How to Start a Startup

Lecture 1 - How to Start a Startup (Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Sam-altman-lecture-1-how-to-start-a-startup-annotated

Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, and Dustin Moskovitz, Cofounder of Facebook, Asana, and Good Ventures, kick off the How to Start a Startup Course. Sam covers the first 2 of the 4 Key Areas: Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution; and Dustin discusses Why to Start a Startup.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec01/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64030

This video is under Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/
Lecture 2 - Team and Execution (Sam Altman) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Sam-altman-lecture-2-ideas-products-teams-and-execution-part-ii-annotated

Sam Altman finishes up "Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution" by covering Team and Execution, in Lecture 2 of How to Start a Startup.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec02/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64031
Lecture 3 - Before the Startup (Paul Graham) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Paul-graham-lecture-3-counterintuitive-parts-of-startups-and-how-to-have-ideas-annotated

Paul Graham delivers an informative (and highly amusing) talk, addressing counterintuitive parts of startups, in Lecture 3 of How to Start a Startup.

See the readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec03/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64032
Lecture 4 - Building Product, Talking to Users, and Growing (Adora Cheung) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Adora-cheung-lecture-4-building-product-talking-to-users-and-growing-annotated

So you have an idea. How do you go from zero users to many users?Adora Cheung, Founder of Homejoy, covers Building Product, Talking to Users, and Growing, in Lecture 4 of How to Start a Startup.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec04/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64033
Lecture 5 - Competition is for Losers (Peter Thiel) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Peter-thiel-lecture-5-business-strategy-and-monopoly-theory-annotated

Peter Thiel, founder of Paypal and Palantir, discusses business strategy and monopoly theory in "Competition is For Losers".

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec05/

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Lecture 6 - Growth (Alex Schultz) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Alex-schultz-lecture-6-growth-annotated

Alex Schultz gives an overview of Growth for startups, speaking from a position of authority as the VP of Growth at Facebook.

View the readings Alex refers to, his slide deck, at http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec06/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64035

This video is under Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/
Lecture 7 - How to Build Products Users Love (Kevin Hale) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Kevin-hale-lecture-7-how-to-build-products-users-love-part-i-annotated

Kevin Hale, Founder of Wufoo and Partner at Y Combinator, explains how to build products that create a passionate user base invested in your startup's success.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec07/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64036
Lecture 8 - How to Get Started, Doing Things that Don't Scale, Press Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/William-sydney-walker-lecture-8-doing-things-that-dont-scale-pr-and-how-to-get-started-annotated

Lecture 8 features 3 speakers:
Stanley Tang, Founder of Doordash, covers How to Get Started.
Walker Williams, Founder of Teespring, covers Doing things that Don't Scale.
Justin Kan, Founder of TwitchTV and Partner at Y Combinator, covers Press.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec09/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64037
Lecture 9 - How to Raise Money (Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Parker Conrad) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Marc-andreessen-lecture-9-how-to-raise-money-annotated

Sam leads a panel Q&A on Fundraising in this lecture with Marc Andreessen, Founder of Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz, Ron Conway, Founder of SV Angel, and Parker Conrad, Founder of Zenefits.

See Ron Conway's slide, and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec09/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64038
Lecture 10 - Culture (Brian Chesky, Alfred Lin) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Alfred-lin-lecture-10-company-culture-and-building-a-team-part-i-annotated

Brian Chesky, Founder of Airbnb, and Alfred Lin, Former COO of Zappos and Partner at Sequoia Capital discuss how to build a great company culture.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec10/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64039
Lecture 11 - Hiring and Culture, Part 2 (Patrick and John Collison, Ben Silbermann) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Patrick-collison-lecture-11-company-culture-and-building-a-team-part-ii-annotated

Stripe and Pinterest - two companies well known for their strong cultures. The founders - John Collison, Patrick Collison, and Ben Silberman - take Q&A from Sam in part 2 of Hiring and Culture.

