Mutiny (<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/mutiny/">YC S18</a>) uses AI and data to convert website visitors into customers. Today, the fastest growing B2B companies such as Notion and Snowflake use Mutiny to identify ideal customers, determine sections of websites that will increase conversion, and produce copy that converts visitors into customers. </p><p>YC’s <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/anuhariharan/status/1557784730543632384/">Anu Hariharan</a> sat down with Mutiny co-founder and CEO <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/jalehr/">Jaleh Rezaei</a> to talk about their <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/jalehr/status/1582352047659024385/">recent acquisition</a> of Intellipse, an AI marketing platform, as well as how AI will impact the next era of growth. Throughout, Jaleh shares advice about acquisitions as a growth strategy and evolving your product with AI. </p><p>You can listen here or on <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://open.spotify.com/episode/7dy1qB7XQfOryE4kj4spGS/">Spotify, <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/160-yc-founder-firesides-mutiny-on-ai-and-the-next/id1236907421?i=1000583708925\%22>Apple Podcasts</a>, and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1yNxaNzAPPnKj/">Twitter.

Notion drives 60% more leads through paid marketing</a></li><li>Example 2: <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.mutinyhq.com/blog/the-second-lever-replays#conversion-secret-how-snowflake-runs-abm-at-scale\">Snowflake builds an ABM and enterprise marketing program</a></li></ul><p><strong>12:50</strong> - You recently shared that with data and AI, Mutiny transforms conversion from a niche A/B testing tool to a platform that every go-to-market team can use to drive efficient growth at scale. What does that mean, and how have you leveraged the advances in AI over the last four years? </p><ul><li>When you can give the entire go-to-market team x-ray vision into every visitor and how they are converting – and then pair that insight with the ability to change the website for different segments – every team will make the website a core part of their strategy to drive more revenue. Mutiny uses AI to give teams this insight and answer questions like: What segments should I prioritize? What parts of the website should I change? What copy will resonate? Where should I focus? </li></ul><p><strong>17:00</strong> - At Mutiny when looking at data, when do you know the right questions to ask and when do you say these are not questions we need to optimize now?</p><ul><li>In the early days, one of the most valuable things we did was follow our customers’ growth teams. We would attend team meetings, watch them use our product, and ask questions. It became clear what we should build for our customers. </li></ul><p><strong>20:30</strong> - Since you started Mutiny, what are some of the advances in AI that you’ve leveraged? </p><ul><li>We did things that didn't scale in the early days to solve customers’ problems. As our customers grew, our data set grew and we used AI models and inputs to improve our recommendation engines and service a broader customer base. Today, we can build models that tell a user where on the website they should make changes and write personalized copy leveraging GPT-3. </li></ul><p><strong>29:10</strong> - Did you have moments when you felt Mutiny could be doing more with the advances being made in AI? </p><ul><li>We saw an opportunity to marry our proprietary data set with GPT-3 to produce highly personalized copy. </li></ul><p><strong>32:15</strong> - GPT-3 was an inflection point for Munity. What is the next inflection point? </p><ul><li>There are a lot of opportunities with DALL-E, as visuals are important in marketing.</li></ul><p><strong>36:30</strong> - Do you have cautionary advice on how to think about using technologies like GPT-3 and DALL-E for founders dabbling in AI? </p><ul><li>Think through the ultimate long-term vision of the product and the long-term defensibility of the business. And launch fast, as technology develops quickly. </li></ul><p><strong>38:40</strong> - What advice do you have for founders in terms of leveraging OpenAI, GPT-3, etc. while focusing on the long-term vision? </p><ul><li>Your vision and long-term view is separate from your day-to-day execution. Your long-term vision (i.e. the opportunity and what you’re trying to create over the course of a decade) provides clarity around where you’re trying to go and brings other people along with you, like your investors and employees. Day-to-day, you’re focused and executing quickly – and not always thinking about the ten year vision when you’re building V1.</li></ul><p><strong>43:45</strong> - You decided to grow your team by acquiring Intellipse. And now, Mutiny has one of the larger engineering teams with production experience in modern marketing AI technologies. Why did you decide to pursue an acquisition? </p><ul><li>Founders have to look for inflection points where something happens in the market leading to the “old way” no longer being as good. And as a result, a much larger portion of the market is open to a new and better way. We’re in a recession, and this is an inflection point for Mutiny. Companies need to convert every dollar to a customer, and Mutiny has built a product that makes marketing dollars more efficient. We can accelerate our road map with the acquisition of Intellipse</li></ul><p><strong>46:40</strong> - How did you know you wanted to work with the Intellipse team so much that you had to go through an acquisition?</p><ul><li>We were interested in the Intellipse team and the skills the team had developed. Their CTO and senior engineers had a unique experience with marketing AI and newer technologies, like GPT-3.</li><li>The personality and values of the founder spreads in an organization and becomes the company culture. After getting to know the founder and the free am, it was evident the two companies had a similar culture and shared values – and we’d be able to bring this team in and enhance our culture.</li></ul><p><strong>50:15</strong> - How long did it take to assess the culture? </p><ul><li>We spent the same amount of time with each individual as if we were hiring them onto the team through our typical recruiting process.</li></ul><p><strong>51:30</strong> - Do you expect to acquire more companies in the future? And how should founders and CEOs determine whether this strategy is right for their company? </p><ul><li>Be clear about your goals and why an acquisition is the right way to achieve those goals. When a company is working toward a similar goal – building something we would have done ourselves – it is a successful acquisition. With Intellipse, the team shared similar goals and company culture, and could accelerate our timing.</li><li>We want to hire founders onto our product team who are user focused and move quickly. Founders can focus their entrepreneurial energy on building a product and growing that business area within Mutiny. </li></ul><p><strong>54:55</strong> - What are your thoughts about how AI will impact the next ten years? </p><ul><li>There has been enough productization of backend AI technologies that as a founder you can tap into AI to accelerate the product you want to build and the value you give to customers. From a user and growth perspective, AI enables us to automate many of the tasks no one wants to do. And for those who aren’t technical – but understand what they are trying to do – they can now be self sufficient.