August 22, 2023</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js/" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n</figure><p>So how do investors <em>really</em> feel about YC? In this episode, Michael and I dig in!</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/bgp5QZwuNQI?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen title=\"Why Investors (Secretly) Love Y Combinator\"></iframe></figure>","comment_id":"64e52ed2bf4b990001b7f9c3","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/08/investor-1.jpg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2023-08-22T14:55:30.000-07:00","updated_at":"2023-08-23T09:54:46.000-07:00","published_at":"2023-08-23T09:31:23.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"How do investors really feel about YC? In this episode, Michael and Dalton dig in!","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. 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He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"},"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/why-investors-secretly-love-yc/","excerpt":"How do investors really feel about YC? In this episode, Michael and Dalton dig in!","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},"mentions":[],"related_posts":[{"id":"6335e2416c330f000113fac3","uuid":"35201943-5292-4030-906c-00e0478b0141","title":"First Five Launches with Whatnot","slug":"first-five-launches-with-whatnot","html":"<p>Today <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.whatnot.com//">Whatnot (<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/whatnot/">W20) is a lively platform where collectors can buy, sell, go live, and geek out with other like-minded people across a wide variety of product categories. But, like every startup, the founders of Whatnot began with only an idea. YC’s <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/anuhariharan/">Anu Hariharan</a> sat down with the co-founder and CEO of Whatnot <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://twitter.com/grantlafontaine?lang=en\%22>Grant LaFontaine</a> to discuss their first five launches.</p><p>The takeaways are below, and the interview can be watched on <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKD0IAcwMig\%22>Youtube.00:40) Launch #1 Takeaway</strong></p><p>Build the buyer side of the marketplace – even if you have to hack your way there.</p><p>To build a great marketplace experience, both sides of the Whatnot marketplace had to be built out. Buyers would come, but only if sellers listed inventory. In the early days, the founders would list products on Whatnot that they didn’t have (i.e. fake listing), and when the item would sell, they’d purchase it on eBay.</p><p><strong>(<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/OKD0IAcwMig?t=266\%22>04:26) Launch #2 Takeaway</strong></p><p>Increase your returning visitor rate through creative marketing campaigns.</p><p>Whatnot launched with only a website and found it was not engaging enough for consumers to visit frequently. To solve this, they developed an app and a growth channel to push traffic to the app, called <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2488270838055833\%22>Whatnot Drop</a>. Whatnot Drop was a raffle for Funko Grail, and consumers could load up on raffle tickets by sharing referral code and content assets that would draw people back to Whatnot.</p><p><strong>(<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/OKD0IAcwMig?t=377\%22>06:17) Launch #3 Takeaway</strong></p><p>Work with trusted influencers in the community.</p><p>Whatnot worked with a Funko Pop influencer who was trusted by the Funko Pop fanbase. The influencer created a Youtube video talking about their experience on Whatnot, which helped the audience trust Whatnot as a reputable marketplace for collectibles.</p><p><strong>(<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/OKD0IAcwMig?t=439\%22>07:19) Launch #4 Takeaway</strong></p><p>Build the seller side of the marketplace by encouraging high sell-through rates.</p><p>Whatnot delivered more sales to sellers by building a cross listing tool. Every seller on Whatnot could easily have their inventory cross listed to their eBay account – delivering more sales for sellers. </p><p><strong>(<a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://youtu.be/OKD0IAcwMig?t=626\%22>10:26) Launch #5 Takeaway</strong></p><p>Experiment with new content formats to drive traffic.</p><p>Whatnot built and launched a live shop feature – a first in the collections industry. The seller tool was built into the product, so it was simple for sellers to go live on Whatnot and talk about their products to the community.</p>","comment_id":"6335e2416c330f000113fac3","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-29-at-1.06.17-PM.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2022-09-29T11:21:53.000-07:00","updated_at":"2022-10-06T08:59:59.000-07:00","published_at":"2022-09-29T13:43:30.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"Like every startup, the founders of Whatnot began with only an idea. YC’s Anu Hariharan sat down with the co-founder and CEO of Whatnot Grant LaFontaine to discuss their first five launches, and how they helped shape the company into a billion dollar marketplace today.","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":"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":"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/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7114c","name":"Company Building","slug":"company-building","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/company-building/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71152","name":"Founder Stories","slug":"founder-stories","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/founder-stories/"},{"id":"6228d9671c7f270001e3c0e0","name":"#13208","slug":"hash-13208","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/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a7106f","name":"Y 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":"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/first-five-launches-with-whatnot/","excerpt":"Like every startup, the founders of Whatnot began with only an idea. YC’s Anu Hariharan sat down with the co-founder and CEO of Whatnot Grant LaFontaine to discuss their first five launches, and how they helped shape the company into a billion dollar marketplace today.","reading_time":2,"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":"64b847eef63b700001fe8526","uuid":"6a136ace-31a7-4b43-b5aa-b4f70c554e7d","title":"Introducing our newest video series: Office Hours","slug":"introducing-our-newest-video-series-office-hours","html":"<p><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/brex/">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. 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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. 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Ali directly contributed to the growth of two great companies — 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 by Y Combinator
Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.
