01

YC Core Resources & Philosophy

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🎯 Learning Objectives

  • Understand YC's core philosophy and approach to startups
  • Navigate YC's resource library effectively
  • Apply YC's fundamental principles to your startup

📖 Key Concepts

The YC Library

YC maintains a comprehensive library of startup knowledge at ycombinator.com/library. This includes:

  • Startup School: Free online program with lectures from YC partners
  • YC Blog: Essays on startup strategy and tactics
  • Founder Stories: Case studies from successful YC companies

Core Philosophy: Make Something People Want

This is YC's motto and the foundation of everything they teach:

  • Focus on solving real problems, not building cool technology
  • Talk to users constantly to understand their needs
  • Iterate quickly based on feedback
  • Measure success by user engagement, not vanity metrics

The YC Mantra: Launch Fast, Iterate Faster

  • Launch a minimum viable product (MVP) as soon as possible
  • Get real users using your product within weeks, not months
  • Embrace embarrassment — if you're not embarrassed by v1, you launched too late
  • Use feedback loops to improve continuously

💡 Key Takeaways

✅ YC's resources are freely available — use them extensively

✅ "Make something people want" should guide every decision

✅ Speed of execution matters more than perfection

✅ User feedback is more valuable than your assumptions

02

The Mom Test - Customer Research

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🎯 Learning Objectives

  • Conduct customer interviews that reveal truthful insights
  • Avoid common pitfalls that lead to false validation
  • Extract actionable information from conversations

📖 Key Concepts

What is The Mom Test?

The Mom Test is a set of rules for crafting questions that even your mom can't lie to you about. The name comes from the idea that your mom will always support your ideas, even bad ones.

The Problem: When you ask "Do you think this is a good idea?", people lie to be nice.

The Solution: Ask about their life and past behavior instead of your idea.

The Three Rules

Rule 1: Talk about their life, not your idea

❌ "Would you use an app that tracks your expenses?"

✅ "How do you currently track your expenses? What's frustrating about it?"

Rule 2: Ask about specifics in the past, not generics about the future

❌ "Would you pay $10/month for this?"

✅ "When was the last time you paid for a productivity tool? What made you decide?"

Rule 3: Talk less, listen more

Your job is to learn, not to pitch. Aim for them to talk 80% of the time.

Good Questions to Ask

  • "What's the hardest part about [doing this thing]?"
  • "Tell me about the last time that happened..."
  • "Why was that hard?"
  • "What else have you tried?"
  • "How are you dealing with it now?"
  • "Who else should I talk to about this?"

Red Flags in Conversations

  • 🚩 Compliments: "That's a great idea!" (means nothing)
  • 🚩 Fluff: "I would definitely use that" (future promises are worthless)
  • 🚩 Ideas: "You should also add..." (feature requests without pain)

💡 Key Takeaways

✅ Never ask "Is this a good idea?" — people will lie

✅ Focus on past behavior, not future intentions

✅ The best insights come from their struggles, not your solutions

✅ Compliments are warning signs, not validation

03

The YC Batch Model

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🎯 Learning Objectives

  • Understand how YC's batch program works
  • Learn the structure and timeline of a YC batch
  • Know what YC provides and expects from founders

📖 Key Concepts

Batch Overview

YC runs two batches per year:

  • Winter Batch (W): January - March
  • Summer Batch (S): June - August

Each batch includes approximately 200-400 companies working intensively for 3 months.

The Investment Terms

  • Standard Deal: $500,000 on a SAFE
  • Additional: $375,000 available via MFN SAFE
  • Equity: YC typically takes 7% of your company

The money is important, but the real value is the network, knowledge, and Demo Day access.

Weekly Structure During Batch

  • Group Office Hours: Meet with YC partners and other founders
  • Tuesday Dinners: Speakers share experiences (famous founders, investors)
  • 1-on-1 Office Hours: Personal guidance from assigned partners
  • Building & Shipping: The rest of your time is for execution

What YC Expects From You

  • Launch your product (if you haven't already)
  • Talk to users every single day
  • Show measurable weekly progress
  • Be honest about problems — hiding issues wastes everyone's time
  • Prepare intensively for Demo Day

💡 Key Takeaways

✅ YC batches are 3-month intensive programs twice a year

✅ The $500K investment comes with ~7% equity

✅ Real value is network, mentorship, and Demo Day access

✅ YC expects rapid execution and honest communication

04

Product-Market Fit (PMF)

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🎯 Learning Objectives

  • Define what Product-Market Fit really means
  • Recognize the signs of PMF (and lack thereof)
  • Learn strategies to find and achieve PMF

📖 Key Concepts

What is Product-Market Fit?

