
Lecture 8: How to Start a Startup - kqr2
http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec08
======
cjbarber
I've been eagerly watching/reading all of these lectures.

Top quality content. Many thanks to YC for doing this - I look forward to the
beneficial impact that spreading this knowledge will have.

My only complaint is that many of these things are easy to hear, and agree
with - i.e. talk to users first, of course! Yet, it can be hard to bridge the
gap between what we agree with, and the actions we take. Much easier to bridge
the gap when this advice is given during YC session, where people can take it
and immediately apply it.

To remedy this for myself I'm making checklists for each of the classes,
almost like a CS183B sanity check tool.

As an example, here's my checklist for class #5 (on growth).

[https://chris.typeform.com/to/DxLnqP](https://chris.typeform.com/to/DxLnqP)

(by the way, typeform is awesome and way better than google forms)

Anyhow, awesome series and I look forward to watching this lecture. I'll reply
and post my checklist for this class too!

~~~
cjbarber
Checklist for lecture #8

[https://chris.typeform.com/to/Oto5xV](https://chris.typeform.com/to/Oto5xV)

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skbohra123
Sam, can you please add a <title/> tag to this page? That would really make it
easy to find the tab.

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wuliwong
I really like the main message of this video. I think it makes loads of sense,
I've employed it in my own projects at the beginning.

One question is that it seems like the first speaker and some of the people
asking questions are asking "why did nobody ever do this before?"

That just isn't true. In Atlanta, for instance, we have had a company Zifty
for years. Zifty has been here well before grubhub or the other sites. I guess
Zifty hasn't expanded to San Francisco, yet. :) But anyway, my point is that I
don't see how doordash is a new idea?

Edit __here 's the question from the transcript: Q: When you started, it
seemed so obvious to you, you were wondering why, what the reason was nobody
had done this before. What's your answer now looking back?

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rdlecler1
Do things that don't scale is a great. An approach we took to heart. However,
we're now ripping apart at the seams and this is negatively affecting our
members. So now I need to go out and raise capital so that we have more
bandwidth, but in doing so I exacerbate the problem because when I'm away lose
1/3rd of our team. I can't way I would have done anything differently, but if
the capital is not there when you need it, then things start to break down
with this approach.

~~~
jlukanta
I'm not sure why you got downvoted because our experience matches yours. Just
like everything, this mantra needs to be put in context. There are different
stages in a startup life. It is possible that some strategies would cease to
be valid once you go beyond certain stage.

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itazula
DoorDash should team up with Uber, Lyft et al. Or the other way around, Uber
or Lyft could do what DoorDash does.

On another note, home delivery has been in Japan for many years, but there,
the density of population makes it feasible - someone at the restaurant just
loads the trays of food onto a special spring-suspension tray holder on his
bicycle and makes the delivery. After finishing the meal, the recipient leaves
the trays, dishes, and bowls outside for pick up the next day. Usually, there
is no extra charge, and tipping isn't common in Japan, so it's a good deal.

See
[http://books.google.com/books?id=kJ3TAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT116&lpg=P...](http://books.google.com/books?id=kJ3TAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT116&lpg=PT116&dq=demae+japan+delivery&source=bl&ots=J-juhd09bJ&sig=iSiBoKuqvCE5Gc_mRa3K0jWItNs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DpVAVJiwHqOLiwKAxIHICA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=demae%20japan%20delivery&f=false)

Also, for some history,
[http://books.google.com/books?id=OT8OSoiYyagC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA...](http://books.google.com/books?id=OT8OSoiYyagC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=demae+japan+delivery&source=bl&ots=deH4_wtqVH&sig=GzUnPe3uSUqPZCsdOP0qY362Yuc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DpVAVJiwHqOLiwKAxIHICA&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage)
q=demae%20japan%20delivery&f=false

I don't know if this is still possible, but apparently you can order take-out
using a Wii catering channel: [http://www.destructoid.com/japan-order-pizza-
with-your-wii-i...](http://www.destructoid.com/japan-order-pizza-with-your-
wii-in-the-catering-channel-133495.phtml)

Here's an example of the take-out offerings from restaurants in a particular
area (postal code): [http://demae-
can.com/search/delivery/today/13110013001/](http://demae-
can.com/search/delivery/today/13110013001/)

There are ratings listed. Heh, maybe there's another teaming possibility ...
Yelp.

~~~
vram22
Home delivery has been around in India for ages too. Not only for restaurants
(for which it became common only some 10 or 15 years ago, IMO, though existed
before too), but much more for small general stores - called kirana stores
here - what are called mom-and-pop stores in the US. And the owners of those
small stores, who often are from the Marwari community (at least in northern
and central India) are very entrepreneurial.

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calgaryeng
Pedantic: why put "Confidential" on the bottom of a slide deck that you are
giving in public, and fully expect to be released on YouTube?

~~~
tarblog
Only because you've not changed the slides in a while.

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alexvr
The second I turned up my volume _they_ turned up the volume. Kind of saw it
coming but it was too late to turn it back down. Lol

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jcavin
A lot of great points shared. I like how door dash talks about hacking
solutions together to make it work. To improve the efficiency the way a
business is ran you have to understand all its components. In their case it
was driving cars, charging transactions, etc. starting crappy is ok as long as
you continuously improve.