</li></ul>","comment_id":"6356a9c957e9f90001984b62","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/10/BlogTwitter-Image-Template-1.jpeg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2022-10-24T08:05:45.000-07:00","updated_at":"2022-10-25T08:44:16.000-07:00","published_at":"2022-10-24T09:25:31.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"YC’s Anu Hariharan sat down with Mutiny co-founder and CEO Jaleh Rezaei to talk about their recent acquisition of Intellipse, an AI marketing platform, as well as how AI will impact the next era of growth.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a7106f","name":"Y 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Combinator","slug":"yc","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/yc.png","cover_image":null,"bio":null,"website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/yc/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71170","name":"Startups","slug":"startups","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/startups/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/yc-founder-firesides-mutiny-on-ai-and-the-next-era-of-company-growth/","excerpt":"YC’s Anu Hariharan sat down with Mutiny co-founder and CEO Jaleh Rezaei to talk about their recent acquisition of Intellipse, an AI marketing platform, as well as how AI will impact the next era of growth.","reading_time":5,"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":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"62fa7b87ab52db0001d3b656","uuid":"c432a242-4288-4980-a6e9-d9c82359c9ad","title":"YC Founder Firesides: Gusto on building for new verticals","slug":"yc-founder-firesides-gusto-on-building-for-new-verticals","html":"<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://gusto.com//">Gusto (<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/gusto/">YC W12</a>) provides growing businesses with everything to take care of their team. Today, more than 200,000 businesses use Gusto for payroll, employee benefits, talent management, and more. And with the recent addition of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://embedded.gusto.com//">Gusto Embedded</a>, developers now use Gusto’s APIs and pre-build UI  flows to embed payroll, tax filing, and payments infrastructure into products. </p><p>Last week, Gusto <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://gusto.com/company-news/gusto-embedded-one-year-in-fueling-smb-tech-success-at-scale-with-critical-compliance-/">announced they have dozens of new partners across verticals like laundromats, health &amp; beauty, and construction building with Gusto Embedded. The company also announced they are making it easier for software providers to keep their payroll customers in compliance.</p><p>YC’s <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/anuhariharan/status/1557784730543632384/">Anu Hariharan</a> sat down with Gusto co-founder and CPO <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/tomerlondon/">Tomer London</a> to talk about building for new customer segments and the future of embedded finance — sharing advice for startup founders and CEOs along the way. </p><div class=\"kg-card kg-audio-card\"><img src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/media/2022/08/Founder-Fireside---Tomer-London--Gusto-_thumb.jpg?v&#x3D;1660587475243\" alt=\"audio-thumbnail\" class=\"kg-audio-thumbnail\"><div class=\"kg-audio-thumbnail placeholder kg-audio-hide\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M7.5 15.33a.75.75 0 1 0 0 1.5.75.75 0 0 0 0-1.5Zm-2.25.75a2.25 2.25 0 1 1 4.5 0 2.25 2.25 0 0 1-4.5 0ZM15 13.83a.75.75 0 1 0 0 1.5.75.75 0 0 0 0-1.5Zm-2.25.75a2.25 2.25 0 1 1 4.5 0 2.25 2.25 0 0 1-4.5 0Z\"/><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M14.486 6.81A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 17.25 9v5.579a.75.75 0 0 1-1.5 0v-5.58a.75.75 0 0 0-.932-.727.755.755 0 0 1-.059.013l-4.465.744a.75.75 0 0 0-.544.72v6.33a.75.75 0 0 1-1.5 0v-6.33a2.25 2.25 0 0 1 1.763-2.194l4.473-.746Z\"/><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M3 1.5a.75.75 0 0 0-.75.75v19.5a.75.75 0 0 0 .75.75h18a.75.75 0 0 0 .75-.75V5.133a.75.75 0 0 0-.225-.535l-.002-.002-3-2.883A.75.75 0 0 0 18 1.5H3ZM1.409.659A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 3 0h15a2.25 2.25 0 0 1 1.568.637l.003.002 3 2.883a2.25 2.25 0 0 1 .679 1.61V21.75A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 21 24H3a2.25 2.25 0 0 1-2.25-2.25V2.25c0-.597.237-1.169.659-1.591Z\"/></svg></div><div class=\"kg-audio-player-container\"><audio src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/media/2022/08/Founder-Fireside---Tomer-London--Gusto-.mp3/" preload=\"metadata\"></audio><div class=\"kg-audio-title\">Founder Firesides: Gusto&#x27;s Tomer London on building for new verticals</div><div class=\"kg-audio-player\"><button class=\"kg-audio-play-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M23.14 10.608 2.253.164A1.559 1.559 0 0 0 0 1.557v20.887a1.558 1.558 0 0 0 2.253 1.392L23.14 13.393a1.557 1.557 0 0 0 0-2.785Z\"/></svg></button><button class=\"kg-audio-pause-icon kg-audio-hide\"><svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><rect x=\"3\" y=\"1\" width=\"7\" height=\"22\" rx=\"1.5\" ry=\"1.5\"/><rect x=\"14\" y=\"1\" width=\"7\" height=\"22\" rx=\"1.5\" ry=\"1.5\"/></svg></button><span class=\"kg-audio-current-time\">0:00</span><div class=\"kg-audio-time\">/<span class=\"kg-audio-duration\">118:07</span></div><input type=\"range\" class=\"kg-audio-seek-slider\" max=\"100\" value=\"0\"><button class=\"kg-audio-playback-rate\">1&#215;</button><button class=\"kg-audio-unmute-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M15.189 2.021a9.728 9.728 0 0 0-7.924 4.85.249.249 0 0 1-.221.133H5.25a3 3 0 0 0-3 3v2a3 3 0 0 0 3 3h1.794a.249.249 0 0 1 .221.133 9.73 9.73 0 0 0 7.924 4.85h.06a1 1 0 0 0 1-1V3.02a1 1 0 0 0-1.06-.998Z\"/></svg></button><button class=\"kg-audio-mute-icon kg-audio-hide\"><svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M16.177 4.3a.248.248 0 0 0 .073-.176v-1.1a1 1 0 0 0-1.061-1 9.728 9.728 0 0 0-7.924 4.85.249.249 0 0 1-.221.133H5.25a3 3 0 0 0-3 3v2a3 3 0 0 0 3 3h.114a.251.251 0 0 0 .177-.073ZM23.707 1.706A1 1 0 0 0 22.293.292l-22 22a1 1 0 0 0 0 1.414l.009.009a1 1 0 0 0 1.405-.009l6.63-6.631A.251.251 0 0 1 8.515 17a.245.245 0 0 1 .177.075 10.081 10.081 0 0 0 6.5 2.92 1 1 0 0 0 1.061-1V9.266a.247.247 0 0 1 .073-.176Z\"/></svg></button><input type=\"range\" class=\"kg-audio-volume-slider\" max=\"100\" value=\"100\"></div></div></div><p>You can also listen on <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://open.spotify.com/episode/0FTnE08QzuCg6I21S4PB8e?si=ShDfsjwnRWKYH0LjwzI-rg\%22>Spotify, <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/159-yc-founder-firesides-gusto-on-building-for-new/id1236907421?i=1000576161014\%22>Apple Podcasts</a>, and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1dRKZldrvOzJB?s=20\%22>Twitter.

