Brex’s co-founders originally wanted to build a VR headset. <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/goat-group/">GOAT’s co-founders set out to build an app for meeting new people over dinner. Instagram was a Foursquare competitor. Slack was a game. YouTube wanted to be a dating site. </p><p>It turns out many of the billion dollar companies you know and love today pivoted on the way to getting there, and that’s what the first episode of our newest video series <strong>Office Hours</strong> is about.</p><p>How do you know if it’s time for your startup to pivot? How can you narrow down which idea to try next — and how will you know if that next idea is the one?</p><p>In <strong>Office Hours</strong>, we’ll feature Y Combinator’s <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/people/">Group Partners</a> discussing the startup topics that they know better than just about anyone else in the world, because they’ve built their own successful startups and have advised thousands more. What other set of people in the world has seen zero-to-one success so many times? There is no parallel.</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/DmehFuCMtvc?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen title=\"Startup Experts Reveal Their Favorite Pivot Stories\"></iframe></figure><p>Pivots are frequently misunderstood. You might think that pivoting is something done only by the startups that don’t make it; in reality, a huge number of the best startups pivoted. The first steps on your startup journey might not be in the best direction, but they’re getting you that much closer to the path you’re looking for.</p><p>This is just the first co-production by YC's video team (Zach Both and Ryan Loughlin) and Garry Tan, president of YC, in deep collaboration with all dozen of YC’s deeply experienced group partners. Be on the lookout for the next episode of Office Hours in just a few weeks.</p>","comment_id":"64b847eef63b700001fe8526","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/07/office-hours-featured.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2023-07-19T13:30:38.000-07:00","updated_at":"2023-07-21T10:57:02.000-07:00","published_at":"2023-07-21T10:34:33.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"Many of the billion dollar startups you know and love had to pivot, and that’s what the first episode of our newest video series Office Hours is about. ","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710d2","name":"Garry Tan","slug":"garry","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/03/Instagram-Image-Template--Square---21-.png","cover_image":null,"bio":"Garry is the President & CEO of Y Combinator. Previously, he was the co-founder & Managing Partner of Initialized Capital. Before that, he co-founded Posterous (YC S08) which was acquired by Twitter.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":"@garrytan","meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/garry/"},{"id":"645000ebb09be6000165fbad","name":"Greg Kumparak","slug":"greg","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/05/greg.jpeg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Greg oversees editorial content at Y Combinator. He was previously an editor at TechCrunch for nearly 15 years.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/greg/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a711b8","name":"#1556","slug":"hash-1556","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"64bab4222f303f00013abd53","name":"#168","slug":"hash-168","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"64bab5032f303f00013abd59","name":"Office Hours","slug":"office-hours","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/office-hours/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710d2","name":"Garry Tan","slug":"garry","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2023/03/Instagram-Image-Template--Square---21-.png","cover_image":null,"bio":"Garry is the President & CEO of Y Combinator. Previously, he was the co-founder & Managing Partner of Initialized Capital. Before that, he co-founded Posterous (YC S08) which was acquired by Twitter.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":"@garrytan","meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/garry/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71172","name":"Video","slug":"video","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/video/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/introducing-our-newest-video-series-office-hours/","excerpt":"Many of the billion dollar startups you know and love had to pivot, and that’s what the first episode of our newest video series Office Hours is about. ","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":"A promo image for Office Hours featuring three YC group partners","feature_image_caption":null},"mentions":[{"id":1556,"slug":"brex","name":"Brex","batch_name":"W17","small_logo_url":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/72237ca3782563f0b12ffe1fe9869d878c153ab6.png","one_liner":"Business