Hey, how's it going? This is Craig Cannon, and you're listening to why Combinator is podcast. Today's episode is with Jeff Ralston and Adore Chung. Jeff Amadora are both partners at Y. C. In this episode is about startup school. Startup school is a free online course we're offering that starts on August 28th. We're also offering equity free grants of $10,000 to 100 companies that participate in the course anyone consign up for the course at Startup School dot or GE. All right, here we go. All right, Jeff Amadora. Thanks for coming in. We're here to talk about started school. So, Jeff, could you break down

what's happening this year with start up school? Sure, we'll start of school began a couple of years ago with a course Sam taught online called How to Start a Startup, and last year we evolved it into. Of course, we talked with Stanford called Startup School, and we're continuing that this year. It's an open online course that is a way for us to reach as many companies as possible throughout the entire world. Help maximize really the amount of innovation amount of value created by startups everywhere in the world

and adore How is the coursework differing this year from any previous version? Um, well, it's a lot of similarities. So, uh, it's time we course And you you can either audit the course or you can actually be part of the implied to be part of the course. And to be part of the course, you get obviously access to the materials and lectures you're put into a group, Um, you get advisor who you will meet once a week Thio go over the up schools that you're having, but more importantly, to talk with other founders as well who are in, you know, dealing with similar challenges on. And then you also you have access to community, which will be a forum in which you can talk to everybody else who is taking start school.

So it's really great, because and then the day what we want to do is reduce the barriers to starting a startup. And I come from the middle of nowhere personally, and so you know, it's near and dear to me, because I you know, I didn't learn about start ups until very late. I would consider like a late bloomer compared to people who are from here. Um and so I think that what's important is to give people out there who are not in Silicon Valley access to community access to mentorship on access to really great knowledge to build a start up. So

the amazing thing about startups school is it's not just the content that this is really unique. It is about the community and the and the mentorship that every single one of the founders in this adviser track, where you get a sign, an adviser and you meet with them on a weekly basis. Now it's also true that the content this year is going to be different than the content last year. All of the content from the last two years is available online, will remain available online and is relevant and useful. But it turns out also that the content relevant to starting a startup is both broad and deep. There's a ton of things to cover, so we're going to cover everything a little bit differently. We're going to go over similar areas of a startup. How to get going, what the mechanics are, how to think about product, how to think about growth had a thing about fundraising, but we'll do them all, and in new and different ways that I think will be valuable additions to the set of content that we've already actually made available to public Library that you can get at it started school dot org's slash library

and the speakers for this year. Is that less public? It?

Well, the list is about to be public. I think, simultaneously with the publication of this podcast, so we can start to talk about it. One of my favorite speakers is gonna be Adora. We're really focusing on Y C partners and Y C founders for this start up school, so a number of Y C partners are going to be participating. I'm really excited Thio to say that Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston will be taking part in the course and giving some of their wisdom, which is also brought me tau founders everywhere in the world. But we're also gonna have have otherwise, he partners. Sam Altman, who's the president of Y Combinator, will be giving a talk. Michael Sybil, the CEO of Y Combinator, will be giving a talk, so we have amazing lineup of folks who are We're gonna be out there talking.

Okay, so we should just clarify all these questions around the tracks right now. I think that isn't necessarily clear for folks who have maybe participated before or just heard a little bit about it. So, Adora, could you explain like, the different paths of going through startup school? Yes. So there are two paths. One is you cannot, of course, In which case, you just get access to the live stream in lectures in the notes. Or you can be if you're excited, you're full time founders. You can just apply and be part of start school. Officially.

Which means, like I said, before you get access to mentorship Mentor Sorry, Advisers. You get access to the forum, you get exclusive deals like with Amazon strike that lists and so forth. And and you also can qualify to receive a $10,000 equity free grant from us. If

you complete the course and we're gonna choose 100 companies that that that get that grant based on the how they do during the course and the information we're going to get from the advisers Andi, the progress that company makes. We're going to judge how promising that company is. Those

companies are. Yeah, and those companies. Could they apply at any stage, like, who are the founders that you guys were looking for? I think the most interesting are people who are early stage founders. Eso there either. Either they have an idea and they're ready to work on it full time. Or they are currently working idea, um, and anywhere from no users to you know, any number of users. It's fine. I think we can be helpful along those

lines, I think started school is Is it fair to say, certainly targeted at very early stage companies? There's knowledge in that and the knowledge base that that we built in the passenger continuing to build with this year started school that air. There's probably useful thio companies and later stages as well. But for the most part, this is, I think a door put it Wall is about about lowering the threshold for people to get started. Okay, really, get your startup going.