See the readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec11/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64040
Lecture 12 - Building for the Enterprise (Aaron Levie) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Aaron-levie-lecture-12-sales-and-marketing-annotated

Aaron Levie - founder of Box, enterprise master, Twitter comedic genius. In this lecture, he'll convince you to Build for the Enterprise.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec12/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64041
Lecture 13 - How to be a Great Founder (Reid Hoffman) Lecture Transcript: http://genius.com/Reid-hoffman-lecture-13-how-to-be-a-great-founder-annotated

So you've learned how to get started, how to raise money, how to build products, and how to grow. Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn and Partner at Greylock Ventures, addresses many of the questions and confusions that might be cropping up - How to be a Great Founder.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec13/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64042
Lecture 14 - How to Operate (Keith Rabois) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Keith-rabois-lecture-14-how-to-operate-annotated

What should the CEO be doing on a day to day basis? How do you make sure the company is moving in the right direction?
Keith Rabois, Partner at Khosla Ventures and former COO of Square, tackles the nitty gritty - How to Operate. Lots of actionable takeaways from this lecture!

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec14/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64043
Lecture 15 - How to Manage (Ben Horowitz) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/B-horowitz-lecture-15-how-to-manage-annotated

You are not the only one whom your decisions impact. Ben Horowitz, founder of Andreessen Horowitz and Opsware, discusses this important management perspective that founders miss, with, of course, the gratuitous rap lyric or two sprinkled in.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec15/

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Lecture 16 - How to Run a User Interview (Emmett Shear) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Emmett-shear-lecture-16-how-to-run-a-user-interview-annotated

Building product, and talking to users. In the early stages of your startup, those are the two things you should focus on.
In this lecture, Emmett Shear, Founder and CEO of Justin.tv and Twitch, covers the latter. What can you learn by talking to users that you can’t learn by looking at data? What questions should you ask? How can user interviews define or redefine your product goals?

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec16/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64045
Lecture 17 - How to Design Hardware Products (Hosain Rahman) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Hosain-rahman-lecture-17-how-to-build-products-users-love-part-ii-annotated

Hosain Rahman, CEO and Founder of Jawbone, covers the design process for building hardware products users love.

See the readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec17/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64046
Lecture 18 - Legal and Accounting Basics for Startups (Kirsty Nathoo, Carolynn Levy) Lecture Transcript: http://genius.com/Kirsty-nathoo-lecture-18-mechanics-legal-finance-hr-etc-annotated

There's a lot that goes behind the scenes in running a startup. Getting the legal, finance (equity allocation, vesting), accounting, and other overhead right will save you a lot of pain in the long run. Kirsty Nathoo, CFO at Y Combinator, and Carolynn Levy, General Counsel at Y Combinator, cover these very important topics in this lecture.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec18/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64047
Lecture 19 - Sales and Marketing; How to Talk to Investors (Tyler Bosmeny; YC Partners) Lecture Transcript: http://genius.com/Tyler-bosmeny-lecture-19-sales-and-marketing-how-to-pitch-and-investor-meeting-roleplaying-annotated

Three segments in this lecture:

Tyler Bosmeny, founder and CEO of Clever, starts off today's lecture with an overview of the Sales Funnel, and how to get to your first $1 Million.

Michael Seibel, founder of Justin.tv and Socialcam and Partner at Y Combinator, then goes over how to talk to investors - the pitch.

Dalton Caldwell, founder of imeem and App.net and Partner at Y Combiantor, and Qasar Younis, founder of Talkbin and Partner at Y Combinator, then perform an investor meeting roleplay to give you a taste of how it actually might look behind the scenes.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec19/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64048
Lecture 20 - Later-stage Advice (Sam Altman) Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Sam-altman-lecture-20-closing-thoughts-and-later-stage-advice-annotated

Sam caps off the How to Start a Startup series with things you should ignore when you start, but become important a year in. Thanks for watching How to Start a Startup. Hope you learned a ton!

See the slides at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec20/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64049