Lecture 1 - How to Start a Startup (Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz) 

Is anyone here after Ranveer Alabadhia's TRS podcast with Pratham Mittal?

00:01 - Sam Altman - How to start a startup 2:05 - four areas You need to maximize your chance of success. 2:16 - 1 - Idea, 2 - Product, 3 - Team, 4 - Execution 3:06 - why start a Startup 3:49 - 1 - Idea 6:16 - The idea should comes First and the startup should come second. 7:05 - Develop a mission oriented organization- have an important mission 10:26 - You need something that sounds like a bad idea , but its a good idea 12:28 - Why start now? 13:55 - While you are a student: think of new ideas, meet potential founders 14:43 - What customers want? What are the demands of your market? 15:08 - Product - Build something that people love. 20:45 - Build easy to use, simple products 22:10 - Fanatical products and user feedback 23:31 - Transform user feedback into decisions 24:43 - Create metrics that focus on growth 25:31 -Dustin moskovitz - why building a startup? 26:08 - Outline 26:30 - Common reasons 27:46 - Start a company is really stressful 30:35 - Ugly side of being a founder 32:50 - You will be the boss idea 35:46 - You will make more and have more impact 40:47 - what is the best reason 43:33 - Recommended books

I had to stop lecture every few minutes, take a break and digest things that were said. This lecture is like *firehose of startup advice :)*

"...every guest speaker has been involved in the creation of a $1billion+ company." Talk about legit.

I can't believe that this gem content is absolutely *FREE* to watch and learn from!! What else can we expect better, we're having Stanford course taught by billion dollar company owners at 0 fees!!! RU-vid and internet really made a revolution in learning. We're living in the best generation in terms of the ease of SUCH GREAT CONTENT AND GREAT PEOPLE and their teachings. Thank you stanford. Thank you YC. Thank you RU-vid🙂 Love♥️ From India

This guy seems talented. He should start some AI company, or he should lead some ai research group at Microsoft

Not everyone is charismatic or a great presenter, but his content is like someone handing you gold. He obviously took time and care in organizing his content and in making it understandable. When someone is handing you gold, do you reject it because they hand it to you in a tin cup when you would prefer crystal? No. You say... "Thank you for sharing your gold with me. I will put it to good use. " His content is fantastic. Brilliant. Tried. True. Honest. And given for the benefit of the listener. So I say, "Thank you for the gold" :) awesome preso! :)

It always amazes me how much some people are willing to give. Even if you don’t learn anything, you have to be thankful of them because by doing this they are showing that free education is possible. Kudos to them!

Covid got me into a Stanford class.

It's interesting how what the first guy said in the first 10 minutes just summarised about 6 books I have read on startups. Yes his public speaking might not be as good but the content, the content is powerful.

Who else is watching this on April 22, 2024?

Absolutely amazing! Thanks Sam, Dustin, and Stanford for putting this on for everyone world wide!

Stop complaining people. I don't care about his presentation style. All I care is about the content. And this is great content for people who want to do start-ups.

It's gold. The most full and useful material about this topic I've ever read

Almost 5 years since this was posted and it's still great material and as relevant as the day it was posted. Priceless.

15 of April, 2023. Indeed pure Gold in a ton cup! I'm sharing his views and info to anyone who will listen to wisdom and best practices in starting a startup! Kudos to you Sam Altman for your generosity.

Please write this down in a book. There is so much good advice in those videos that I feel I'm missing out on lots because I can't memorize everything as quickly. Really love the videos!

I had been repeating the video, to absorb the concepts. This video is gold. Thanks Sam Altman!

Oh this should be youtube gold and this applies to lots of businesses, not just technological startups, the most valuable part was about idea, good product, passion and motivation. Those things might seem to be quite obvious but they are not in fact. Thank you for sharing your experience! that's a great value!

Timestamps 0:22 - Introduction 2:00 The Four Areas to Accel at to Maximize a Startup 3:00 - Why You Should Start a Startup 3:48 - 1. Idea 6:14 - The Idea comes first. / How do you pick an idea? 7:01 - The company should feel like an important mission. 8:19 - The best ideas look terrible at the beginning. 10:29 - Think about how will the market evolve. 12:20 - Why now? 13:07 - You should be able to explain your startup in one sentence. 13:52 - While you are a student - Think about new ideas / Meet potential cofounders 14:28 - 50 Cent and Vitamin Water 15:05 - 2. Product 16:38 - Build something users love. / Talk to users. 17:02 - Build something a small # of users love. 19:15 - Growth through word of mouth. 20:29 - Make something simple. 21:23 - Fanatical Founders. 23:28 - The feedback loop. 24:40 - Metrics: Focus on growth 25:25 - Dustin Moskovitz on Why You Should Start a Startup 26:43 - Common Reasons to Become a Tech Entrepreneur It's Glamorous You'll be the Boss Flexibility You'll Make more $$$ & Have More Impact These are not really good reasons. 27:44 - Startups are really stressful. 29:06 - It's Glamorous 30:34 - Ugly Side of Being a Founder 31:51 - You'll be the Boss 34:03 - Flexibility 35:38 - You'll Make more $$$ & Have More Impact 40:47 - So What's the Best Reason? 43:38 - Recommended Reading