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rajens
29 Quotes from Walker Williams on Doing Things that Don't Scale:
[https://medium.com/how-to-start-a-startup/29-quotes-from-
wal...](https://medium.com/how-to-start-a-startup/29-quotes-from-walker-
williams-on-doing-things-that-dont-scale-c4912f50631d)

~~~
rajens
it took me a little longer to post Justin's quotes, but here they are for
anyone who's interested- 20 Quotes from Justin Kan on Getting Press for your
Startup: [https://medium.com/how-to-start-a-startup/20-quotes-from-
jus...](https://medium.com/how-to-start-a-startup/20-quotes-from-justin-kan-
on-getting-press-for-your-startup-8830cc24a88)

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morenoh149
If any of you all are in San Francisco. There's a meetup I'm in that watches
them as a group. [http://www.meetup.com/Ycombinators-Stanford-
lectures/](http://www.meetup.com/Ycombinators-Stanford-lectures/)

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subdane
These things are coming too fast, I can't hardly keep up!

~~~
petermackowiak
Timestamped notes for this lecture series:

[https://timelined.com/how-to-start-a-startup](https://timelined.com/how-to-
start-a-startup)

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tedsanders
I don't understand why there's so much emphasis on doing things that don't
scale. Here's why:

In this lecture, we heard about DoorDash, a successful delivery business that
is now expanding to multiple cities.

DoorDash adds value by delivering more efficiently than small businesses can
on their own.

An example of a small business that benefits is a Palo Alto Macaroon store.
Before DoorDash, the Macaroon store took orders by phone and recorded them by
hand in a thick notebook. Then, when there was time, the owner of the Macaroon
store would personally deliver orders out of their personal car. No additional
cars were ever purchased and no drivers were ever hired.

One key factor is causing DoorDash to succeed where others have failed: mobile
phones. The ubiquity of smartphones has enabled DoorDash to hire and
coordinate part-time contractors with personal cars. This new development
makes the service cheaper than past competitors.

Now, you may be wondering what my point is. Why am I summarizing the pitch we
heard from DoorDash?

 _Because it 's all about SCALING!_

Let me explain.

+DoorDash is startup. By definition, that means it wants to _scale_.

+DoorDash is expanding to multiple cities. I.e., it is _scaling_.

+The businesses it helps are those who otherwise deliver at low volume with a
phone and notebook. I.e., in a way that doesn't _scale_.

+DoorDash has no proprietary technology and is not a monopoly (Peter Thiel
disapproves, by the way). DoorDash is competing on one main dimension: cost.
And how do they achieve lower cost than a mom & pop macaroon shop? By
_scaling_. Operating at _scale_ is their main competitive advantage.

+And why is DoorDash succeeding now, when past delivery start ups have failed?
Because of mobile technology. And what is mobile technology letting them do?
Manage a fleet of drivers _at scale_.

+DoorDash is a software company and software companies are eating the world.
Why are software companies eating the world? Because software _scales_!

DoorDash's words say to "do things that don't scale." But DoorDash's actions
say the opposite. Scaling is the key to their business.

(Incidentally, DoorDash gave an example of something that they claim doesn't
scale: writing personalized notes to customers after orders. But guess what?
That totally scales!)

Can someone explain why so much more emphasis is placed on doing things that
don't scale? Doing things that scale seems to be more important to me.

Edit: I don't mean to be harsh. I'm honestly curious and hoping to open up a
discussion. The emphasis on not scaling seriously puzzles me. I'm sure you
folks have great ideas that I'm missing.

~~~
soneca
If you hadn't read yet, read the original Paul Graham essay on this:
[http://www.paulgraham.com/ds.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/ds.html)

The idea is part you must do whatever it takes to have your first
users/clients and keep growing from there (as the guy from Teespring says) and
part is that you must first know _what_ to scale.

Sure, startup = growth, no one starts a startup without imagining it will grow
_a lot_. But that is why this advice is particular powerful, because, as PG
says for a lot of things on startups, it is counter-intuitive.

So the advice is more about doing things that don't scale until you actually
reach product/market fit (which means _" Make sure your retention flat lines
at the appropriate level."_, as said by Alex Schultz in his lecture); you
should do things that don't scale.

But, sure, when you focus in big growth and scale, yes, then you start scaling
stuff.

PS: I really sound like the ass-kissing student on your class who repeats
everything teachers said before to look good. But I really think al of it
makes sense.

~~~
graycat
Here's an analogy: Have some URLs of some Web pages and want to extract the
links from those pages? Okay, first do it _by hand_! So, have a Web browser
save the HTML and CSS, JS, files.

Then use a good editor to look at the HTML and see how to parse the thing and
extract the links.

Write some code to do this and try on some more of the URLs. When see are not
parsing the files just right, tweak the code.

Finally, get some okay code and get and parse all the HTML files from all the
URLs with the code -- scalable!

So, start by hand and see how to automate the work and then have a scalable
solution.

I just did that for a collection of about 5000 URLs!

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lawsohard
ooh full transcript is out: [http://tech.genius.com/Walker-williams-
lecture-8-doing-thing...](http://tech.genius.com/Walker-williams-
lecture-8-doing-things-that-dont-scale-pr-and-how-to-get-started-annotated)

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alexvr
Cool services. It helps to have some context like this.

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spacefight
"Are you doing whatever it takes to get initial customers?*

Examples given: sending 100 emails a day. "

Sounds like spam to me.

~~~
mattmanser
Spam is 1,000,000 emails to some random list you bought for $25.

~~~
spacefight
Nope. Spam is unsolicited e-mail - there are laws in quite a lot of countries
regulating exactly this.

~~~
mattmanser
They're generally only for individuals, not emailing companies.

To be honest, if you think 100 emails a day is bad, I honestly would not
consider entrepreneurship as a career.

You will have to do far more grey area things than that to succeed.

~~~
spacefight
Nice attitude you have there. No, you don't have to do illegal or grey area
things - and yes, I consider myself an entrepreneur.

