Y Combinator
About this creator
Y Combinator publishes practical startup guidance on product building, fundraising, founder decision-making, and scaling high-growth technology companies.
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Included for practical education on practical startup guidance on product building, fundraising, founder decision-making, and scaling high-growth technology companies.
Showing 320 digests for Y Combinator.
Founder interviews
YouTube
Matt Cutts on Google, web spam, and fixing government tech
Y Combinator
December 4, 2019
Founder interviews
9
SEO
5
Government tech is 13 years behind industry — and USDS is closing it
Find insiders who know the right answer; give them power to act
Web spam philosophy: automate, catch residual manually, train the next algorithm
Competitive analysis
YouTube
Adversarial interoperability: how startups can compete with tech giants
Y Combinator
November 27, 2019
Competitive analysis
9
Compliance & regulation
8
Resilience & grit
6
Platforms use copyright law and CFAA to block the tactics they used to win.
A Ninth Circuit ruling lets founders scrape public data without CFAA liability.
Building marginal-legal products creates the constituency that changes the law.
Cash flow management
YouTube
How much to spend after raising your seed round
Y Combinator
October 18, 2019
Cash flow management
9
Fundraising & VC
6
Running out of money is a top-two reason startups die.
Most seed-funded companies never raise a Series A.
Park half your seed round separately to force frugality.
Resilience & grit
YouTube
Geoff Ralston's parting advice for startup founders
Y Combinator
September 30, 2019
Resilience & grit
9
Founder interviews
6
Every startup's path is unique — comparison is a distraction.
When things go wrong, default to action: write code, talk to users.
Benevolence isn't idealism — being good makes your company more successful.
Pitching investors
YouTube
How to cold email investors as a founder
Y Combinator
September 24, 2019
Pitching investors
8
Prospecting & outreach
7
Your goal is a reply, not a meeting or a cheque.
Six specific facts investors want in every cold email.
Common mistakes that kill response rates before they begin.
How modern startup financing works: from Series A to SAFE
Y Combinator
September 20, 2019
Fundraising & VC
9
Equity & cap tables
6
The SAFE replaced debt-based convertible notes as the default first-round instrument.
Valuation is the only term you need to negotiate in a SAFE.
Flexible SAFE rounds make dilution easy to lose track of — until the priced round hits.
MVP & prototyping
YouTube
Hard tech and biotech startups: why they're easier than you think
Y Combinator
September 20, 2019
MVP & prototyping
9
Fundraising & VC
8
Pitching investors
6
Hard tech recruiting, press, and fundraising are easier than for ordinary apps
Staged micro-raises beat a single big ask every time
Non-binding letters of intent reveal real demand before you build anything
Pitching investors
YouTube
How to pitch your startup idea clearly and concisely
Y Combinator
September 13, 2019
Pitching investors
9
Copywriting
8
Investors extrapolate — your only job is to be clear
Three nouns every pitch must include: product, problem, customer
Concise descriptions signal a founder who knows what matters
Productivity & habits
YouTube
How to prioritise your time as a founder
Y Combinator
September 13, 2019
Productivity & habits
9
Time management
8
Conferences and awards are fake progress — they don't move your KPI.
Grade every task by impact and complexity before you start it.
A wrong choice made fast beats a right choice made slowly.
Conversion rate optimisation
YouTube
How to improve conversion rates using first principles
Y Combinator
September 6, 2019
Conversion rate optimisation
10
Copywriting
6
Close the knowledge gap between user and product to fix conversion.
Seven questions diagnose any landing page in minutes.
Most B2B sites lose users by hiding price and burying the magic moment.
Startup pricing fundamentals: strategy, segmentation, and optimisation
Y Combinator
September 6, 2019
Pricing strategy
10
Pricing psychology
7
Business models
6
Pricing beats acquisition and retention as your highest-leverage growth lever.
Early adopters buy on benefits, not price — undercharging signals risk.
Raise prices by 5% until you're losing 20% of deals.
When and how to pivot your startup idea
Y Combinator
August 29, 2019
Pivoting
10
Product-market fit
8
A little traction is often more dangerous than none at all
More shots on goal is the most reliable path to product-market fit
Score ideas on market size, founder fit, ease of launch, and early feedback
Building startup culture in the first 20 employees
Y Combinator
August 29, 2019
Culture building
10
Hiring & recruitment
7
Vision & mission
6
Your first 20 employees are your cultural DNA — get them wrong and it compounds.
Values must be outward-facing to give employees real guardrails on hard decisions.
You cannot retrofit diversity or culture at 100 people — the window is now.
Building an AR startup in an emerging technology market
Y Combinator
August 28, 2019
Niche selection
8
Fundraising & VC
7
Case studies
6
AR is in the installation phase — bet on infrastructure, not apps
Three hardware laws explain why AR's commercial moment is arriving now
Immigrant resilience and independent-thinking investors are the real founder edge
Conflict resolution
YouTube
How to build a durable co-founder relationship using conflict frameworks
Y Combinator
August 22, 2019
Conflict resolution
9
Communication
7
Processes & SOPs
5
Everyone fights — what predicts failure is how, not whether, you fight.
Build your conflict process while emotionally sober, before you need it.
Small unaddressed issues compound into emotional debt — clear it daily.