1:28 - Tomer describes Gusto Embedded and the complexities behind compliance.</p><ul><li>Gusto Embedded takes ten years of Gusto’s experience building payroll software and compliance and makes it available to any software company wanting to ship their own payroll product to the market. </li></ul><p><strong>5:00 </strong>- Why did you decide to pursue startups as the company’s first target audience? How did you think about customer segments in that first year? </p><p><em>Over the last ten years, Gusto has scaled to build for multiple customer segments – starting with startups, then SMBs, accountants, and now with Gusto Embedded Payroll, developers who are embedding payroll directly into their software. </em></p><ul><li>When you have a grand vision, where do you start as a founder? Choose a customer segment. Make sure you choose a segment where 1) they have an important customer problem, 2) the product you are building solves that problem, and 3) you can reach your customer. </li></ul><p><strong>9:30 </strong>- Who were your competitors in the early days? </p><ul><li>The old, traditional payroll solutions, which were complex. With Gusto, <em>anyone</em> can run payroll at <em>any time</em>. Gusto also focuses on employees, a critical part of the system, by building a great payroll experience for them. </li></ul><p><strong>11:30 </strong>- Why did you decide to build for SMBs after startups? </p><ul><li>Look at your current customer base and learn from customers adjacent to the market you want to expand into. When you do expand into another vertical, make sure you maintain that early customer love.  </li></ul><p><strong>14:45</strong> - How did you maintain the customer love of the existing customer segment? </p><ul><li>Think about your long-term vision and don’t put yourself in a corner when you want to move to the next segment. </li></ul><p><strong>17:00</strong> - Most startups find it hard to tackle the SMB market. Why do you think this is the case? </p><ul><li>Traditionally SMBs are hard to reach and use incomplete or manual solutions. Since 2000 an entire generation of business owners had to learn to trust online financial services. Today, SMBs are online and looking for solutions.</li></ul><p><strong>22:25 </strong>- What is different about serving SMBs as a customer versus startups? </p><ul><li>Startups come and go, and the real economics come from the big winners. Focusing on startups is a good place to start your journey, but think about how to scale with them.</li><li>There are more small businesses than startups, and they are around for a long time – but most don’t grow to thousands of employees. You need to build a business model that works with that dynamic. </li></ul><p><strong>27:00 - </strong>Why did you pursue developers and how did you decide to service them? </p><ul><li>For many verticals, it is much better to have an all-in-one platform to run your small businesses. But payroll is really hard to build yourself. Gusto Embedded helps partners deliver a more integrated solution for customers without investing the several years and tens of millions of dollars.</li></ul><p><strong>29:00 </strong>- Gusto went from directly acquiring small businesses as customers to creating an embedded solution – essentially  “giving up” the relationship with the customer. How did you think about that? </p><ul><li>Evaluate the future of the industry and don’t ignore reality. Be the one to create that future. In this case, many payroll customers want all-in-one solutions. We can either try to meet those needs directly, or empower hundreds of partners to customize unique solutions.</li></ul><p><strong>33:00 - </strong>How should founders think about who to partner with? When should founders build directly for the industry and when should they go the embedded route? </p><ul><li>Think about the unique insight you have in the business you’re creating and make sure you own your destiny around that insight.</li><li>For your customer, what does a successful product look like, and could you partner with a company to fulfill those needs.</li><li>Your product must be high-quality. You have to put enough resources behind whatever you own. For everything else, you must ensure you bring in the right partner. It’s all about the end-to-end experience. </li></ul><p><strong>39:30</strong> - Gusto now makes it easier for software providers to bake compliance into embedded payroll. Tomer, I think developers looking at a payroll API would assume that compliance is baked in. But there are often steps companies have to take beyond just calling APIs. Tell us if that assumption holds.</p><ul><li>Regulation can change every quarter and every year. This is built into the product. We protect the customer and make it easy for developers to ship something quickly that is compliant for the long term.</li><li>One third of the companies in the U.S. get fined for mistakes on payroll. </li></ul><p><strong>43:00 - </strong>Compliance is the hardest part of payroll to build and ultimately has to be right. It took ten years of experience in compliance to launch this into Gusto Embedded Payroll. What advice do you have for founders who are building complicated, yet essential, components for an industry?</p><ul><li>Determine the parts of your product that are highly regulated and which areas are not. Build a culture that ensures quality-first in those highly-regulated areas, as well as a culture where people can iterate quickly in other areas. You can’t build a monolithic culture.