Found a thread of memorable moments from the 2023 Y Combinator summer conference which I did not get accepted into.
- “Go to therapy” - it seems expensive, but not getting it is more expensive
- “If you’re in a job where you’re not learning or earning a lot leave it. (Best places to do both are startups with PMF)”
- “Founders shouldn’t put yourself in an HR box. Don’t be a “junior python backend developer” be a Swiss Army knife.”
- "Ship a lot" - speed gives you more rep for learning
- absurdly focus on creating value for users
Sajith Wickramasekara
- “find a good cofounder, good things sometimes take time to grow, and if I was in school I would grow as many relationships as possible”
EZdubs
- Be careful about who funds your research if you want to turn it into a startup
- Beware science fair startups (cool demo but doesn’t really work)
- User interface + building a web server is underrated for ML businesses
Ehko Dealer
- People love helping students (say you’re a student)
- Lots of YC value is group partners that can pattern match problems
- Big tech jobs can be useful to 1) learn how well-oiled machine works + 2) Connections
- Asking a successful or failed founder in a given area: “what would you do if you had to start another startup in this area?”