YC's Startup School Relaunching as Continuous Program(blog.ycombinator.com)
blog.ycombinator.com
YC's Startup School Relaunching as Continuous Program
https://blog.ycombinator.com/startup-school-relaunch/
60 comments
I've done Startup School for the past two iterations. I really enjoyed meeting so many random founders in each meeting, but we spent more than half of the meetings just getting to know each other. Some of my meetings had 7 teams! And then the next week, you wind up with new founders and you do it all over again. As time went on, I got less and less from the group meeting, where they were my favorite part at the start. Having the same group over and over would be fabulous, since we could really talk about what we did last week, whether we did it, what's up for next week, continuing talk about issues we're having, etc.
I'm torn on this a bit since I enjoyed having to practice pitching concisely to new companies outside of biotech to improve that aspect, and to get new perspectives on problems from different people, but I also did enjoy the times that we accidentally (or deliberately?) got regrouped with companies from the prior week and could catch up on progress made. Both have their place and their use, but some level of deeper relationships (as built in the first version that I went through when there were set cohorts) are definitely lacking in the current iterations. Part of it might be taking initiative to stay in touch on your own I guess.
Yes, we want to make accountability MUCH better, particularly for solo founders who can have a harder time staying motivated without someone else to bounce things off of.
Don't have changes related to that in the current relaunch yet, but it's on the roadmap.
Don't have changes related to that in the current relaunch yet, but it's on the roadmap.
Hey folks, really excited about this change. I’ve been wanting to make Startup School a continuous program for years, but it took a while to get all the right pieces in place. Here to answer any questions you may have!
love the streak concept, also enjoyed it at pioneer on individual level
looking fwd to startup school & sharing with a few friends starting out!
looking fwd to startup school & sharing with a few friends starting out!
What were your initial expectations for Startup School? Where do you see Startup School in 2030?
Thank you for this work, I've gained interesting and profitable lessons from the program.
Thank you for this work, I've gained interesting and profitable lessons from the program.
Initial expectations: we expected Startup School to be very popular with founders, and in the long term also hopefully encourage more founders to apply to YC's core program. It modestly exceeded our expectations on the former (we've seen over 100k users sign up in the last two years), and has vastly exceeded expectations on the latter. Concretely, in the latest YC core batch 44% of founders are Startup School alums. That's a far higher percentage than we were expecting at this point!
In 2030: no idea! Directionally though, I'd like to migrate all the "scalable" parts of YC (1-to-many lectures/writing, investor/founder matching, community, accountability) to Startup School where they'll be freely available to everyone, while leaving the unscalable parts (eg. 1-to-1 advice with partners, big checks) in the core program.
In 2030: no idea! Directionally though, I'd like to migrate all the "scalable" parts of YC (1-to-many lectures/writing, investor/founder matching, community, accountability) to Startup School where they'll be freely available to everyone, while leaving the unscalable parts (eg. 1-to-1 advice with partners, big checks) in the core program.
Wow, that's really an impressive idea (VCaaS?). Thanks for your response.
This is awesome!
I love that there a groups later in Startup School that are for later stage companies.
I can see a progression where based on the stage and growth of your company you get different peers, investors, advisors, and off the record content.
I love that there a groups later in Startup School that are for later stage companies.
I can see a progression where based on the stage and growth of your company you get different peers, investors, advisors, and off the record content.
Totally. We're making some early moves in this direction with a private forum channel for companies that self-identify as growth stage, but we'd like to take this a lot further.
Glad to see you guys doing this, let’s see how this changes the future of startups! My feeling is that YC was always AA baseball and now it’s a lot more like the big leagues.
Can we also get (I mean this respectfully) a specific answer from YCombinator on who exactly hosts the news.ycombinator.com website?
It appears to be the little heard of and quite hard to track down "M5 Security Solutions" also known as "M5 Hosting". What is strange is they do say they do private hosting for the Department of Defense. Can we get an expansion on that relationship? Thank you.
It appears to be the little heard of and quite hard to track down "M5 Security Solutions" also known as "M5 Hosting". What is strange is they do say they do private hosting for the Department of Defense. Can we get an expansion on that relationship? Thank you.
It's no secret. We were happy to answer this last week (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23473932), happy a couple years ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16076041), and happy now: we have two boxes (one active, one failover) at M5, a small hosting provider that has good support and better tooling than what we had before. They've served HN well. They seem to be run by engineers, and are engineer-friendly. The founder has been an HN user for 9 years (https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=mikiem).
I don't remember how Scott found them, but it was through some HN-sympatico source like an obscure technical mailing list. We wanted to switch providers, and it seemed like a good idea to pick one that appealed to people with similar tastes to us and sympathetic with the spirit of HN. It's worked out great so far.
