{"id":129,"date":"2017-06-16T08:40:43","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T08:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/54.158.119.27\/?p=129"},"modified":"2024-03-18T16:46:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T20:46:58","slug":"what-youll-get-out-of-y-combinators-startup-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/what-youll-get-out-of-y-combinators-startup-school\/","title":{"rendered":"What you\u2019ll get out of Y Combinator\u2019s Startup School"},"content":{"rendered":"

We just completed the inaugural batch of Y Combinator\u2019s\u00a0Startup School<\/a>\u00a0for our startup\u00a0Canny<\/a>. It was a blast, and we learned a ton.<\/p>\n

For those of you thinking about doing the next batch, we\u2019d love to share our experience with you. We also have ideas for how YC could do even better.<\/p>\n

The Program<\/h2>\n

The founder track had 3,000 companies from 141 countries. This was split into 94 groups. Each group got the pleasure to work with a YC alumni mentor\u200a\u2014\u200asomeone who has founded a YC startup in the past.<\/p>\n

We were part of group 18 and our mentor was\u00a0Boris Jabes<\/a>, founder of\u00a0Meldium<\/a>\u00a0and all around awesome guy \ud83d\ude0d.<\/p>\n

Office Hours<\/h2>\n

Our group had office hours on a weekly basis. Since founders were from all over the world, these were held in a group video chat. Each company spent 5\u201310 minutes asking for advice on our hardest problems. Boris gave most of the advice, but it wasn\u2019t uncommon for other founders to chime in too.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Boris laying down some wisdom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Video Lessons<\/h2>\n

A new lesson was released on YouTube every week. Here\u2019s a list of them all, in the order they came out:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • How and Why to Start A Startup<\/a>\u00a0(Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz)<\/li>\n
  • Startup Mechanics<\/a>\u00a0(Kirsty Nathoo)<\/li>\n
  • How to Get Ideas and How to Measure<\/a>\u00a0(Stewart Butterfield, Adam D\u2019Angelo)<\/li>\n
  • How to Build a Product I<\/a>\u00a0(Michael Seibel, Emmett Shear, Steve Huffman)<\/li>\n
  • How to Build a Product II<\/a>\u00a0(Aaron Levie)<\/li>\n
  • How to Build a Product III<\/a>\u00a0(Jason Lemkin, Solomon Hykes, Tracy Young, Harry Zhang)<\/li>\n
  • How to Build a Product IV<\/a>\u00a0(Jan Koum)<\/li>\n
  • How to Get Users and Grow<\/a>\u00a0(Alex Schultz)<\/li>\n
  • How to Invent the Future I<\/a>\u00a0(Alan Kay)<\/li>\n
  • How to Invent the Future II<\/a>\u00a0(Alan Kay)<\/li>\n
  • How to Find Product Market Fit<\/a>\u00a0(Peter Reinhardt)<\/li>\n
  • How to Think About PR<\/a>\u00a0(Sharon Pope)<\/li>\n
  • Diversity & Inclusion at Early Stage Startups<\/a><\/li>\n
  • How to Build and Manage Teams<\/a>\u00a0(Vinod Khosla, Anu Hariharan)<\/li>\n
  • How to Raise Money, and How to Succeed Long-Term<\/a>\u00a0(Jess Lee, Aaron Harris, Ali Rowghani)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    These videos are incredible. They\u2019ve managed to pack\u00a0decades<\/em>\u00a0of the best startup advice into 15 hours. Delivered from some of the biggest names in tech. For free. Stop reading this and go watch them instead! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

    Weekly Metrics<\/h2>\n

    Every Tuesday we had to submit our updated metrics, including week over week growth. This held us accountable.<\/p>\n

    If they went down, it sucked and motivated us to do better. If they went up, it gave us a reason to celebrate.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Obviously every startup should do this anyway. But like A\/B testing, it probably doesn\u2019t happen as much as it should.<\/p>\n

    Networking<\/h2>\n

    We got the pleasure to meet some inspiring founders, like\u00a0John Saddington<\/a>. He\u2019s been blogging for 16 years and had so much to teach us about producing content. He\u2019s also a productivity master\u2014raising two daughters and starting a company, all while\u00a0vlogging every day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s John\u2019s video from the day he met Sarah:<\/p>\n