Product-Market Fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.

Marc Andreessen's definition: "You can always feel when PMF isn't happening. Customers aren't getting value, word of mouth isn't spreading, usage isn't growing."

When you have PMF: "Customers are buying as fast as you can make it. Money is piling up. You're hiring as fast as you can."

Signs You DON'T Have PMF

  • ❌ Users sign up but don't come back
  • ❌ You have to convince people to try it
  • ❌ Sales cycles are long and painful
  • ❌ Customers ask for endless features before buying
  • ❌ High churn rate
  • ❌ No organic word-of-mouth growth

Signs You HAVE Product-Market Fit

  • ✅ Users would be very disappointed if your product disappeared
  • ✅ Strong retention and repeat usage
  • ✅ Organic growth through word of mouth
  • ✅ Customers recommend your product unprompted
  • ✅ Demand grows faster than your ability to supply

How YC Measures PMF

  • Retention: Do users keep coming back?
  • Growth: Is usage increasing week over week?
  • Engagement: Are users actively benefiting?
  • Sales Velocity: Are deals easy to close?

The PMF Loop

  1. Build a simple solution
  2. Get it in front of real users
  3. Measure usage and retention
  4. Talk to users weekly
  5. Iterate relentlessly

💡 Key Takeaways

✅ PMF is about customer pull, not founder push

✅ Retention matters more than acquisition

✅ If growth feels hard, PMF probably isn’t there yet

✅ Don’t scale until PMF is obvious

05

10% Weekly Growth

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🎯 Learning Objectives

  • Understand why YC emphasizes weekly growth
  • Learn how to calculate growth correctly
  • Identify sustainable growth drivers

📖 Key Concepts

Why 10% Weekly?

YC targets 5–10% weekly growth because:

  • It compounds massively over time
  • It forces discipline and focus
  • It exposes weak fundamentals quickly

How Growth Compounds

10% weekly growth over one year:

  • Week 1: 100 users
  • Week 10: ~259 users
  • Week 20: ~672 users
  • Week 52: ~14,250 users

What to Measure

  • Weekly Active Users (WAU)
  • Revenue growth
  • Retention cohorts
  • Activation rate

How YC Founders Achieve Growth

  • Manual onboarding
  • Founder-led sales
  • Deep niche focus
  • Relentless iteration based on metrics

💡 Key Takeaways

✅ Growth compounds faster than you expect

✅ Small weekly gains beat big occasional wins

✅ If growth stalls, revisit PMF

✅ Measure weekly, not monthly

06

Demo Day & Fundraising

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🎯 Learning Objectives

  • Understand how Demo Day works
  • Create an effective Demo Day pitch
  • Learn fundraising best practices

📖 Key Concepts

What is Demo Day?

Demo Day is the final event where YC startups pitch to hundreds of investors in rapid succession.

  • Each pitch ~1 minute
  • No slides or very few
  • Clear metrics matter most

Demo Day Pitch Structure

  1. What you do
  2. The problem
  3. Your solution
  4. Traction (numbers)
  5. Market size
  6. Team
  7. Ask

Fundraising After Demo Day

  • Follow up immediately
  • Create urgency with clear timelines
  • Optimize for great investors, not just money
  • Use simple SAFE rounds early

💡 Key Takeaways

✅ Numbers > hype

✅ Short, clear pitches win

✅ Momentum is everything post-Demo Day

✅ Choose investors carefully

07

YC Portfolio & Ongoing Support

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🎯 Learning Objectives

  • Understand post-batch YC support
  • Leverage the YC founder network
  • Continue long-term growth

📖 Key Concepts

YC Network

  • 10,000+ founders
  • Private internal forums
  • Direct partner access
  • Talent and investor intros

Long-Term Support

  • Ongoing advising
  • Follow-on funding assistance
  • Acquisition guidance
  • IPO preparation (for top companies)

💡 Key Takeaways

✅ YC support continues long after Demo Day

✅ Network value compounds over time

✅ Alumni help each other extensively

✅ YC optimizes for billion-dollar outcomes