Weirdly, this is at least the third time that you've posted strangely insinuating posts about how/where HN is hosted:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21423248
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23374955
Three starts to look like an idée fixe. I still can't figure out what the insinuation is supposed to be...no, we're not an intelligence front. I really want to put a joke here, but I suppose it would probably only feed whatever this is, so I guess I'd better not.
I don't remember how Scott found them, but it was through some HN-sympatico source like an obscure technical mailing list. We wanted to switch providers, and it seemed like a good idea to pick one that appealed to people with similar tastes to us and sympathetic with the spirit of HN. It's worked out great so far.
Weirdly, this is at least the third time that you've posted strangely insinuating posts about how/where HN is hosted:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21423248
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23374955
Three starts to look like an idée fixe. I still can't figure out what the insinuation is supposed to be...no, we're not an intelligence front. I really want to put a joke here, but I suppose it would probably only feed whatever this is, so I guess I'd better not.
I just saw this sorry. Reading now.
Awesome news. If you haven't done startup school, I'd highly recommend it. We got paired with lots of people from our local city (which surprised me since I didn't know there was this much activity around here).
Seriously startup school is great. Cannot recommend participating enough.
And also: do it no matter what stage you are at. Full disclosure: the project that our team was working has been put on hold by us[1] (and going through SuS helped us realize we might be chasing the wrong thing), BUT the experience of going through it pushed me towards working much harder on a project which had previously just been on autopilot.
[1]We'll probably pick it back up eventually.
Seriously startup school is great. Cannot recommend participating enough.
And also: do it no matter what stage you are at. Full disclosure: the project that our team was working has been put on hold by us[1] (and going through SuS helped us realize we might be chasing the wrong thing), BUT the experience of going through it pushed me towards working much harder on a project which had previously just been on autopilot.
[1]We'll probably pick it back up eventually.
So happy to hear you had a great experience! We've added a new concept of "company stage" to improve the relevance of curriculum content and group session matches, hopefully that will make your point of "do it no matter what stage you are at" even more true. :)
Would you consider adding a feature to clear past metrics from the charts on /updates? I signed up for the SUS 2018 course with a startup that looked very different from my current project, so my metrics these days look like a bunch of primary-colored snakes chasing some dots.
Yeah, that's a common feature request. For now, if you send an email to [email protected] we can clear those out manually.
Oh getting paired with locals is very cool! I did it a couple years ago, and it was worth it -- but I wish some in my group had been from around my city, Austin. My project ended up shipping (https://www.currentkey.com), and it was nice to be accountable to a few other people through an important stretch and have regular reality checks. I'd strongly consider doing this again for my next project (a mobile game), especially if I could be paired with locals.
If I had one regret, looking back on the experience, it would be a mistake I made: forming an LLC far before I needed to, largely to be seen as a 'company' by YC. You can (and I'd say in some cases should) validate your project, esp. if you're a solo founder - by launching an app as an individual developer vs a company account. I know YC itself is only interested in companies, but they should appreciate that if this school is open to all -- all people don't need a company to have a profitable project.
If I had one regret, looking back on the experience, it would be a mistake I made: forming an LLC far before I needed to, largely to be seen as a 'company' by YC. You can (and I'd say in some cases should) validate your project, esp. if you're a solo founder - by launching an app as an individual developer vs a company account. I know YC itself is only interested in companies, but they should appreciate that if this school is open to all -- all people don't need a company to have a profitable project.
I think it’s more of creating a LLC is such a low threshold that it shows you haven’t seriously thought about your business and the liability that can occur if you release without a corporate entity for your own protection.
Yup. That was of course a big reason I incorporated, but Apple's EULA on its own (and probably the play store's too) is likely sufficient protection for many indie devs. (Many thousands of indie devs launch profitable apps without incorporating.) Anyway, I'm not blaming anyone, I just think that step of mine may have been premature.
I'm working on a startup (https://www.cloudternal.com) in Austin. If you want to connect, my email is in my profile.
Thanks for saying hi, and done!
Low conversation quality and feedback was a pain point for me during SuS. Do you intend to implement any strategies to improve the quality (better matched, not saying anyone is better or worse) of the peers we are communicating with?
For example, can I be placed in a cohort with only people who are doing more than $100k ARR?
For example, can I be placed in a cohort with only people who are doing more than $100k ARR?
Yes, we've reworked the matching algorithm! You can see the criteria we use for forming matches at the bottom of the weekly update when you sign up.
That said, it still isn't perfect and we have more work planned in that area. We also dropped the requirement for group sessions from 6 to 1 so that folks who don't find them a valuable use of time don't need to keep doing them!
