
How to Start a Startup: Lectures (2014) - MarlonPro
http://startupclass.samaltman.com/
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sandworm101
Having scanned through these lectures, one thing really jumps out at me. There
is a serious lack of diversity here. That may seem trivial, but these guys
seem to fit a very narrow range of experiences. Even their accents are nearly
identical. I would suggest trying to learn from people of a wider background.
There are plenty of great startups on this planet not founded by t-shirt-clad
brogramers.

The one exception to this pattern is lecture 18, legal and accounting. Watch
that lecture. Note the accent change. Note the change of pacing, the polite
pauses and lack of a constant train of thought. Legal and accounting are
professional fields. These are people from a different background than the
other lecturers. Aggressive modes of speech may be cool in founder land, but
they do not fly in established professions. If you want to separate yourself
from the crowd, if you want to be taken seriously by a wider audience, learn
to speak and present as these women.

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louprado
Yesterday my co-founder and I attended YC’s Open Office Hours. Fortunately we
had watched the “How to Start a Startup” series, so we knew in advance how to
concisely introduce our company and also set an appropriate goal for the
meeting. Every second counts in a 20 minute meeting with a YC-partner.

In under 1 minute we defined the product, market size, and traction to date.

In under 1 minute we introduced the team. It takes discipline to not promote
your past successes and the degrees you earned. Instead we just stated all the
founders are highly technical with a good sense for design, and we have known
each other for years.

We then simply proposed 3 or 4 opportunities and then kept quiet. Our target
talk-to-listen ratio was 1:5. We kept the single minded goal to obtain advice
on strategy and direction.

At the very least this series is a kernel that should eventually produce your
company’s unique culture. I hope it resonates with you as it did with our
team.

Thanks YC!

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barbolo
It doesn't sound spontaneous.

I don't like rules like "1 minute for this, 5 minutes for that".

But if that works for you, go ahead.

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louprado
Agreed. It's a gimmick, but useful since most people talk way more than they
should.

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dineshp2
A great resource for people looking to start a startup.

The lecture about accounting and legal aspects of startups cleared up a lot of
doubts I had.Very consice.

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sandworm101
Be warned, the legal stuff there is a very high level overview. I personally
would hesitate to give such a lecture for fear of people walking away with too
much confidence. I've seen too many think they can get away with downloaded
contracts and advice from lawyers they saw at conferences. Remember that the
people giving you money have their own lawyers, good ones, to protect their
interests.

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wj
My notes from the lectures:

[https://leanpub.com/how_to_start_a_startup](https://leanpub.com/how_to_start_a_startup)

(Just use $0--any proceeds go to the EFF)

Like others I also really enjoyed the legal and accounting lecture. It was
outside of the scope of the usual startup advice you hear (technology, sales,
marketing, etc.).

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callmeed
If anyone wants to watch these on their TV, I created an Apple TV app that
streams all the videos.

Just search the App Store for "startup class" if you have a 4th gen Apple TV.

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grimmfang
I just tried it out, it's nice to have all the videos two clicks from my home
screen! Thanks :)

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bbody
A classic.

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L-Logic
There's an app that goes perfect with this course called: _Visions - An Idea
Log Based on Y Combinator_. It's based directly on a project from this course.
Check it out: [http://www.getvisionsapp.com](http://www.getvisionsapp.com)

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antaviana
Does it upload your curated ideas to the cloud?

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L-Logic
At the moment, there is no cloud support so all of your ideas are saved
locally on your device. If you want to export your ideas out of the app, you
can do that.

Is there a feature you would really like in this app? Is it iCloud backup?