</li><li>Embrace cross functional work. </li></ul><p><strong>46:00 </strong>- In the early days of Gusto, what guidance did you provide to your engineers about building payroll? What areas could break and which areas could not break? </p><p><strong>48:40</strong> - Looking back, would you have done anything different? </p><ul><li>Start charging what you feel is the value you provide; fix downwards versus upwards. If you’re truly adding value, customers won’t hesitate moving forward at that price.</li><li>Have the humility to learn from the customer and how the market changes around you. </li></ul><p><strong>51:45 </strong>- How should founders be thinking about embedded finance and how does this market evolve over the next 5-10 years? </p><ul><li>When you build a new software system for your customer, the more connected the system is for your customer, the better it is. Embedded products enable you to do that quickly and in high quality.</li><li>Bring more solutions into your product that are driven by what your customer needs. Understand your customer’s day-to-day, and figure out how to build something that solves their entire flow instead of one segment.</li><li>If you are not making money on your product, you don’t know if there's a product market fit. If you can charge and retain a customer, then there is product market fit. </li></ul><p><strong>56:30</strong> - Outside of payroll, what are you seeing product wise offered by APIs? </p><ul><li>This space is brand new and there’s a ton of opportunity to create a product that helps customers go through the end-to-end journey successfully and solves multiple pain points – instead of the customer needing ten years of background to create a high-quality solution.</li></ul>","comment_id":"62fa7b87ab52db0001d3b656","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/08/BlogTwitter-Image-Template--5-.jpg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2022-08-15T09:59:51.000-07:00","updated_at":"2022-08-15T11:48:12.000-07:00","published_at":"2022-08-15T11:32:19.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"Today, more than 200,000 businesses use Gusto for payroll, employee benefits, talent management, and more. And with the recent addition of Gusto Embedded, developers now use Gusto’s APIs and pre-build UI flows to embed payroll, tax filing, and payments infrastructure into products. ","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a7106f","name":"Y Combinator","slug":"yc","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/yc.png","cover_image":null,"bio":null,"website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/yc/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71179","name":"YC 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Combinator","slug":"yc","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/yc.png","cover_image":null,"bio":null,"website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/yc/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71179","name":"YC Events","slug":"yc-events","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/yc-events/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/yc-founder-firesides-gusto-on-building-for-new-verticals/","excerpt":"Today, more than 200,000 businesses use Gusto for payroll, employee benefits, talent management, and more. And with the recent addition of Gusto Embedded, developers now use Gusto’s APIs and pre-build UI flows to embed payroll, tax filing, and payments infrastructure into products.","reading_time":5,"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":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"62c640aadb59f2000159e618","uuid":"062e4f3f-c2e8-4f21-8a15-eb02adb47efe","title":"Same, Same but Different with Vanta and Zapier","slug":"same-same-but-different-with-vanta-and-zapier","html":"<p>Both <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.vanta.com//">Vanta CEO <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/christinacaci/">Christina Cacioppo</a> and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://zapier.com//">Zapier CEO <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/wadefoster/">Wade Foster</a> made the decision to take a disciplined approach to fundraising. They 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. <br></p><p>YC’s <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/anuhariharan/">Anu Hariharan</a> sat down with Christina and Wade to talk about their unique funding history in our first episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/new-yc-audio-series-same-same-but-different/">Same, Same but Different.</a> </p><div class=\"kg-card kg-audio-card\"><img src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/media/2022/07/SSBD_Final_1_thumb.jpg?v&#x3D;1657216763245\" alt=\"audio-thumbnail\" class=\"kg-audio-thumbnail\"><div class=\"kg-audio-thumbnail placeholder kg-audio-hide\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M7.5 15.33a.75.75 0 1 0 0 1.5.75.75 0 0 0 0-1.5Zm-2.25.75a2.25 2.25 0 1 1 4.5 0 2.25 2.25 0 0 1-4.5 0ZM15 13.83a.75.75 0 1 0 0 1.5.75.75 0 0 0 0-1.5Zm-2.25.75a2.25 2.25 0 1 1 4.5 0 2.25 2.25 0 0 1-4.5 0Z\"/><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M14.486 6.81A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 17.25 9v5.579a.75.75 0 0 1-1.5 0v-5.58a.75.75 0 0 0-.932-.727.755.755 0 0 1-.059.013l-4.465.744a.75.75 0 0 0-.544.72v6.33a.75.75 0 0 1-1.5 0v-6.33a2.25 2.25 0 0 1 1.763-2.194l4.473-.746Z\"/><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M3 1.5a.75.75 0 0 0-.75.75v19.5a.75.75 0 0 0 .75.75h18a.75.75 0 0 0 .75-.75V5.133a.75.75 0 0 0-.225-.535l-.002-.002-3-2.883A.75.75 0 0 0 18 1.5H3ZM1.409.659A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 3 0h15a2.25 2.25 0 0 1 1.568.637l.003.002 3 2.883a2.25 2.25 0 0 1 .679 1.61V21.75A2.25 2.25 0 0 1 21 24H3a2.25 2.25 0 0 1-2.25-2.25V2.25c0-.597.237-1.169.659-1.591Z\"/></svg></div><div class=\"kg-audio-player-container\"><audio