That said, it still isn't perfect and we have more work planned in that area. We also dropped the requirement for group sessions from 6 to 1 so that folks who don't find them a valuable use of time don't need to keep doing them!
Great news! Also, thank you and everybody for all your hard work :)
Will there still be the $15k grant consideration if you become certified when you submit your app for the YC Core program?
Will there still be the $15k grant consideration if you become certified when you submit your app for the YC Core program?
We aren't currently evaluating companies for grants, but are likely to restart a version of that program later in the year. If and when we do, founders that participate in the program starting now will be eligible!
I did Startup School in 2018 and was one of the inaugural grant winners.
The program was extremely helpful for getting me through to the launch. My product is a moonshot sold to enterprises, so it took an enormous amount of work upfront to get something into users' hands.
The accountability of a cohort was critical for the lonely days of coding something that is both ambiguous and ambitious. Also, constantly being forced to explain my product really helped me hone my message and sales pitch.
I am still friends with some of the people I met back then. I seriously recommend this program to anyone who is starting out.
The program was extremely helpful for getting me through to the launch. My product is a moonshot sold to enterprises, so it took an enormous amount of work upfront to get something into users' hands.
The accountability of a cohort was critical for the lonely days of coding something that is both ambiguous and ambitious. Also, constantly being forced to explain my product really helped me hone my message and sales pitch.
I am still friends with some of the people I met back then. I seriously recommend this program to anyone who is starting out.
Seconded. Was also one of the grant winners as a biotech, and went through it again later mainly for the practice in pitching/ability to connect with the local startup ecosystem. I actually liked that in the second run through, there were not that many other biotech startups, it was nice to have a community of diverse companies (both in terms of fields and to an extent founders, since I think the cohort was a lot more diverse than the startup space as a whole), and I actually particularly enjoyed one of the group sessions where I somehow ended up grouped with companies in Chile. I wish there was a "don't group me with similar companies" option since it was almost more interesting and more useful to have a conversation with a Chilean legal tech company and learn about how they approach problems they face than talk to another biotech. It was a really interesting experience, and the deals weren't that bad either.
What are the advantages of Empirical vs q/kdb+?
Empirical is statically typed. I can run a backtest overnight knowing it won't crash because of a type error or misspelled column name.
I'm currently in the (long) process of adding streaming computation. Once that's ready, Empirical will be able to handle everything from gargantuan CSV files to real-time data using the same language primitives.
I talked about some of these goals when I launched on HN last year:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19969390
I'm currently in the (long) process of adding streaming computation. Once that's ready, Empirical will be able to handle everything from gargantuan CSV files to real-time data using the same language primitives.
I talked about some of these goals when I launched on HN last year:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19969390
I've been working on an enterprise SaaS startup and have the same challenges. Explaining a general purpose tool and new capabilities that no one has seen before is really daunting. I'd love to hear more about your experience and how it turned out, especially the sales side.
I was pretty bad at explaining Empirical in the beginning. During alpha testing, I emphasized the technical merits (statically typed Dataframes!) rather than an application domain. Once I figured-out I needed to push time-series analysis, then the user feedback became more focused.
After starting the public beta, I heard the following sentence several dozen times: "This looks amazing! Does it handle streaming?" And thus began the quest I am currently on.
About the only advice I can give is to keep practicing and keep an open mind. The feedback will get less negative the more you hone your pitch.
After starting the public beta, I heard the following sentence several dozen times: "This looks amazing! Does it handle streaming?" And thus began the quest I am currently on.
About the only advice I can give is to keep practicing and keep an open mind. The feedback will get less negative the more you hone your pitch.
Big fan of Empirical! I'm excited to continue following the development.
Do you have customers, or potential customers in the pipeline?
Do you have customers, or potential customers in the pipeline?
The business model I've eyed is to license to service providers, like securities brokers and data vendors in the finance industry. That way, their customers can execute queries in the cloud.
For example, a crypto broker wants their traders to write their own models. A stock-exchange advisor wants their asset managers to compute their own transaction costs. Etc.
Basically, Empirical will be a value-add component for existing customers of these larger providers. Instead of shuffling market data over the Internet, the user will "send the query to the data."
Every firm I've shown Empirical to has had the same word-for-word response that most end users have had: "Does it handle streaming?" I put the sales calls on hold while I try to get this done.
For example, a crypto broker wants their traders to write their own models. A stock-exchange advisor wants their asset managers to compute their own transaction costs. Etc.
Basically, Empirical will be a value-add component for existing customers of these larger providers. Instead of shuffling market data over the Internet, the user will "send the query to the data."
