Y Combinator Startup Podcast

Christina Cacioppo is the founder of Vanta and Wade Foster is the founder of Zapier. Vanta automates security and compliance for startups, while Zapier automates work by connecting with over 5,000 apps.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

How Vanta’s Christina Cacioppo and Zapier’s Wade Foster took on a disciplined approach to fundraising ande flipped the equation of a typical startup founder.


Christina Cacioppo is the founder of Vanta, and Wade Foster is the founder of Zapier. Vanta automates security and compliance for startups, and Zapier automates work by connecting with over 5,000 apps.


Same, Same but Different brings together two YC founders who will discuss a similar decision they made on their journey to building a growth-stage company. But like every journey, the path getting there and the results are unique to that startup.

Christina and Wade flipped the equation of a typical startup founder: instead of raising money to enable a certain amount of growth, they eliminated the assumption of fundraising, controlled their spend, and evaluated how to ramp up spending based on what the business was bringing in. Given the current state of public markets, this mindset is pertinent, and we’re excited to dive into how Christina and Wade have thought about funding from day one.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the struggles of working at FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) and how to strategize leaving a big tech job to become a founder at a startup.

Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel take a look at Paul Graham's essay "Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule" and share tips on how to be more effective and productive on the journey to creating a billion dollar business.

Diego Saez Gil is the founder of Pachama. Pachama is building a marketplace where companies can support carbon offset projects.

The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ 

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Topics

00:00 - Welcome Gustaf and Diego
01:19 - Diego's background
06:50 - What is Pachama?
09:25 - Using remote sensing to track carbon
11:37 - Connecting disparate groups
13:04 - How much carbon does a typical company offset?
15:28 - How big is the reforesting opportunity?
17:09 - What are the incentives to offset carbon?
18:40 - Why don't people trust carbon offsets?
20:33 - What are the different forest conservation methods?
25:20 - How does Pachama use technology?
29:00 - Growth challenges
30:20 - Who are the customers?
32:12 - The future of the carbon market
32:48 - Fundraising for a climate startup
37:50 - Advice for people that want to start working in the climate change space.
41:38 - Climate policy
43:23 - What are the most important things happening in the space?
45:10 - The benefits of agroforestry and permaculture

Amber Atherton is the founder and CEO of Zyper (YC W18).

Iba Masood is the cofounder and CEO of TARA (YC W15).

The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/  

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Topics

00:00 - Intro

1:16 - Seed fundraising for Zyper and Tara

3:26 - Tara's pivot

4:31 - Series A fundraising for Zyper and Tara

18:11 - Evaluating investors

23:46 - Meeting with associates and partners

30:35 - Raising a Series A as a female founder

39:31 - Fundraising psychology

41:46 - What not to do when fundraising

45:01 - Talking to portfolio companies about investors

46:21 - What it's like to run a Series A stage company

1:00:41 - The most important piece of advice for fundraising

Laks Srini is the cofounder and CTO of ZeroDown. Before that he was the cofounder and CTO of Zenefits.

You can find him on Twitter at @laks_srini.

The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

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Topics

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - What is ZeroDown?

1:50 - How did they test the idea?

3:50 - What did they learn from companies that failed in the space?

8:00 - Breaking down the product

11:25 - ZeroDown's customers

13:35 - Expanding to other markets

15:50 - What if a downturn happens?

17:10 - ZeroDown's hiring strategy

20:10 - What are their hardest technical challenges?

22:05 - ZeroDown's breadth and product strategy

26:40 - Customer interviews

28:35 - Should everyone own a house?

29:50 - Home ownership in the future

32:45 - Build something you really want to see in the world

34:40 - Working with his cofounders was the most important consideration

Matt Cutts is the Administrator of the US Digital Service and previously he was the head of the webspam team at Google.

You can find him on Twitter at @mattcutts.

The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

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Topics

00:00 - Intro

00:36 - Working at Google in 2000

2:48 - Did Google's success feel certain?

3:53 - Building self-service ads

7:23 - The evil unicorn problem

8:23 - Lawsuits around search

10:48 - Content moderation and spam

14:38 - Matt's progression over 17 years at Google

17:18 - Deepfakes

18:43 - Joining the USDS

21:03 - What the USDS does

23:43 - Working at the USDS

26:43 - Educating people in government about tech

28:58 - Creating a rapid feedback loop within government

31:48 - Michael Wang asks - How does USDS decide whether to outsource something to a private company, or build the software in house?

32:58 - Spencer Clark asks - It would seem that the government is so far behind the private industry’s technology. To what extent is this true and what can be done about it? How should we gauge the progress of institutions like the USDS?

36:03 - Stephan Sturges asks - With GANs getting more and more powerful is the USDS thinking about the future of data authenticity?

38:23 - John Doherty asks - How difficult was it to communicate Google’s algorithm changes and evolving SEO best practices without leaking new spam tactics?

40:18 - Vanman0254 asks - How can smart tech folks better contribute to regulatory and policy discussions in government?

42:38 - Ronak Shah asks - What's your best pitch to high-performing startups in the Bay Area to adopt more of human centered design (something that the government has been moving towards surprisingly well, but that some fast moving startups have neglected resulting in controversy)

49:58 - Adam Hoffman asks - What are legislators, the government, and the general populace most “getting wrong” in how they conceptualize the internet?

51:33 - Raphael Ferreira asks - Is it possible to live without google? How do you think google affected people in searching for answers and content, now that’s we find everything in just one click?

55:23 - Tim Woods asks - Which job was more fun and why?

57:13 - Working in government vs private industry

1:00:48 - Snehan Kekre asks - What is Matt's view of the ongoing debate about backdooring encryption for so called lawful interception?

Cory Doctorow is a blogger, journalist, and science fiction author. He’s also the co-editor of Boing Boing.

Joe Betts-Lacroix is the CTO of VIUM and an Expert at YC.

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ 

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Topics

00:00 - Intro

00:32 - Adversarial interoperability

7:55 - So what should founders do?

13:55 - Copyright

19:55 - Remixing

27:00 - AT&T

29:50 - Firms and state-like duties

31:25 - Medium-term suggestions for founders

39:25 - Conspiracy theories

51:50 - Science fiction and predictions

56:55 - Peak indifference model

In this week’s lecture YC President Geoff Ralston shares parting advice for all the founders that participated in Startup School.

If you want to sign up for next year’s edition of Startup School, you can put your name on the waitlist at StartupSchool.org.

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

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Topics

00:00 - Intro

00:31 - Geoff Ralston's Parting Advice

00:51 - There is no one path

3:19 - Find your path

3:26 - Focus on what matters

4:14 - Startups are hard

4:46 - Things will go wrong

8:04 - Determination

10:21 - Default to action

11:31 - Don't just not be evil. Be good.

13:56 - Summary