src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/media/2022/07/SSBD_Final_1.mp3/" preload=\"metadata\"></audio><div class=\"kg-audio-title\">Same, Same but Different with Vanta and Zapier</div><div class=\"kg-audio-player\"><button class=\"kg-audio-play-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M23.14 10.608 2.253.164A1.559 1.559 0 0 0 0 1.557v20.887a1.558 1.558 0 0 0 2.253 1.392L23.14 13.393a1.557 1.557 0 0 0 0-2.785Z\"/></svg></button><button class=\"kg-audio-pause-icon kg-audio-hide\"><svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><rect x=\"3\" y=\"1\" width=\"7\" height=\"22\" rx=\"1.5\" ry=\"1.5\"/><rect x=\"14\" y=\"1\" width=\"7\" height=\"22\" rx=\"1.5\" ry=\"1.5\"/></svg></button><span class=\"kg-audio-current-time\">0:00</span><div class=\"kg-audio-time\">/<span class=\"kg-audio-duration\">59:28</span></div><input type=\"range\" class=\"kg-audio-seek-slider\" max=\"100\" value=\"0\"><button class=\"kg-audio-playback-rate\">1&#215;</button><button class=\"kg-audio-unmute-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M15.189 2.021a9.728 9.728 0 0 0-7.924 4.85.249.249 0 0 1-.221.133H5.25a3 3 0 0 0-3 3v2a3 3 0 0 0 3 3h1.794a.249.249 0 0 1 .221.133 9.73 9.73 0 0 0 7.924 4.85h.06a1 1 0 0 0 1-1V3.02a1 1 0 0 0-1.06-.998Z\"/></svg></button><button class=\"kg-audio-mute-icon kg-audio-hide\"><svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M16.177 4.3a.248.248 0 0 0 .073-.176v-1.1a1 1 0 0 0-1.061-1 9.728 9.728 0 0 0-7.924 4.85.249.249 0 0 1-.221.133H5.25a3 3 0 0 0-3 3v2a3 3 0 0 0 3 3h.114a.251.251 0 0 0 .177-.073ZM23.707 1.706A1 1 0 0 0 22.293.292l-22 22a1 1 0 0 0 0 1.414l.009.009a1 1 0 0 0 1.405-.009l6.63-6.631A.251.251 0 0 1 8.515 17a.245.245 0 0 1 .177.075 10.081 10.081 0 0 0 6.5 2.92 1 1 0 0 0 1.061-1V9.266a.247.247 0 0 1 .073-.176Z\"/></svg></button><input type=\"range\" class=\"kg-audio-volume-slider\" max=\"100\" value=\"100\"></div></div></div><p><strong>You can also listen on <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://open.spotify.com/episode/3c1CmZtpzCqMa2MxXK845H?si=Ay6GBKIuT4OPfZePwUO4bQ\%22>Spotify, <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/158-same-same-but-different-with-vanta-and-zapier/id1236907421?i=1000569160335\%22>Apple Podcasts</a>, or <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1vAxRkrNwoXKl/">Twitter. </strong><br></p><p><strong>3:20 </strong>- Christina, why did you wait so long before raising your first round?<br></p><p><em>Vanta was bootstrapped until raising a Series A round that ended up looking more like a traditional Series C. The company has surpassed 3,000 customers and is valued at $1.6B.</em><br></p><ul><li>Investors want to fund businesses that don't actually need funding.</li><li>Christina talks about ensuring they were truly building something that people wanted and finding product-market fit.<br></li></ul><p><strong>7:10 </strong>- Christina, what was the scale of Vanta when you decided to raise? Why did you decide to raise if you were cash-flow positive? <br></p><ul><li>Vanta had true signs of product-market fit, as shown by the impact of sales and marketing.</li><li>Christina talks about raising to ensure they didn’t lose the market they created. <br></li></ul><p><strong>10:50</strong> - Christina, how did you say no to the investors wanting to fund Vanta? What was your mental model? <br></p><ul><li>Be pragmatic with how you plan to spend funds; ensure the dilution from fundraising is worth it.</li><li>Christina talks about already hiring as quickly as possible and funds not helping with this challenge.<br></li></ul><p><strong>14:15 </strong>- Wade, tell us about your experience raising a seed and why you decided not to raise again. <br></p><p><em>Zapier raised only a $1.3M seed round in 2012 and has been profitable since 2014. The company is valued at $5B. </em><br></p><ul><li>Treat each funding round like it will be the last money you ever get.</li><li>Wade talks about his personal experience working for a quickly-growing, bootstrapped company, growing Zapier in a cost-effective way, and addressing constraints without fundraising. <br></li></ul><p><strong>20:00</strong> - Wade, did you always want to build a bootstrap company? When did you know Zapier had product-market fit and that it was a business model predisposed to being bootstrapped? <br></p><ul><li>When you make something people care about, it’s easy to sell to customers.</li><li>Don’t hire until it hurts.</li><li>Wade talks about finding product-market fit, their repeatable go-to market strategy to grow their base without a ton of capital, and their philosophy around hiring and building a remote company. <br></li></ul><p><strong>24:30</strong> - Wade, how did you attract talent without big headlines about fundraising news?<br></p><ul><li>Wade talks about hiring in a distributed way, writing about their learnings, and unique hiring tactics to raise the profile of Zapier as an employer. <br></li></ul><p><strong>27:00</strong> - Wade, what was the hardest part about hiring for a bootstrapped company? <br></p><ul><li>Wade talks about this not being an issue when hiring outside of Silicon Valley and already being profitable. <br></li></ul><p><strong>29:15</strong> - Christina, can you highlight Vanta’s journey to product-market fit?<br></p><ul><li>You can’t raise your way into the right product.</li><li>Christina shares insight into her first customers and advice on testing the value proposition with early users. <br></li></ul><p><strong>35:45 </strong>- Christina, when did you know you had product-market fit and what were the signs? <br></p><ul><li>The path to product-market fit isn’t linear.</li><li>Christina speaks to the mistake of focusing solely on hiring versus selling in the early days. <br></li></ul><p><strong>38:45 </strong>- Christina, how did you attract talent without big headlines about fundraising news?