How to Start a Startup

Sam caps off the How to Start a Startup series with things you should ignore when you start, but become important a year in (after product-market fit). Thanks for watching How to Start a Startup. Hope you learned a ton!From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183BLecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Sam-altman-lecture-20-closing-thoughts-and-later-stage-advice-annotatedSee the slides at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec20/Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64049Click to view: show page on Awesound

Three segments in this lecture:Tyler Bosmeny, founder and CEO of Clever, starts off today's lecture with an overview of the Sales Funnel, and how to get to your first $1 Million.Michael Seibel, founder of Justin.tv and Socialcam and Partner at Y Combinator, then goes over how to talk to investors - the pitch.Dalton Caldwell, founder of imeem and App.net and Partner at Y Combiantor, and Qasar Younis, founder of Talkbin and Partner at Y Combinator, then perform an investor meeting roleplay to give you a taste of how it actually might look behind the scenes.From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183BLecture Transcript: genius.com/Tyler-bosmeny-lecture-19-sales-and-marketing-how-to-pitch-and-investor-meeting-roleplaying-annotatedSee the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec19/Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64048Click to view: show page on Awesound

There's a lot that goes behind the scenes in running a startup. Getting the legal, finance (equity allocation, vesting), accounting, and other overhead right will save you a lot of pain in the long run. Kirsty Nathoo, CFO at Y Combinator, and Carolynn Levy, General Counsel at Y Combinator, cover these very important topics in this lecture.From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183BLecture Transcript: genius.com/Kirsty-nathoo-lecture-18-mechanics-legal-finance-hr-etc-annotatedSee the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec18/Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64047Click to view: show page on Awesound

Hosain Rahman, CEO and Founder of Jawbone, covers the design process for building hardware products users love.Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Hosain-rahman-lecture-17-how-to-build-products-users-love-part-ii-annotatedSee the readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec17/Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64046Click to view: show page on Awesound

Building product, and talking to users. In the early stages of your startup, those are the two things you should focus on.In this lecture, Emmett Shear, Founder and CEO of Justin.tv and Twitch, covers the latter. What can you learn by talking to users that you can’t learn by looking at data? What questions should you ask? How can user interviews define or redefine your product goals?From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183BLecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Emmett-shear-lecture-16-how-to-run-a-user-interview-annotatedSee the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec16/Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64045Click to view: show page on Awesound

You are not the only one whom your decisions impact. Ben Horowitz, founder of Andreessen Horowitz and Opsware, discusses this important management perspective that founders miss, with, of course, the gratuitous rap lyric or two sprinkled in.From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183BLecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/B-horowitz-lecture-15-how-to-manage-annotatedSee the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec15/Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64044Click to view: show page on Awesound

What should the CEO be doing on a day to day basis? How do you make sure the company is moving in the right direction? Keith Rabois, Partner at Khosla Ventures and former COO of Square, tackles the nitty gritty - How to Operate. Lots of actionable takeaways from this lecture!Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Keith-rabois-lecture-14-how-to-operate-annotatedSee the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec14/Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64043From YC Startup Class - How to Start a Startup - Stanford CS183BClick to view: show page on Awesound

So you've learned how to get started, how to raise money, how to build products, and how to grow. Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn and Partner at Greylock Ventures, addresses many of the questions and confusions that might be cropping up - How to be a Great Founder.From YC Startup Class - How to Start a StartupLecture Transcript: genius.com/Reid-hoffman-lecture-13-how-to-be-a-great-founder-annotatedSee the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec13/Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64042Click to view: show page on Awesound

Aaron Levie - founder of Box, enterprise master, Twitter comedic genius. In this lecture, he'll convince you to Build for the Enterprise.Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Aaron-levie-lecture-12-sales-and-marketing-annotatedSee the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec12/Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64041Click to view: show page on Awesound

Stripe and Pinterest - two companies well known for their strong cultures. The founders - John Collison, Patrick Collison, and Ben Silberman - take Q&A from Sam in part 2 of Hiring and Culture.Lecture Transcript: tech.genius.com/Patrick-collison-lecture-11-company-culture-and-building-a-team-part-ii-annotatedSee the readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec11/Discuss this lecture: startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64040Click to view: show page on Awesound