Lots of valuable advice from both Sam and Dustin. Liked their candor about the reality of startups. I enjoyed the presentation!

EN Lecture 1 - How to Start a Startup: The Importance of Excelling in Four Key Areas and Creating Mission-Driven Ideas for Long-Term Success (Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz) 📚 Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, introduces the CS183B class and discusses the importance of excelling in four key areas for startup success: a good idea, a good product, a good team, and good execution. 01:52 Startups are different from traditional businesses and require a different approach. 01:52 The four key areas for startup success are: a good idea, a good product, a good team, and good execution. 02:12 Execution is at least 10 times more important and 100 times more difficult than having a good idea. 04:22 Pivoting can be a good strategy, but ultimately a bad idea remains a bad idea. 04:28 💡 The importance of having a mission-driven idea for a startup and the need for long-term planning. 04:40 Successful pivots are based on something the founders themselves wanted, not random ideas. 04:40 When evaluating an idea, consider the market size, growth strategy, legal protection, etc. 05:08 Choose an idea that can grow in interesting ways and is difficult to replicate. 05:56 Mission-driven ideas lead to dedication and support from others. 06:47 Startups often take a decade to succeed, so it's important to believe in and enjoy the mission. 07:10 The best ideas may seem bad at first, but they can be groundbreaking. 08:20 ✅ To build a successful startup, find a small market where you can establish a monopoly and then expand rapidly. 09:09 Most startup ideas seem bad at first but can become successful. 09:09 Have conviction in your ideas and ignore those who criticize them. 09:21 Focus on a small market and grow from there. 10:12 Consider the future growth of the market, not just its current size. 10:35 Customers in fast-growing markets are desperate for solutions. 11:02 Build something you personally need and understand your customers well. 12:46 💡 Creating a great startup involves working in their offices or talking to them multiple times a day, explaining your idea in a simple way, thinking about the market first, and focusing on creating a super product. 13:03 Work in the startup's offices or talk to them multiple times a day. 13:03 Good startup ideas are easy to explain and understand. 13:09 If it takes more than one sentence to explain your idea, it's too complicated. 13:15 Best ideas are usually different from existing companies. 13:28 Meeting potential co-founders is more important than starting a specific startup. 14:13 Transform your idea into a great product by focusing on what users will love. 15:27 🚀 When launching a startup, focus on creating something that a small number of users will love, rather than something that a large number of users will like. 17:28 Creating something that a small number of users will love is easier to grow from than creating something that a large number of users will like. 17:28 Start with a small group of users who will truly love what you do. 18:59 A great product is the secret to long-term growth. 19:46 Don't worry about competition, focus on creating something users love. 20:11 Start with something simple and easy to use. 20:30 Successful companies often start with incredibly simple and easy-to-use products. 20:51 🚀 The key to creating a successful product is to be fanatical about attention to detail and user support. 21:08 Successful founders are fanatical about the quality of their product and the support they provide to users. 21:08 Recruit users manually and focus on building a small group of users who love your product. 22:09 Listen to your users and use their feedback to continuously improve your product. 23:12 Keep the feedback loop with users as reactive and short as possible. 23:48 Measure and quantify the right metrics to stay honest about the growth and success of your product. 24:41 Startups thrive on growth, so focus on indicators of user growth and activity. 25:02 😕 The speaker discusses the importance of understanding the creation of a successful product and the potential misconceptions about entrepreneurship. 25:07 Understanding the creation of a successful product is crucial for the rest of the course. 25:07 There are various reasons why people start a startup, but it's important to know which reason is yours. 25:43 The glamour and flexibility associated with being an entrepreneur may be misleading. 26:22 Starting a startup requires hard work and can be stressful. 27:30 Entrepreneurs have a lot of responsibilities and the fear of failure is heightened. 28:10 Being always available and mentally prepared is necessary in the startup journey. 28:47 😫 The speaker discusses the stress and challenges of starting a company, including media coverage and the pressure to succeed. 29:25 Starting a company can be stressful and time-consuming, often leading to a lack of work-life balance. 29:25 Media coverage can be both positive and negative, with the potential for unwanted attention and criticism. 30:36 Founders are more invested in the success of their company and quitting can be seen as a failure. 31:13 Managing one's own psychology is a key responsibility for a CEO. 32:22 The perception of others as idiots is often a result of difficult decisions and conflicting priorities. 33:07 Navigating conflicts and trying to please everyone can be a daily challenge for a CEO. 33:45 💼 Being your own boss offers flexibility and control over your schedule, but also requires constant availability and dedication. 34:03 Being your own boss allows for flexibility and control over your schedule. 34:03 However, being on call and always working is a reality. 34:18 As an entrepreneur, taking time off can send the wrong signal to your team. 34:39 Passion for an idea and working with great investors and partners can drive you to work hard. 34:46 Joining a smaller company or starting your own can offer a larger share of the company and potentially more money. 35:38 The financial reward and impact of a venture are strongly correlated. 38:22 ✨ The importance of joining a company instead of starting your own 38:45 Joining a company with an existing user base and infrastructure can provide a multiplier effect for your idea. 38:45 Examples of successful employees who made significant impacts at Google and Facebook. 39:08 Creating popular products like Google Maps and the Facebook 'Like' button without starting a company. 39:23 The importance of considering the context and distribution channels for your idea. 40:32 Passion and personal drive are essential for success. 40:50 The session ends at 41:03