<br></p><ul><li>Christina shares how her pitch to candidates changed throughout Vanta’s journey. <br></li></ul><p><strong>44:10 </strong>- Wade, how has hiring changed since the pandemic? <br></p><ul><li>Wade speaks to more companies competing in this remote environment and how this is shifting again given today’s economic climate. <br></li></ul><p><strong>46:45</strong> - Wade, what is your advice for founders whether to fundraise or not? <br></p><ul><li>Determine the constraints in your business and figure out how to address those.</li><li>Wade shares their biggest challenges and his mental model to determine whether to raise or not raise. <br></li></ul><p><strong>49:00 </strong>- Wade, talk about your early days and how you were able to reach product-market fit as a remote company. <br></p><ul><li>When building a company, pick a lane: all remote or all in-office; the hybrid approach is the most challenging.</li><li>Wade talks about how this played out for Zapier, including working in-person with his co-founders the first few years and reaching product-market fit during this time. <br></li></ul><p><strong>51:15</strong> - Christina, do you recommend in-person, remote, or hybrid? <br></p><ul><li>Christina talks about the importance of documentation for remote and hybrid companies.<br></li></ul><p><strong>53:30 </strong>- Christina, how long in Vanta’s experience was in-person important? <br></p><ul><li>Christina shares the challenges of shifting from in-person to remote. <br></li></ul><p><strong>55:30 </strong>- Christina, how are you thinking about fundraising today in this funding environment and what advice do you have for founders? <br></p><ul><li>If you can, push your fundraising out — and if you can’t, it’s all about unit economics.</li><li>Christina talks about her recent experience fundraising (<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.vanta.com/blog/vanta-announces-series-b/">$110M Series B</a>) and the importance of metrics.<br></li></ul><p><strong>58:00 </strong>- Wade, what advice do you have for founders in this funding environment? <br></p><ul><li>Running a good business never goes out of style. 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Combinator","slug":"yc","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/yc.png","cover_image":null,"bio":null,"website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/yc/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71176","name":"Podcast","slug":"podcast","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/podcast/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/same-same-but-different-with-vanta-and-zapier/","excerpt":"Both Vanta CEO Christina Cacioppo and Zapier CEO WadeFoster made the decision to take a disciplinedapproach to fundraising.","reading_time":4,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/07/Same_Same_1600x900_72DPI-1.png","twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"61fe29f1c7139e0001a71b8f","uuid":"1b64bdba-016a-4295-a7d6-83238c02fa15","title":"Diego Saez Gil on How Pachama Uses Tech to Help Solve Climate Change","slug":"diego-saez-gil-on-how-pachama-uses-tech-to-help-solve-climate-change","html":"<!--kg-card-begin: html--><p>Diego Saez Gil is the founder of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"http://www.pachama.com//">Pachama (YC W19). Pachama is building a marketplace where companies can support carbon offset projects.</p>\n<p>He talks to Craig Cannon and YC partner Gustaf Alströmer about how Pachama uses technology to help solve climate change.</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>00:00 &#8211; Welcome Gustaf and Diego<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>01:19 &#8211; Diego&#8217;s background<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>06:50 &#8211; What is Pachama?<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>09:25 &#8211; Using remote sensing to track carbon<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>11:37 &#8211; Connecting disparate groups<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>13:04 &#8211; How much carbon does a typical company offset?<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>15:28 &#8211; How big is the reforesting opportunity?<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>17:09 &#8211; What are the incentives to offset carbon?<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>18:40 &#8211; Why don&#8217;t people trust carbon offsets?<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>20:33 &#8211; What are the different forest conservation methods?<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>25:20 &#8211; How does Pachama use technology?<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>29:00 &#8211; Growth challenges<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>30:20 &#8211; Who are the customers?<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>32:12 &#8211; The future of the carbon market<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>32:48 &#8211; Fundraising for a climate startup<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>37:50 &#8211; Advice for people that want to start working in the climate change space.<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>41:38 &#8211; Climate policy<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>43:23 &#8211; What are the most important things happening in the space?<br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2vKWIVB-w&amp;feature=youtu.be\%22>45:10 &#8211; The benefits of agroforestry and permaculture</p>\n<hr />\n<div id=\"backtracks-player\" style=\"max-width: 100%\" data-bt-embed=\"https://player.backtracks.fm/ycombinator/ycombinator/m/157-diego-saez-gil\" data-bt-theme=\"orange\" data-bt-show-description=\"false\" data-bt-show-comments=\"true\" data-bt-show-art-cover=\"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<!