Y Combinator Notes – 1

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I only have some bullet points here without any category.

Wait until a great idea, do not waste your time otherwise
Think about defensibiliy, this saves you 10 years
Bad idea + pivoting -> never a big company, most big companies start with a great idea

Take over a small subset of a market
Growth of the market is more important than the current size of the market your company will be operating in
You cannot create a market which is not there
Ask why today is the perfect time, and not 4 years ago or 5 years from now
The idea should be easy to explain to some non-tech. guy
Companies with only the small differentiator usually fail
While still student, think about new ideas
While still student, meet potential cofounders
Always first focus on the changing need, not on the product
Idea <-> Company <-> Produt cycle is everything, the rest is just easy stuff like talking to the customers
Talk to the users
Build something users love, not users like
Do something small groups can love, this is much easier to expand (word of mouth etc.)
Don’t do something that everyone loves, big companies will do that
Start with a simple product
Give very quick response to the user problems
Have users that give you regular feedback, and be extremely close to them; respond immediately etc.
Feedback loop is really very important
– Ask users what they pay for
– What features matter more
– Metric: focus on growth

References