It's really too good i can't even imagine that this level of content absolute free on RU-vid

This is the most intensive video I've ever watched on youtube. So great.

After BeerBiceps podcast...love to Ranveer bhaiya and Kunal Sir❤️❤️❤️

It would be nice if you would continue filming the Q&A. It's always nice to see experienced entrepreneurs offer off the script insights.

8 years and it is still gold

Great intro to startups. Thanks to Sam and Dustin (and all the lecturers) for providing their insight. Looking forward to the other lectures.

Find here my notes for this lecture. Lecture 1: How to Start a Startup Section 1: Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution Part I Four areas that we must excel at to maximize our chances to have a successful startup: - Idea: - Working on a good idea is very important and we should allocate a reasonable amount of time to find one. - Long term thinking is a huge advantage in startups. - Mission-orientd ideas are the ones who gets the maximum of focus, dedication and support. - Great ideas tend to look terrible at the beginning. - When evaluating an idea we must think of the size and especially the growth of the merket, the growth strategy for the company, the defensibility strategy and not just the product. - Product: - Build a product and get it as good as possible by talking to your users, nothing else matters. - Build something that a small number of people love rather than a big number of people like (my favorite part :)). - Start with something simple. - Find your users of the feedback cycle by hand and make them love the product. - The indicator of a great product is the growth. - Team: - Execution: Section 2: Why To Start A Startup - Starting a startup needs hard work, responsibility, dedication and commitment. - The most difficult skill to learn as a CEO is managing your own psychology. - Have a passion for the idea.

I am definitely looking forward to this class as a whole.

This course is so amazing, I'm in the early stage now. I just have my first prototype, and really worried about finding marketing. This video helps me a lot, and I gained some confidence!

This is incredible. Priceless info from these smart guys. Wish I saw this before my first startup.

LOVED this first lecture and I can't wait to watch the rest. This revealed for me why my startup isn't working -because I'm doing it out of order. It was so refreshing to hear someone speak on how it it really is to become an entrepreneur! I work 100 hour weeks and definitely don't have the flexibility that is so often portrayed as the life of a typical founder. Looking forward to rebuilding parts of my foundation.

I have never been in a business school or studied a MBA course so this video series is so valuable to me as I'm trying to start my startup! Thank you for sharing this series - I'll watch all 18 videos and hope to learn a lot!

I am so happy that they are reading the text while teaching!

I've been watching some startup journey lately. I wanna have more control over my quality time and my life. I'm glad the RU-vid show me this.

''You should only start a startup if you feel compelled by a particular problem ''. Damn man

One of the few long english videos i actually watched and learned 🎉

watching it 9 years later, seems so relevant and apt.

Finally YC opens up a bit to the world. I've enjoyed the quality of the talk, well done guys!

I needed this!! I am only in the idea phase of starting up a streetwear brand and I have been focusing so much time on networking and trying to find partners and a team when I need to be focused on my ideas, products, and executing. Thank you so much for this amazing lecture!