--kg-card-end: html-->","comment_id":"1104164","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/wordpress/2020/01/Diego-Saez-Gil-How-Pachama-Uses-Tech-to-Solve-Climate-Change.jpeg","featured":false,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2020-01-27T18:00:49.000-08:00","updated_at":"2021-10-20T10:52:58.000-07:00","published_at":"2020-01-27T18:00:49.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710d1","name":"Y Combinator","slug":"y-combinator","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/1200px-Y_Combinator_logo.svg.png","cover_image":null,"bio":"Y Combinator created a new model for funding early stage startups. Twice a year we invest a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200).\r\n\r\nThe startups move to Silicon","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/y-combinator/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71176","name":"Podcast","slug":"podcast","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/podcast/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710d1","name":"Y Combinator","slug":"y-combinator","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/1200px-Y_Combinator_logo.svg.png","cover_image":null,"bio":"Y Combinator created a new model for funding early stage startups. Twice a year we invest a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200).\r\n\r\nThe startups move to Silicon","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/y-combinator/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71176","name":"Podcast","slug":"podcast","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/podcast/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/diego-saez-gil-on-how-pachama-uses-tech-to-help-solve-climate-change/","excerpt":"Diego Saez Gil is the founder of Pachama (YC W19).Pachama is building a marketplace where companies can support carbon offsetprojects.He talks to Craig Cannon and YC partner Gustaf Alströmer about how Pachama usestechnology to help solve climate change.00:00 – WelcomeGustaf and Diego01:19 – Diego’sbackground06:50 [https://www.youtube.","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":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"61fe29f1c7139e0001a71b89","uuid":"210cb6a6-a172-4ed7-846a-cb30b3654294","title":"Amber Atherton of Zyper and Iba Masood of TARA on Raising a Series A as a Female Founder","slug":"amber-atherton-of-zyper-and-iba-masood-of-tara-on-raising-a-series-a-as-a-female-founder","html":"<!--kg-card-begin: html--><p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/AmberAtherton/">Amber Atherton</a> is the founder and CEO of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.zyper.com//">Zyper (YC W18).</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/ibamasood/">Iba Masood</a> is the cofounder and CEO of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://tara.ai//">TARA (YC W15).</p>\n<hr />\n<h1>Topics</h1>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=15s\%22>00:15 &#8211; Intros</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=1m\%22>1:00 &#8211; Seed fundraising for Zyper and Tara</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=3m10s\%22>3:10 &#8211; Tara&#8217;s pivot</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=4m15s\%22>4:15 &#8211; Series A fundraising for Zyper and Tara</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=17m55s\%22>17:55 &#8211; Evaluating investors</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=23m30s\%22>23:30 &#8211; Meeting with associates and partners</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=30m20s\%22>30:20 &#8211; Raising a Series A as a female founder</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=39m15s\%22>39:15 &#8211; Fundraising psychology</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=41m30s\%22>41:30 &#8211; What not to do when fundraising</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=44m45s\%22>44:45 &#8211; Talking to portfolio companies about investors</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=46m5s\%22>46:05 &#8211; What it&#8217;s like to run a Series A stage company</p>\n<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/TogTe74Zg7w?t=1h25s\%22>1:00:25 &#8211; The most important piece of advice for fundraising</p>\n<hr />\n<div id=\"backtracks-player\" data-bt-embed=\"https://player.backtracks.fm/ycombinator/ycombinator/m/156-amber-atherton-and-iba-masood\" 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> <script><br />\n(function(p,l,a,y,e,r,s){if(p[y]) return;<br />\nif(p[e]) return p[e]();s=l.createElement(a);<br />\nl.head.appendChild((s.async=p[y]=true,s.src=r,s))<br />\n}(window,document,'script','__btL','__btR',<br />\n'https://player.backtracks.fm/embedder.js'))<br />\n</script> <script><br />\n!function(n,i,s,c){n[s]||(n[s]=function(i){n[s].q.push(i)}),n[s].q||(n[s].q=[]),<br />\nc=i.createElement(\"script\"),<br />\nc.async=1,<br />\nc.src=\"https://c.bktrks.com/utils-1.0.0.all.min.js\",<br />\ni.head.appendChild(c)}(window,document,\"BTUtils\");<br />\nBTUtils(function(use) {<br />\n var options = {<br />\n autoplayLinks: false<br />\n };<br />\n use('backtracks-autolink', options).init();<br />\n});<br />\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
Breaker
Google Play</a><br />\n<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://open.spotify.com/show/1tgqafxZAB0Bjd8nkwVtE4?si=Zha2qqbMTcqZxl5lieNi2w\%22>Spotify
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Diego Saez Gil on How Pachama Uses Tech to Help Solve Climate Change