Do you guys work? Also from last year, were there any success stories that kind of stood out to you? So we had 38 companies who actually got into our core y C program after going through startup school. And so they don't they? I think for the most part, Muslim did a lot of their adoration and talking to users during start school, and they learned a lot how to do that, which I should positive say, that that's a very high percentage of the batch 38 38 across across two, but still even across the 10%. Yeah, um, and success stories. Um, I mean, I'm very excited about a few of those companies,

so one of them is actually I worked very closely with my group. Its connection i p they actually went through move with a something that legal space which they're still in. But they iterated towards their current product during startup school. So, uh, I think that's really saying their condition I p is there enable law firms. If you need any patents, you get to them. And

I should just add a door through in this term mook, which we often use internally to talk about the course that stands for massively open online course. And it's sort of ah, most people know that term. But this is how we think of started school. It's It's, it's it's a mook. It's for everyone's open toe, everyone. So no matter what, if you apply to be part of the main course and get an adviser and and for whatever reason, and we do have a limited number of advisors, so we can't take everyone, but you can still take the course. Everyone who applies can cannot at the course can can go through all of the lectures and sell the content. And at the end of the course of as we said, all of the content is going to be available

online. Catcher. So So, given the success of last year's move, which Jeff you're organizing, why did you decide to do the grants this year if it was already working?

We want to maximize the amount of innovation in the world, and it's just a hard fact that starting a startup takes cash. So, to be honest, it's a bit of an experiment, right? Certainly it helps toe attract companies to come to start a school. We think starts goes good from we drive no benefit unless they applied a Y Combinator and get into y Combinator, except we think it makes the world a better place to have more start ups. So it's good if Maur do start of school. And we think that the most promising startups that don't get into y Combinator but still have a shot have a better shot if they have some capital to work off. So our fervent hope is that by giving $10,000 to these 100 startups will have startups that might otherwise die, not seed and thrive and become viable companies.

Okay, So just to clarify the deals you mentioned earlier, what are they? Explicitly? So people know the vics, the exclusive deals. So we have a cloud credits from Amazon Web service is and Digital Ocean and maybe some others on dhe. Then every company that comes through we'll be able to incorporate and create a bank account with through Stripe atlas. They're amazing company to work with. Lucky for Inc. Yes. Um and we'll have We'll have a bunch of others. But those were the highlights, so applications are open right now. They've been open for a week. They've been over for a week, are more When this podcast Yeah.

Once the podcast, it'll be two weeks, and I do want to really encourage people to get their application in. It turns out this is a really popular thing, and lots of people are applying, and we're already thrilled by the response. It's great. We have thousands and thousands of companies already applying.

And when will the course began course is going

to begin the week of August 27th. It's going to actually have Ah, live in person component in Mountain View, California at the original Y C offices on Pioneer Road, we find our way. Excuse me, but, um, but also the obviously we can't take everyone there, since there will be many thousands of people taking the mook. So the all of the lectures and the slides will be made online, made available online shortly

after each lunch and who can attend in person. How does that work? We're actually working

through that way. Think the demand is gonna be super high, and when we want to be as equitable ous possible, it's really interesting. Correct. The the startup companies in searchable are the companies from around the world. But it's also true that there's a good number who are in the Bay Area. Yeah, so we don't we don't expect or really even recommend people travel. Come and try to come to the course because that actually will probably detract from your startup. You should be focusing on. Start up to start up itself in building your company and talking to your users and building your products, not traveling out Thio Mountain View For people who are local on who want to come in, we'll have some mechanism for them to reserve a spot and come in and actually attend the lecture

in person and just to clarify are to add on to that is the live is just, you know, an option. It's not a requirement for course completion or to qualify for the $10,000

