In this lecture, YC Partner Kevin Hale goes over how to package up your idea and communicate it to an investor. He shares his tips on how to craft your pitch in a clear and concise way that effectively grabs your audience’s attention.

Transcript and lecture slides here: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6q-how-to-pitch-your-startup

This lecture is part of YC’s Startup School, a free online program and global community of founders. Register and join the community at https://www.startupschool.org/

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
2:09 YC application
5:08 Be clear
12:30 Example pitches
16:35 “X for Y”
20:09 Be concise
27:09 Conclusion

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YC Partner Kevin Hale walks us through the process of evaluating ideas and how founders should think about their startups. Startup School is YC’s free online program for founders. Sign up to access the full curriculum and over $100k in deals! https://www.startupschool.org/

Transcript and lecture slides here: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6e-how-to-evaluate-startup-ideas

This lecture is part of YC’s Startup School, a free online program and global community of founders. Register and join the community at https://www.startupschool.org/

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Topics

0.00 – Why we’re starting with evaluating ideas

1:25 – YC doesn’t just fund companies with traction

2:50 – How can I predict if an investor will like my idea?

5:15 – A startup idea is a hypothesis

6:55 – The problem

10:55 – The solution

12:35 – The insight

14:00 – Founder’s unfair advantage

15:00 – Market growing 20% a year

15:40 – Product 10x better

16:30 – Acquisition model

17:55 – Monopoly

18:50 – Threshold belief

19:10 – Miracle belief

20:10 – Example: YC

23:20 – Example: Wufoo

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YC Partner Aaron Harris gives invaluable advice for how to most effectively and strategically meet with investors.
Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) –
00:00 – Investor Meetings
01:31 – When you need to raise money
03:20 – Why they need to raise money?
06:21 – Types of investors
07:04 – Accelerators
08:59 – Friends and Family
11:02 – Angels
13:08 – Seed funds
14:20 – VC funds
16:22 – Crowdfunding websites
17:56 – Cold emails
22:50 – Meeting types
24:54 – Intro
26:34 – Follow-up
27:51 – Decision meeting
30:02 – Diligence
30:53 – Fancy dinner
32:12 – Things to remember
34:06 – Warning
38:04 – Q&A

Learn more at https://startupschool.org

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YC Partner Geoff Ralston gives an introduction to the key concepts to keep in mind once you enter a fundraising process.

Learn more at https://www.startupschool.org/

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Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, shares his thoughts on how you can succeed with a startup. Startup School is YC’s free online program for founders. Sign up to access the full curriculum and over $100k in deals! https://www.startupschool.org/

Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) –
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:11 A product so good people tell friends
00:00:53 Easy to understand
00:01:13 Exponential growth in market
00:02:00 Real trends vs Fake trends
00:03:30 Evangelical founder
00:04:04 Ambitious vision
00:04:22 Hard startup vs Easy Startup
00:05:34 Confident and definite view of future (but flexible!)
00:06:10 Huge if it works
00:06:30 Team (non-obvious insights)
00:07:20 – Optimists!
00:07:47 – Idea generators
00:08:16 – ‘We’ll figure it out’
00:08:50 – ‘I’ve got it’
00:09:08 – Action bias
00:09:34 – The blessing or inexperience
00:10:16 Momentum
00:11:04 Competitive advantage
00:11:46 Sensible business model
00:12:04 Distribution strategy
00:12:20 Traits of best founders – Frugality, focus, obsession, love
00:12:46 Why startups win
00:13:13 – One no vs One yes
00:14:06 – Fast-changing markets
00:14:43 – Platform shifts
00:15:46 End

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