Every firm I've shown Empirical to has had the same word-for-word response that most end users have had: "Does it handle streaming?" I put the sales calls on hold while I try to get this done.
I've done the program twice and was one of the grant winners. I found the program super valuable, particularly the groups sessions. I really like the new continuous format and excited to keep participating. Nice work Kyle and team!
This seems mostly aimed at SaaS/Uber4X type of startups where you can bootstrap an MVP in a weekend and have a customer by the next one.
Where's the content for startups doing innovative stuff in the long run?
What gave you the impression that that was the focus?
That in 8 weeks you have to watch all the curriculum content - it seems like the focus is to go through the content and launch/be ready to launch/find customers. But the other comments prove me wrong, it seemed like that from the FAQ :)
Have gone through startup school, and it is not at all how it seems to you.
We met companies that were making hardware and companies that had been building complicated enterprise products for years. I don't think we met a single MVP in a weekend type of company.
All in all, a valuable experience - at the very least it gives you access to a bunch of nice deals (AWS, GCP credits and the like).
We met companies that were making hardware and companies that had been building complicated enterprise products for years. I don't think we met a single MVP in a weekend type of company.
All in all, a valuable experience - at the very least it gives you access to a bunch of nice deals (AWS, GCP credits and the like).
Having gone through SUS/winning a grant with a biotech, I'll say the style of thinking and the community/accountability was universally applicable. Getting to the killer experiment as quickly as possible to have a solid foundation to build on/raise money off of is a very similar and useful style of thinking to get an MVP launched asap. The more tactical content was sorely lacking for biotechs/hartechs/moonshots though. For bio and hardware, it would have been nice to have some co tent specifically around challenges with capital raising/capital efficiency, how to think about designing experiments. Maybe for hardware, a how to do kickstarter lecture (since there were some very granular tactical software lectures), and maybe a lecture on how to manage a supply chain/inventory. For moonshots, I dont know if theres a playbook that applies since by definition they're very different, but perhaps similar themes to biotech of how do you derisk as quickly as possible. Hopefully theres an opportunity to add content along those lines as they build out the next gen of SUS
Thanks for the experience, your post is encouraging, might apply!
The lack of "more tactical content" is what I noticed and that is what caused me to have that kind of a perspective at this being aimed at quicker-moving startups.
It's not an application anymore I dont think, it's more of a just sign up to participate, but you have to actually participate to get the benefits sort of thing
Really excited to see this being offered as a continuous program. I’ve participated in and followed SUS since its launch and I can’t recommend this program enough!
I’m particularly interested in the addition of streaks as a way to increase accountability and unlock additional opportunities, have you considered further gamifying the program with similar metrics?
I’m particularly interested in the addition of streaks as a way to increase accountability and unlock additional opportunities, have you considered further gamifying the program with similar metrics?
Astounding strategic play from YC here. Start up School has become popular enough to be viable as a social network. Imagine a VC having a live and data rich directory of most investment hungry early stage tech startups where that startup has shared its progress from the earliest stages of its development. What an incredible advantage that is as a VC firm. Even though I love YC, I find that idea quite worrying.
I've been through SUS and I really valued it. It's great content and some of the discussions were really valuable. I think it's fair to say, though, that the content is very opinionated. I understand why - it's trying to prepare people to apply to YC and YC have a particular way of doing things. I think that's fine. My worry is that the reach of YC on the broader tech start-up culture is so broad now (and getting broader) that these opinions and ideas become broadly accepted norms. When that happens, people stop recognising the fact that there could be a choice to make and we loose the diversity and richness of other opinions and ideas.
Here's an example: everyone knows that the only place to incorporate a company is in the state of Delaware. Creating something in your local region is out of the question, not because you've reasoned well about the pros and cons but because the culture has a generally accepted answer.
I think if we don't have diverse views and perspectives on what's possible and what kind of companies we should be creating, we'll end up with more of the same. That's a winning formula for YC but a bad one for culture as a whole.
We don't need one VC that dominates the early stage market. We need competition to keep the ecosystem healthy. Maybe what we really need is the other VCs, bootstrappers, open-source foundations and NGOs to get into the startup education/social network business too.
I've been through SUS and I really valued it. It's great content and some of the discussions were really valuable. I think it's fair to say, though, that the content is very opinionated. I understand why - it's trying to prepare people to apply to YC and YC have a particular way of doing things. I think that's fine. My worry is that the reach of YC on the broader tech start-up culture is so broad now (and getting broader) that these opinions and ideas become broadly accepted norms. When that happens, people stop recognising the fact that there could be a choice to make and we loose the diversity and richness of other opinions and ideas.