but there are requirements. We I'm sure doors about to say that we to be eligible thio to take part in in presentation day at the end, where you can present your company. Hopefully they'll be will be an audience of investors and others in the community toe thio, Take a look at what you've done, what you've accomplished, but also to be eligible for that for the $10,000 grant. You need to attend nine out of 10 of the weekly group meetings with your advisor, and you need to consume at least nine out of 10 of the yes 20 that that occur unready basis. Okay, so the course adore mentioned That's the course. It runs from 10 weeks starting in the week of August 27th and it runs through the end of October. Not coincidentally, that is right in the application period going into the interview period for our winter 2019 batch. So we actually will help people apply to O. I. C will give you maybe not insider information,

but accurate information about how to think about creating an application and having your best shot at having your company considered for membership. In that there's a lecture dedicated to that. There's actually a lecture dedicated to helping people do that. Look, it's hard to get in tow our core Y C program, the admission rated somewhere between one in 2%. So we think we think that alone is a great reason. Tow company started school. The main reason start up school will help you Gettinto. Why see, however, is not because we have a lecture dedicated. You know that the main reason it will help you get into I C is because we sincerely believe it'll make your

startup better right, and you will have the forcing function of working with a group over

10 weeks. Well, that's part of it. It turns out that forcing function of working it part of the group that having community over 10 weeks makes you start better. It makes you focus. It makes you achieve. It makes you grow so way. We expect those things to really be relevant to the companies that are applying.

So in addition to this section on applying, too, I see what else is in the curriculum like Let's go from the beginning of the 1st 1st course and then just go from there.

Yeah, this is hard because we have to do it from memory and it's 10 courses. But, uh, it follows a narc that I think will be pretty familiar to folks. We're going to start off by talking about some of the really basic ideas behind starting a startup. Why you do it? How you should think about it. I I should even mechanically go about doing what you need to do. Some of these things. Every part of doing a start up is hard, but sometimes just getting over those first, it's, you know, small steps is the key thing to actually getting on the road to building your startup. Then we'll spend a fair amount of time talking about product. What is this?

Start up without what is any company without a product? Weiss's motto, it turns out, is make something people want. So we'll spend a fair amount of time talking about what it really means to make something people want to find sort of the proverbial product market fit. And then we'll go on Thio to talk about well, So how do you think about getting users and growing? Once you start to have a product that's reasonable and you know we'll spend a fair amount of time on that, and we'll spend a fair amount of time on things like howto think about running your company and hiring people, and then we'll transition to to talking about fundraising, how that works, how you think about cap tables and and then and as we get towards the middle part we'll talk about applying to Y c, which is sort of right in that in a lot of people think about what I see is a za mechanism for fund raising, although I tend to argue it's much less about fundraising. That's a piece of it and way more about making your startup more likely to succeed. And then we'll have some cool stuff at the end that will have a little that,

um, uh will revolve around both thinking big, thinking big about the future, thinking about the key things that make startups succeed and fail and and even psychological and emotional things because, as anyone who's gonna start up a door has been through this, a zoo intensive ways possible started this emotional roller coaster. It's really complicated and hard, and coming out the other end as good a person to enter the beginning is really is really a hard challenge. What

about those sessions with advisers were around. I see we talk about office hours and group office hours and advisors and all that stuff. I think it's not always clear what actually happens during those meetings and to be clear, like these air online sessions just And so they're happening weekly. Correct What's actually happening during that? Because, you know, following the course work is interesting, which is like the traditional model. If you're working with the TA, for example. But in reality, they're more talking about what? Product growth. During the whole course, I would say the course work is a little bit more on the theory side, an abstract in an attempt to teach everybody something relevant to what they're doing.

And then in group office hours, it comes down to more tactical things and very specific things. And so we're going to try Thio Group you with fellow founders who are working on similar type similar industries and obviously, hopefully similar locations s so you don't have to get up at lucky times for this. But most importantly, I think the general structure is you come in and you describe you know what has happened in briefly what has happened in the past week. Have you met your goal? If not, what was the main obstacle on? How can the group help you until the mentor actually is not there to, uh I would say, tell you exactly what to do. They're there to facility to conversation. Facilitate a conversation because I think in most cases ah, lot of the things a lot of the problems you run into other founders have run into and just very different forms. And so it is the other founders who will probably help you the most.

