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PODCAST

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

We help founders make something people want. The Y Combinator Podcast is where builders talk about building. From the earliest days of an idea to scaling a company that changes the world, YC partners and founders share real stories, lessons, and tactics from the frontlines.

technology

All Episodes

00:37:41

The Future Of Design With Figma's Dylan Field

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2025/03/13

Design isn’t just about making things work—it’s about how they work, says Dylan Field, the co-founder & CEO of Figma.As AI transforms tech, he believes a designer's judgment, taste, and agency will matter more than ever.Dylan sat down with YC's Garry Tan to discuss the evolving world of design in the age of AI, the challenging early days at Figma, and how his team forever changed the way designers and engineers collaborate.

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00:34:38

How To Build The Future: Aravind Srinivas

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2025/02/21

YC General Partner David Lieb sits down with Aravind Srinivas, the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity, to discuss his origins in Silicon Valley, what it's like to compete with Google, and what the future of search could look like.Apply to Y Combinator: https://ycombinator.com/apply

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00:13:45

Building A Supersonic Plane Company From The Ground Up

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2025/02/14

Imagine flying from NY to London in just a few hours. That’s the future that Blake Scholl and his team at Boom Supersonic are working towards. Blake started as a software engineer and pivoted mid-career to aviation. Now, he’s at the forefront of trying to bring back supersonic travel for all of us. In this episode of Hard Tech, YC’s Jared Friedman visited Blake in the Mojave desert to find out how someone who didn’t have a background in aerospace engineering was able to build the first-ever

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00:29:06

The Right (And Wrong) Way To Spend Money At Your Startup

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2025/02/12

Many startups fail because they run out of money. So how should you think about how to spend the money you raise?In this episode of Office Hours, YC General Partners Brad Flora, Pete Koomen, Nicolas Dessaigne, and Gustaf Alströmer discuss how to spend responsibly at each stage of a startup— including advice on when to hire, whether to invest in marketing and what spending mistakes to avoid.Apply to Y Combinator: https://ycombinator.com/apply

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00:30:44

How To Build The AGI Future: Bob McGrew

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2025/01/31

According to OpenAI's former Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew, reasoning and test-time compute will unlock more reliable and capable AI agents— and a path to scale to AGI.In this episode of How to Build the Future, YC's @garrytan sits down with Bob to discuss the lessons learned from his time at OpenAI, scaling laws, his advice for startups, and what all of this means for the jobs of the future.

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00:14:02

How To Leverage AI In Your Startup

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2025/01/15

AI continues to improve at an exponential pace. So what can you do as a founder to take advantage of it? In this episode of Office Hours, YC Partners discuss what you should consider if you’re thinking about pivoting to or incorporating AI as part of your startup.

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00:43:28

How To Build The Future: Parker Conrad

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2025/01/10

In this episode of How to Build the Future, Garry sits down with Parker Conrad, Co-founder & CEO of Rippling, the all-in-one HR, Finance, and IT software company that’s valued at $13.5 billion. Parker is the co-founder of two unicorns and has one of the more dramatic startup journeys in recent years. In this interview, he shares his origin story, the lessons learned from his first two companies, how AI is changing the game, and why he thinks the future will be defined by "compound" software

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00:24:31

Building A $2 Billion SaaS Company: Lessons From A...

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2025/01/08

Two-time founder Rujul Zaparde knows a thing or two about resilience and learning from failure. After dropping out of college to build FlightCar, he worked as a PM at Airbnb, and later as a visiting partner at YC. In 2020, he co-founded Zip, a procurement software company that has since raised $370 million and reached a $2.2 billion valuation. In this conversation with YC's Dalton Caldwell, Rujul demystifies the world of enterprise sales, shares his hard-earned lessons about scaling a business

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00:19:32

How David Lieb Turned A Failed Startup Into Google...

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/12/18

YC General Partner David Lieb’s story is all about perseverance. In 2008 he co-founded Bump, one of the hottest startups of the early iPhone era. But even with 150 million users, he couldn’t find a way to create a sustainable business. For many founders, that would be the end of the road. But he didn’t quit there. Instead, David and his team pivoted several times, got acquired, and eventually went on to build Google Photos. In this episode of Backstory, he shares his advice for finding the right

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00:32:56

How To Start A Dev Tools Company with Nicolas...

