Why This Is The Perfect Time To Start A Startup

Last month, YC hosted Startup School East, a one-day event in Boston for university students. As part of the event, the Lightcone Podcast did their first live stage recording specifically tailored for the students.

When you're young and there are seemingly endless directions you could pursue in life, the hosts of the Lightcone Podcast make the case for why right now is the perfect time to start a start up.

00:00 - The Lightcone Podcast
01:25 - Intro
04:17 - Advantages of young founder in college
05:15 - Experience working at a company
08:44 - Energy level
11:04 - Set high bar and avoid bad habits
14:34 - Long game and crazy goals
16:41 - Work life balance
17:57 - YC Stats
19:49 - Wrap up

[chapterme]

Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) -
00:00 - The Lightcone Podcast
01:25 - Intro
04:17 - Advantages young founder in college have
05:15 - Working for Microsoft cost me $200 million
07:19 - Did any experience in Microsoft help you with your startup?
07:54 - Working at Intel
08:44 - Energy level working at a company vs startup
11:04 - Founders who have not worked set high bar for success and avoid bad habits
12:44 - Your startups going from 0 to 1
13:28 - Technology impact on society
14:34 - Things to look out for: Long game
15:26 - Setting your goals crazy high
16:16 - Example: Alex from Scale
16:41 - Work life balance is complete bullshit
17:57 - YC Stats: Triple the number of more college students. What's changed?
18:53 - Idea maze
19:49 - Wrap up

[Nolimit]

Dropping out of an Ivy leauge is very different than dropping out of a regular university. You guys wouldn't even look at people who didn't go to an ivy.

[consumedata]

YC love the aesthetic of people who didn’t go to college/dropped out. Yet their application process is hyper-focussed on “What school did you go to?”

[winkletter]

So if I'm hearing this right, the main advantage of a college student is their fundamental capability to be convinced that they should work like a pack mule and bet their future on a risky venture in the hopes that they too can become an example of survivorship bias. :)

[PseudoProphet]

I hate it when elites say College doesn't matter.... But it's always the first thing they ask you about, whenever you meet them For a job or business. 😂😂

[slack]

As a 41 year old dev seeing all these youth-focused videos kind of bums me out

[stephenstanton]

I really love YCs content but this to me just kinda sounds like the message is to not be in school, don’t work a job, and the younger you do this the more likely you are to succeed. When the statistics for entrepreneurs really says the opposite. Maybe I missed the message here but that’s what I’m getting

[igorbeaver]

So why there are so many alumni in the recent batch with titles ex-facebook, ex-ms, ex-lift and so on? Almost half of them as I checked

[eqfira]

It is not about college dropout it is freedom to have control what we are doing in right manner no matter you are in college or not

[barobhaiya]

I have applied to YC 4 time, have been rejected each time. But when ever I spend time listening to them. I learn something new each time. Thanks for putting this up.

[powerHungryMOSFET]

already many students dropping out because of no jobs and companies not looking college degree anymore

[lbguihe]

By YouSum Live

00:00:13 Perfect time for young founders to start a startup.
00:02:00 College students have a significant advantage in the startup world.
00:02:41 Five trillion-dollar tech companies started by founders with no prior work experience.
00:11:55 Importance of starting early to build a world-changing company.
00:14:40 The exponential power of compounding growth in startups over time.
00:16:01 Work-life balance is not crucial for startup success; dedication is.
00:18:32 The current era offers abundant AI ideas for young founders to explore.
00:19:02 Guidance in navigating the startup journey akin to finding a path through a maze.
00:20:00 Funding 10% of attendees from previous talk.
00:20:14 College students ideal time to start startups.
00:20:22 Returning with partnership to inspire again.

By YouSum Live

[mPajuhaan]

When you follow patterns, it is less likely to find outliers. Dropouts in 2005 were unexpected founders; by 2024, they are common!

[Tresador]

It's crazy that I've never heard of most of these companies or ideas. It's like there is so much going on in the background.

[yadurkurup]

Waiting for my interview, hopeful ❤, good insights.

[hadeethdaily]

My KPIs for the startup are -
- Revenue target of $100 Bn in next 10 years
- 30% profit margin
- 85% Utilisation
- CFB - 7/7 rating
- Quality - 100% FTR
- Spending $1 Bn on helping poor and needy people.
- Spending $1 Bn on spreading peace and helping countries to stop conflicts
- Spending $1Bn on training unemployed youths for future-ready
- Spending $1Bn on welfare scheme of my employees.
- Spending $1Bn on people who take care of their retired parents.

[rishavsarkar]

Do you only accept ivy league drop outs? What are the other requirements, honestly?

[theyoutubeacademic]

It was a great event to be there in person!! Thanks for putting this together!

[emileeid]

Thank you For this video Y Combinator your an inspiration to me and many others for giving knowledge and inspiration on start-up life and work balance great motivation I am as a Tech & AI Enthusiast and a CS student .

[lorenzolarghi]

My friend.. go to college, study hard, work harder and eventually try to start something. You can’t innovate if you don’t master something. You could have luck with some dumb ai wrapping, but there’s always space for luck, while education happens best at young age. Never compromise on knowledge.