by Y Combinator1/28/2020

Diego Saez Gil is the founder of Pachama (YC W19).Pachama is building a marketplace where companies can support carbon offsetprojects.He talks to Craig Cannon and YC partner Gustaf Alströmer about how Pachama usestechnology to help solve climate change.00:00 – WelcomeGustaf and Diego01:19 – Diego’sbackground06:50 [https://www.youtube.

Amber Atherton of Zyper and Iba Masood of TARA on Raising a Series A as a Female Founder

by Y Combinator12/18/2019

Amber Atherton is the founder and CEO of Zyper (YC W18).Iba Masood is the cofounder and CEO of TARA (YC W15).

Laks Srini on Making Homeownership in Reach with ZeroDown

by Y Combinator12/11/2019

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 .--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Topics00:10 – What is ZeroDown?1:30 – How did they test the idea?3:30 [https://youtu.

Matt Cutts on the US Digital Service and Working at Google for 17 Years

by Y Combinator12/4/2019

Matt Cutts is the Administrator of the USDigital Service and previously he was the head of thewebspam team at Google.You can find him on Twitter at @mattcutts .--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Topics00:00 – Intro00:18 – Working at Google in 20002:30 [https://youtu.

Cory Doctorow and Joe Betts-Lacroix on Adversarial Interoperability

by Y Combinator11/27/2019

Cory Doctorow is a blogger, journalist, andscience fiction author. He’s also the co-editor of Boing Boing.Joe Betts-Lacroix is the CTO of VIUM and an Expert at YC.

Startup School Week 11 Recap - Geoff Ralston's Parting Advice

by Y Combinator11/13/2019

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 putyour name on the waitlist at StartupSchool.org .

Startup School Week 10 Recap - Ali Rowghani on How to Lead and Kevin Hale and Adora Cheung on Startup School 2019 by the Numbers

by Y Combinator11/6/2019

We’ve cut down the tenth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined theminto one podcast.First, a lecture from Ali Rowghani . Ali is apartner at YC. His lecture covers how to lead.Then a lecture from Kevin Hale and Adora Cheung . Kevin and Adora are both partnersat YC.