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/11/26

YC's Nicolas Dessaigne was the co-founder and CEO of @algolia, a Search API used by millions of developers to build great search experiences into their apps and websites. Today it powers over 1.75 trillion searches annually for 17,000+ customers worldwide.In this episode of Startup School, @dessaigne shares his advice for founders building a dev tools company from the ground up— covering everything from team and idea to GTM and sales.

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00:22:42

Twitter vs. X: Product Lessons For Startup Founders |...

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/11/21

Since Twitter rebranded to X, the platform has added new features and implemented a few major updates to both its UX and algo. So what can founders interested in product design learn from all this? In the first episode of our new series, The Breakdown, YC’s Tom Blomfield (co-founder of Monzo) and David Lieb (creator of Google Photos) take a closer look at X to find what lessons there are for founders building consumer products.

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00:46:51

How To Build The Future: Sam Altman

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/11/18

It’s fair to say that few people in tech are positioned to have a bigger impact on the future than Sam Altman. At OpenAI, Sam and his team have overseen monumental leaps forward in machine learning, generative AI, and most recently, LLMs that can reason at PhD levels. And this is just the beginning. In his latest essay Sam predicted that ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) is just a few thousand days away. So how did we get to this point? In this episode of our rebooted series "How To Build The

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00:18:33

How Do Billion Dollar Startups Start? | Office Hours

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/11/17

The biggest companies in the world all had to start somewhere. In this episode of Office Hours, the Group Partners explore the humble origins of several top YC companies to try and identify common traits of the most successful founders. They’ll explore what it takes to keep your company alive in the early days, where to focus your energy and how to find product market fit that leads you to mega success.

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00:33:37

Why Design Matters: Lessons from Stripe, Lyft and...

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/11/16

Stripe, Airbnb and Lyft are a few of the most successful companies of the past decade. And there are at least two things they all have in common - great design, and Katie Dill. Katie was Head of Experience Design at Airbnb, led the design team at Lyft and is now Head of Design at Stripe. We spoke with Katie about her design philosophy, what sets companies like Stripe apart, and how important it is to instill a culture of design in your startup from day one.

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00:20:37

How To Find A Co-Founder with Harj Taggar | Startup...

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/11/16

Building a startup and trying to break into an established market is very difficult, especially if you’re trying to do it alone! That’s why it’s critical to find the right co-founder for the journey. In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Harj Taggar explains why you need a co-founder, when to bring them on, where you can find one and how to maintain the relationship.

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00:32:45

How To Convert Customers With Cold Emails with Aaron...

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/11/16

Whether it's for sales, recruiting or making new connections, cold outreach is a necessary tool for helping build your startup. But as you probably know, most cold emails either are ignored or end up in the trash. So what can you do to make sure your emails break through the noise? In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Aaron Epstein shares expert advice on how to write cold emails that have all the right ingredients to get noticed and convert new customers.

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00:29:22

How To Improve Cohort Retention with David Lieb |...

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/11/16

At YC our motto is make something people want. But how do you actually know if you’ve accomplished that in the early days? One of the best ways to measure successful growth is a concept called cohort retention, which tracks the fraction of new users that come back time and time again to use your product. In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner David Lieb explains how to define cohorts, track active users and determine the appropriate time frame for measuring successful retention

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00:19:34

Co-Founder Equity Mistakes to Avoid with Michael...

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/11/16

In order to get your startup off the ground it's critical to keep your co-founders motivated. One of the best ways to do that is to figure out a fair co-founder equity split. In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Michael Seibel explains the ins and outs of co-founder equity, why it's important to be generous with that equity, and how to avoid bad advice that can lead to co-founder breakups.

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00:21:10

How Nothing Founder Carl Pei Built A Multi-Million...

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/11/16

After co-founding the successful Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus, Carl Pei felt the tech industry was missing the fun and wonder he remembered as a dedicated gadget fan growing up in Sweden. Pei decided to launch a new smartphone brand, this time with an increased focus on thoughtful user interface and stylish yet practical designs. In only two years, the brand known as "Nothing" has gained a cult following and gone to $600 million in annualized revenue. On this episode of The Main Function, Pei

en-us

00:17:45

How To Price For B2B with Tom Blomfield | Startup School

Y Combinator Startup Podcast ·

2024/11/16

If you're a startup founder, how much should you charge for your product or service? It's a simple question that can make many lock up. What number should you pick? In this episode of Startup School, YC Group Partner Tom Blomfield guides you on how to come up with a price and then justify that number to customers.

en-us

315 results

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