microbiome?22:05 - Is there an ideal gut microbiome?23:20 - How do you manipulate your gut microbiome?24:50 - Fecal transplants.26:55 - Elizabeth Iorns asks - Does post prandial glucose response regulation track with weight regulation? I.e. can they use their test to determine what individual people should eat or not eat to lose weight?28:35 - Has this research been turned into a product?29:35 - Who else worked on this research?30:35 - How was their predictive algorithm made?35:15 - Did they end up with any dietary suggestions?36:15 - David’s bread study.38:55 - Has David changed his own diet?39:25 - Why fat was vilified.43:15 - David’s ocean microbiome and other research.51:05 - Traveling and your microbiome.56:35 - Trying this out yourself.