accounts, corporate cards, and spend management software.","website":"https://www.brex.com","long_description":"Brex is everything startups need to scale from MVP to IPO. Our missions is to empower the next generation of businesses with an integrated corporate card and spend management software. We make it easy for our customers to manage every aspect of spending and empower their employees to make better financial decisions from anywhere they live or work. Brex proudly serves tens of thousands of growing businesses, from early-stage startups to enterprise leaders. \r\n\r\nBrex offers:\r\n- Corporate cards with 10-20x higher limits\r\n- Business accounts with easy wires\r\n- Reward options that include billboards, offsites, and coaching\r\n- Founder-friendly financial modeling tools\r\n- Bespoke, long-term capital solutions\r\n- Special events and masterclasses for founders\r\n- Advanced spend management software as startups grow\r\n\r\n","tags":["Fintech"],"ycdc_status":"Active","logo_url":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/logos/cb57903753e4baf1d9722d726970c5711571c1c4.png","year_founded":2017,"team_size":1100,"location":"San Francisco","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/company/brexhq/","twitter_url":"https://twitter.com/brexHQ","fb_url":"https://www.facebook.com/BrexHQ/","cb_url":"https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/brex","is_hiring":true,"active_job_count":2},{"id":168,"slug":"goat-group","name":"GOAT Group","batch_name":"W11","small_logo_url":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/4f3a455935f36a6655742aae286b206df1cd13bd.png","one_liner":"Platform for the greatest products from the past, present and future.","website":"https://www.goatgroup.com/","long_description":"GOAT Group represents the leading platforms for authentic sneakers, apparel and accessories. Operating four distinct brands–GOAT, Flight Club, Grailed and alias–GOAT Group has a global community of over 50M members across 170 countries.\r\n\r\nWe are backed by some of the leading names in venture capital including Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Matrix Partners, NEA, SV Angel, Upfront Ventures, Webb Investment Network and Y Combinator.","tags":["Marketplace"],"ycdc_status":"Active","logo_url":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/logos/2e0c151cdd3a737e2a2ea5cacd4808218245ce46.png","year_founded":2015,"team_size":1600,"location":"Los Angeles, CA","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/company/goat-group","twitter_url":"https://twitter.com/goatapp","fb_url":"https://www.facebook.com/goatapp","cb_url":"https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/goatapp","is_hiring":true,"active_job_count":1}],"related_posts":[{"id":"61fe29f1c7139e0001a71996","uuid":"5c069dda-3887-47b6-85c6-ab3f0837f99a","title":"Office Hours with Ali Rowghani","slug":"office-hours-with-ali-rowghani","html":"<!--kg-card-begin: html--><p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/rowghani/">Ali Rowghani</a> is CEO of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/continuity/">Y Combinator Continuity</a>, where he invests in and advises growth-stage startups. Ali directly contributed to the growth of two great companies &#8212; at Twitter, as CFO then COO, and at Pixar as CFO and SVP of Strategic Planning.</p>\n<hr />\n<div id=\"backtracks-player\" data-bt-embed=\"https://player.backtracks.fm/ycombinator/ycombinator/m/10-office-hours-with-ali-rowghani\" data-bt-theme=\"orange\" data-bt-show-art-cover=\"true\" data-bt-show-comments=\"true\">\n</div>\n<p><script>(function(p,l,a,y,e,r,s){if(p[y]) return;if(p[e]) return p[e]();s=l.createElement(a);l.head.appendChild((s.async=p[y]=true,s.src=r,s))}(window,document,\"script\",\"__btL\",\"__btR\",\"https://player.backtracks.fm/embedder.js\"))</script></p>\n<p><script>\n(function(p,l,a,y,e,r,s){if(p[y]) return;\nif(p[e]) return p[e]();s=l.createElement(a);\nl.head.appendChild((s.async=p[y]=true,s.src=r,s))\n}(window,document,'script','__btL','__btR',\n'https://player.backtracks.fm/embedder.js'))\n</script></p>\n<p><script>\n!function(n,i,s,c){n[s]||(n[s]=function(i){n[s].q.push(i)}),n[s].q||(n[s].q=[]),\nc=i.createElement(\"script\"),\nc.async=1,\nc.src=\"https://c.bktrks.com/utils-1.0.0.all.min.js\",\ni.head.appendChild(c)}(window,document,\"BTUtils\");\nBTUtils(function(use) {\n var options = {\n autoplayLinks: false\n };\n use('backtracks-autolink', options).init();\n});\n</script></p>\n<hr />\n<h1>Subscribe</h1>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/y-combinator/id1236907421/">iTunes
Google Play</a><br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/y-combinator/">Stitcher
SoundCloud
RSS

/n

/n (W17)

Business accounts, corporate cards, and spend management software.

2 open jobs

GOAT Group logo

Other Posts

Authors