95: What Makes or Breaks a Startup with Jessica Livingston of Y Combinator
Dubbed "the world's most powerful startup incubator" by Fast Company, Y Combinator (YC) has been plucking startups from garages, dorm rooms, coffee shops, and assorted founder hangouts for over a decade. With a combined valuation of more than $65 billion among its alumni, a list that reads like a who’s who of startup fame—think AirBNB, Reddit, Dropbox, Instacart, Scribd, Weebly—YC has become a Silicon Valley institution. It is described as an elite founders boot camp, a place where ideas are incubated, annihilated, refined, and polished for a period of three months, ready to be served up to a bevy of hungry investors. As co-founder of this entrepreneurial playground, Jessica Livingston has seen it all: the tears, the tantrums, and the triumphs, while getting a bird’s eye view of some of the startup world’s biggest success stories. In this interview you will learn: How to close the gap between a failed startup and a wildly successful one What Y Combinator is looking for when they take on new startups The exact process that Y Combinator puts startups through in order to ensure success The key traits and qualities shared by every successful founder What signs to look out for that your startup may be doomed & much more!