Y Combinator Stanford Lectures: How to Start a Startup Course

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Feb 24, 2012
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Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator, has kicked off a series of Stanford lectures that are being recorded and redistributed on YouTube for free. If you're in the tech space or you're in the middle of building a business, you'll find some value here.

Some of the lectures (specifically Lecture 1 and Lecture 4) are definitely drier than you'd expect, but there are some knowledge bombs in quick succession. Enjoy.

I believe this course is still happening and they are putting out the videos every 3-4 days.


Lecture 1: Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution, Part I
Presenters: Sam Altman (Y Combinator) & Dustin Moskovitz (Facebook, Asana)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBYhVcO4WgI"]Lecture 1 - How to Start a Startup - YouTube[/ame]


Lecture 2: Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution, Part II
Presenter: Sam Altman (Y Combinator)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVfnkM44Urs"]Lecture 2 - How to Start a Startup - YouTube[/ame]


Lecture 3: Before the Startup
Presenter: Paul Graham (Lisp, VC)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii1jcLg-eIQ"]Lecture 3 - How to Start a Startup - YouTube[/ame]


Lecture 4: Building Product, Talking to Users, and Growing
Presenter: Adora Cheung (Homejoy)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP176MBG9Tk"]Lecture 4 - How to Start a Startup - YouTube[/ame]


Lecture 5: Competition is For Losers
Presenter: Peter Thiel (PayPal, VC)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_0dVHMpJlo"]Lecture 5 - How to Start a Startup - YouTube[/ame]
 


Lecture 5 with Peter Thiel was really good.

I particularly liked the ending where he talked about joining a big law firm. And from the outside everybody wanted to do that and be like that, but from the inside everybody hated it and wanted to leave. Then he says don't always go through the tiny door that everybody is trying to go through, but instead through the vast gate that nobody is taking.

This is extremely good advice imo. There is this idea in most people's head that if you don't go to college and get a 9-5 at a big company then you are doing it all wrong. And starting your own business instead of going to college is pretty much "the vast gate that nobody is taking" in our society.

I think his advice about competition is really good too. But 1. it's kind of obvious and has been known forever basically. And 2. I think it may be too hard to find something with absolutely no competition, so having low competition is just about as good. Having absolutely no competition or being so powerful and good that you knockout all other competition is extremely difficult. I don't think that's necessary if you want to make yourself $1 to $100 million but probably becomes much more important if you want to build a $100 billion company.
 
r3p1v said:
I think it may be too hard to find something with absolutely no competition, so having low competition is just about as good. Having absolutely no competition or being so powerful and good that you knockout all other competition is extremely difficult. I don't think that's necessary if you want to make yourself $1 to $100 million but probably becomes much more important if you want to build a $100 billion company.
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Plenty of space to create new markets. New technology breeds new opportunities. They're just harder to see without meaningful domain knowledge.

As a recent example, Twitch.tv brings a podium to everyday gamers. Streaming your gameplay is now a viable business. Those business owners need ways to stay competitive. New technology comes out to keep them competitive. So on and so forth.

It just goes to highlight the convenience (importance?) of having a founder who is a no-shit domain expert.

But I personally feel more comfortable finding opportunities that have some competition. I want someone else to go through the first-player mistakes and validation. Then I can take the lessons learned and implement them in my first go while I'm still able to see the shape of the forest.
 
Founding a VC funded startup is the new High Finance type job for 20 somethings. YC have accelerated now large companies, but they also have a good amount of companies solving "problems" that aren't even really problems.
 
EricVonDoobie said:
If I had a nickel for every time I learned something valuable from a college course I'd have about $1, but that's only because I found a dollar on the street earlier.
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Depends where you get your content from. Undergrad courses are usually shit. I went to a top 10 undergrad program and it was shit.

However, if you sift through Stanford's content you'll find a lot of gold, such as the above.

tl;dr undergrad = shit; Stanford GSB = $$$
 
Yeah I found that a lot of stuff I learned in undergrad was useless... Most of what I learned was either on the job, or I had to go learn extra stuff myself. I only basic concepts, and this is is in the engineering field!

I don't think I need to go into how you can learn what you need with SEO, web design, etc. through all the resources online, hard work, and time.
 
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