How and Why to Start A Startup - Sam Altman & Dustin Moskovitz - Stanford CS183F: Startup School

Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, and Dustin Moskovitz, Cofounder of Facebook and Asana, kick off the How to Start a Startup Course. Dustin discusses Why to Start a Startup and Sam introduces the 4 key components of Starting a Startup: Idea, Product, Team and Execution.

[IsxaaqAcademy]

I can't believe that such great content can be found in YT for free

[structionsiteinc.]

For those interested, the book Sam references is called 'The score takes care of itself', it's about Bill Walsh and his the Standard of Performance principle he used to bring the dead-last SF 49ers to the Super Bowl in 3 years. Amazing book.

[rudyhernandez]

My first exposure to a Y Combinator class and I have to applaud Dustin & Sam for laying out the realities of startups, unicorns and enviromental contrast of then and now. I have to admit that in my younger years I would have been swinging for the home run and glossed over the challenges/commitment of being a founder. Now that I'm older, wiser (some experience) and a "great product idea", these overviews/discussions will be valuable.

I was also not accepted into the program but it just means I have to network harder for like minded team members and future investors!

Thanks for the opportunity YC!

[cvander]

Watching the video from Sam and Dustin yesterday, the first video released from the 2017 Startup School, I can say that the contents improved a lot since CS183B in 2014. A great tool for Founders everywhere. Thanks for the effort and distribution.

[Hackaprende]

As a country foreigner who has worked inside and outside Silicon Valley, I think I have some clue about some of the things that make this place so special, there are three main things:

1.- You are more afraid of looking as a looser by loosing and opportunity than by taking a risk, this is the inverse in other places.
2.- You try to do the things well, and I mean everything, from creating a company to respect traffic lights, you have a "quality, living honesty" thinking so ingrained that is normal for you, which, at least in my country, is what most of people and companies lack.
3.- You have learnt before than anyone that your employees are your most valuable assets, ant you treat them as such, and I am not talking just about the money. Unlike other cultures in which the employees are just tools and don´t even pay them what they deserve, which often makes the companies to fail because no one wants to to give a plus in a place he/she is not comfortable

[assakurayoh]

I was feeling lonely battling with common ideas my entire journey up to minute 20:25, and it was all written in slides. Having anyone express my believes is such a relief.
Life Changing, Makes me cry !!!

I always believed in what Sam says, no-cofounder better than a random co-founder, no need to focus on scale, find a feedback improvement loop in everything (press, business development).
Example business development, people told me make a form, send it, but no one told me how to iterate, what to look for, and what to improve on, what metrics should I be looking at.
I had to understand that my product and everything surrounding it is a hypothesis and the form have to either accept or refute the hypothesis (like bio stats) to create that form.

In my product is a hypothesis, the hypothesis is my product answers the issue I am trying to solve. Like any other hypothesis it needs to be validated.

[mmwwako]

Great insights. Interesting to think that Trello for instance, seems so much as a feature of a bigger product, although as a startup it did amazingly well. Wouldn't know what to decide in that case.

[buildfasterwithai]

Sam... I've worked for two companies in the last 3 years that have done what you said "keep small and ensure that you are doing right, and then hyperscale".

Both of these companies ended up failing as their core products from the small times started to dwindle and then hyperscale product changes floundered.

Both companies ended up having to scale back massively, cutting back all the hyperscaling and more to a point where they could finally survive again.

Would love some elaboration on what to do after hyperscaling, because it is clear both of these companies did it wrong after they started.

I am guessing such info will be later in the course? Just popped in my mind now and wanted to say something.

Thanks for making this available for everyone!

[TacticalTypos]

I worry that Dustin's note about Aptitude and "being the best person to bring that idea into the world" (11:53) might be misinterpreted by viewers as suggesting that they, as potential founders, must have all three of what Sam suggests is important in a co-founder (27:53), "values first, aptitude second, and specific skills third."

Sam suggests that with a co-founder, specific skills can be learned, so establishing firstly whether they have the right values and aptitude is most important (41:26). I do not see why this would not also be the case with founders themselves. I suspect that it's important for founders to gain the specific skills that they'll need, but that it would also be important for them to establish which values and aptitudes would be required to get their venture headed down the right path, evaluate whether they have the relevant values and aptitudes, and either set about cultivating their relevant values and aptitudes or stepping away from the venture because they wouldn't be able to cultivate the relevant values and aptitudes enough to steer it in the right direction.

[modusponens]

Looks like Dustin rediscovered the "hedgehog concept" from Good to Great (J. Collins), where the focus that leads to success is the intersection of passion, aptitude, and usefulness.

[cartier]

thank you guys for posting these, truly contributing to the betterment of the next generation

thank you for the inspiration and well of knowledge.

[vikalpmishra]

Really important to watch. I'm working my own project and all this that was told here is practical.

[StraightToWeb]

Really good first video! Dustin is such a smart man.

[SarahAndreaRoycesChannel]

Being really persistent and passionate about the product and the problem it solves, check. Looking at the calendar and realizing it is now years instead of months. Seriously needing the reinsurance to keep going, thanks. My first mayor setback was actually that cofounder thing. I recognized early on what was said here about potential cofounders and ended up going solo, which means I have to do everything and switching hats takes time from me, let alone learning how to fill roles I would have never thought of filling before.

[Liammylesramsy]

I really like how big these people think.

[qianggan]

Group 17. Great lecture, thanks Sam and Dustin! I watched all the lectures of "how to start a startup" not long ago, but still learn something, very useful!

[rebegallegos]

There are great information, tips and even some strategys in this video makes startups understandable, neverthless, I will recommend the use of more dynamism because the explanation turns buring.

[ThomasWanhoff]

Interesting to see that from a South-East-Asia perspective, where we do not have a Silicon Valley, much smaller scale and less VCs.

[troooooper]

Summary:

To get rich, have impact and control over work you probably should do something else beside startup.
But if you are obsessed with idea or passion go for it.

Cofounder should be a friend who cares for the values. The apptitude and skills come second.

Surround yourself with people who are not afraid to think big, who go that'd be huge if it goes big.

Practice discussing problems with smart people who are ambitions.

Determination is one big factor of successful founders.

Take funding when someone is giving you or when you absolutely need it, in general when you are growing, and you will know where you're growing.

[stacyhawkins]

Passion of co-founders is so valuable. If your co-founder or employee lacks sufficient passion they will not be able or willing to weather the rough spots and will be a cancer to your startup.