Here's an example: everyone knows that the only place to incorporate a company is in the state of Delaware. Creating something in your local region is out of the question, not because you've reasoned well about the pros and cons but because the culture has a generally accepted answer.
I think if we don't have diverse views and perspectives on what's possible and what kind of companies we should be creating, we'll end up with more of the same. That's a winning formula for YC but a bad one for culture as a whole.
We don't need one VC that dominates the early stage market. We need competition to keep the ecosystem healthy. Maybe what we really need is the other VCs, bootstrappers, open-source foundations and NGOs to get into the startup education/social network business too.
[deleted]
The whole notion of startups is new ideas disrupting entrenched stalwarts. If it turns that there is a way to do things outside YC dogma, I'm sure a new VC will come along and disrupt them too.
I honestly like it far less now that it has been continuous for many months. Far less participation that made the semi annual so great. Probably leaving soon myself... it's been fun
do you have any info on the Delaware vs your home state debate?
Should companies should be founded wherever the financial and legal friction is lowest or are there other important factors? What about the social responsibility a company has towards the community, city and even country that that company was created in?
I think there are a number of factors to consider here which will be specific to each individual context but just pointing out that the answer is only obvious if you've already decided what the important considerations are. VCs will always have a bias towards ruthless efficency but founders need to be more thoughtful. Not every decision is about the bottom line.
I think there are a number of factors to consider here which will be specific to each individual context but just pointing out that the answer is only obvious if you've already decided what the important considerations are. VCs will always have a bias towards ruthless efficency but founders need to be more thoughtful. Not every decision is about the bottom line.
I really loved reading this. I am a veteran failure for lack of a better phrase and I am trying again. I have been in mental burn out for years primarily because I was chasing leaders.
After going through counseling, I figured I still want to build something and I want to gobble up advice, but I ponder on them and see if they fit my lifestyle.
I am nomadic now (Asia but could be anywhere) and want to stay indie (bootstrapped, perhaps angel investment). I can not give into the pressure that YC lectures sometime make me feel. I am happy and for the first time I am on a product where I just got two clients (first time in my life, 14 years professional experience).
Startup School has incredible value and I will take out what I need out of it. I will incorporate where I want and am happy if YC does not care. Find your own way, I know I want to.
After going through counseling, I figured I still want to build something and I want to gobble up advice, but I ponder on them and see if they fit my lifestyle.
I am nomadic now (Asia but could be anywhere) and want to stay indie (bootstrapped, perhaps angel investment). I can not give into the pressure that YC lectures sometime make me feel. I am happy and for the first time I am on a product where I just got two clients (first time in my life, 14 years professional experience).
Startup School has incredible value and I will take out what I need out of it. I will incorporate where I want and am happy if YC does not care. Find your own way, I know I want to.
[deleted]
for anyone who has been in Startup School and successfully gone through it, would you say it's best to have a Startup that is a "product" instead of say a service-type business?
For example, I am working on a side-hustle that is more of a service that sells a product, versus a traditional app/SaaS app. So I'm wondering if Startup School is more geared towards product/app businesses than a typical service-type business.
For example, I am working on a side-hustle that is more of a service that sells a product, versus a traditional app/SaaS app. So I'm wondering if Startup School is more geared towards product/app businesses than a typical service-type business.
So if we graduated SUS in already do we get the Startup School Certified status or we have to go through the program again?
You'll need to start again, because the way we're tracking things changed. That said, if you've been submitting updates consistently those will count towards certification, and if you go through and mark all the content you already viewed as complete you'll be most of the way there already.
Are there benefits of being Startup School Certified? It's not clear in the FAQ
nice - great program and I really got a lot out of SUS! now can we talk about the "guaranteed YC partner interview" that was promised if SUS participants completed a tech quiz from Triplebyte (a YC company). All i got was spam from Triplebyte...
Does Startup School give $15,000 to anyone who gets in after completing the basics?
We participated in the last SUS and it was awesome for us. Lots of feedback, improvement, new users and a successful PH launch.
Its an on line animation platform https://toonclip.com
Its an on line animation platform https://toonclip.com
I found it both interesting seeing how people had evolved during the programme as well as not wanting to let people down by being late or not attending.
I would suggest using some kind of Karma to improve the experience while still keeping the people you meet freeform.
1) Meet the same people over 4 weeks (say) for accountability
2) Attendance, Reports, Progress, Peer feedback etc. can be factored in
3) After the 4 weeks you are matched against people who are at your level of attendance/motivation/productivity/peer review etc. and a new set of group office hours is started.
Anyway, this would help me better to be more accountable, while job, family, hobbies friends etc. get in the way.