And so that's what we're. That's what we're hoping for. The important aspect of the about hours, even though they're done in group, is that they're actually individual attention for each company. Each company gets to spend time talking about what they're working on, what progress they're making, what problems. There were barriers they're running into, and and it's a sore point out. It's the policy advisor and the other founders within that context, who can help and, you know, take part in the community of startups trying to be successful. It's actually the coolest part. I just Actually, it's worthwhile seeing just award on the advisors who I,

I think more than anything make this work. And it's really a testimony to the power of the Y C network that Y C founders are so interested that I don't know how, how how open I should be about this But I'll just say we don't pay. These folks t do this. They volunteer their time. Yeah, for a free course to spend time with companies that they've never heard of before and to help them be successful. And these folks are amazing. They're they're they're in many or most cases working on their own. Start up at the same time, but they dedicate their time. They're very valuable time to help these strangers make their startup work. It's It's really more than anything else. What I think makes started school powerful and and interesting beyond sort of any online course you can follow And, you know, and any book you can read about how to start a startup, this is way more real, way more effective. And I would say way more substantive to the future success of your

star. Yeah, well, I think it really helps you stay locked into the course, because that's when you know, turn has been a huge problem with many MOOCs, right? I think it's not uncommon to have less than 20% of the class from single

digit percentages on and last year, 56% finished and our goal is higher this year, and I think a door pointed out, You only get a chance at the $10,000 if you finish, so we expect. That is one of the reasons we put this in place at the tail end of the course because we think that is going to incent. People have finished because we think it's good for them to fit your started. That has a better

shot, right? So before we move on, I think we should also shout out the people at Y. See that we're working on this with you guys because it's not just you to know who else is working on it with you. Well, Steven Fam has

Stevens the main. Steven does more than anyone. He's amazing. He worked on it with Sam last year, and I think he worked on started school. Thio how to start start to a CZ well, but he's amazing. He recruits the advisors. He puts a little everything together. He makes he makes it work when it works. So he's he's sort of he's

the guy. Yeah, Then we have two engineers were working with us as well removed and Kyle he saw four teams here because there's a side to this. Obviously, yeah, we booked.

For the most part, we build this ourselves. We use our own software, and we manage that with their own stuff. We actually, it's actually nontrivial to put together software that makes it that makes it scalable toe work with, you know, thousands of thousands of companies. Obviously, we we have smaller scale. But even within my see, when we have hundreds of companies were working with, we need software to help us scale at this level. We need it all the more so and so that they've done it. They didn't Awesome job last year. Were improving it again. This year. We get lots of feedback from the companies from the advisors and how to make this offer even better. So yeah. There column, Ramona,

Been amazing. Yeah, right on. So on a personal side for you guys, when you were starting founders, which of these classes did you think would have been most valuable to you? Like, what was the thing you knew the least About where you could have learned the most Really? All of it. Starting off. Oh, my gosh.

Like I mean, I'm from a slightly different generation. And when I when I when I when I wanted to start stop, there was nothing available wth e the There's we said this before, but its force repeating the contents. Awesome, like just If you if you go toe that that that you are all I mentioned for the library, you start going through there. It's incredible. There's also a lot of started content elsewhere on the Web and some of it on a little bit. But so far, it's pretty good, too. I happen to believe that the startup content that's been put together both that way. So it's a mix of startup school content and other content that's been generated on some external content. That we think is actually particularly good and we we point to. But that, coupled with the community and the mentorship that start up school represents like that alone is worth the price of admission, which is free. But that alone is is amazing and game changing. As far

as I'm concerned, you haven't answered the question. My question is for the

community and the focus and having that for me like again the content is great, is fantastic.

But But you got nobody around you. Yeah, Yeah,

I think I answered the question.

You're right. You didn't question my bad. Yeah, I think in general, when you think about why, see, it's it's all about the network on, do you know, it's It's a community of high quality entrepreneurs and you can't get that anywhere else. And so we don't want to do this for start up school as well. It's like you can live anywhere and plug into a network you don't. You know, like this will be the highest quality place you can be at to talk with people about your startup. All right. Thanks, guys. Thanks for your time.

Hey, thanks a lot. Cargoes. Fun? Yes. All right. Thanks for listening. So, as always, you can find the transcript and video at blogged out. Why? Combinator dot com And if you have a second, it would be awesome to give us a rating interview wherever you find your podcast. See you next time.