Excellent - was so looking forward to this. People who have actually done something and can teach how they did it. Thank you!

Great talk and thank you for sharing this publicly! A lot of startups would never have access to this type of information. Great job guys:)

And youtube is recommending it just now.

Great startup advice. Thanks for putting it together.

So far so good. This lecture series sounds like it will pan out to be an excellent collection of ideas, tips, and guidance.

Yes! Found you guys! Can't wait to watch these lectures.

Although I've never been a college student...I feel I just experience a lecture on entrepreneurship.

I know it sounds obvious, but damn you get so much more out of these lectures if you listen to them a couple of times - at least. Repetition helps to reinforce some of the key points and it makes it easier to actually apply their advice to my own work. The one with Kevin Hale was spectacular, and probably the lecture that most people should listen to if they struggle with UX Design.

8 years ago and it's now the world knows him. I'm clearly never giving up on my dream!!

Sam shared some very priceless startup ideas. I don't mind the presentation style, I know everyone is different. I think we should focus on the content of his delivery. At least you are not paying for the ideas he is sharing. Good job Sam!

He should add a section on how to be consistently candid in communications with the board

Very well informed 👌 this guy should begin a startup, he knows his stuff

This is an amazing 👏 course which is still relevant a decade later

böyle değerli kaynakları bize sunanlara ayrı türkçe çevirisini yapanlara ayrı teşekkür etmek istiyorum.insanın ufku açılıyor

Guest Speaker Dustin's speech: 25:25 Dustin on "Why you should start a startup" 26:00 Entrepreneurship is glamorized. In truth it's stressful, tedious, hard work, etc. 30:40 Ugly side of being founder: Stress, always on call, fundraising, unwanted media attention, you can't just leave your own startup, people are dependent on you. 32:40 "Being your own boss" is a myth as presented. In reality, everyone is your boss. Your employees, customers, partners, etc. 35:40 "You'll make more money" and "have more impact" are myths as presented. 40:43 So what's the best reason to start a startup? You can't not do it. Passion: You NEED to do it. Aptitude: The world needs it. 43:35 Recommended reading list.

You should only start a startup if you feel compelled by a particular problem. And you think starting a company is the best way to solve it. The specific passion should come first, and the start up second.

Thanks. I think, i must watch this video 10+ times to get all those points. So much valuable information, Great lecture.

Связка просто бомба. Спасибо за проделанную работу.

Thank you guys! LOve this. Hope to join you guys someday.

9 years ago: Who is this guy? 9 years later: This Guy: Terminator is a documentary.

Great 1st lecture! I am very new to start up so this is really helpful to understand the start up world better!

my friends started their startup just about around the time sam started ycombi. now ive worked in companies incubated by ycombi. its crazy. now im watching a video on this. its all so surreal. i wish i believed myself sooner.

14:28 is the key message of this talk: "Making and selling something that a lot of people are eager to buy"

Back when Sam Altman wasn't ruling the world with openAI

As a veteran of two failed startup’s wish this video was available back then

I'm listening from Australia and excited to be a part of this!

As someone who has a lot of ideas but not a lot of help, i'm looking around.

Thank you!! This is priceless!!!

"Its easier to expand from something that a small number of people love to something that a lot of people love, then from something that a lot of people like to a lot of people love" BARS!!!

I feel like a guy came with all the ultimate wisdom that was distilled in entrepreneurship, poured it all in a big brewery tank, and when you clicked on this link the tap just blew off and the whole tank just emptied right in your face. I can't even breathe from all the a-ha moments that are smacking me in the face every 15 seconds, have to pause constantly just to sit and process. And this stuff is 6 years old, damn.

It is sad that this has 300k views while the last video has 15k. If you read this: Please stay the course, there are very good advice in all of the videos (except maybe the one with the chinese cleaning lady)

Hard part, is finding a team to work with. I have an idea and project im trying to do, but im having a hard time trusting since I would not like anyone to Zuckerberg me.

So much value packed in!

Yup... Finally got real Pearl... Thank you soo much Pratham and Ranveer sb... Milna hai aap jaise logo se...

This is amazing. I urge youth of India to watch less Instagram and Facebook. Invest precious time of your life by watching and learning from channels and videos like these. Great and Amazing content.

32:20 The #1 job of a CEO is managing your own psychology - Ben Horowitz (that’s actually from Tony Robbins, originally)

This lecture series is awesome and compared to a Stanford education the price is lovely!

Thank you for such insightful video

Thanks Ranveer Ahallabadia for introducing me this course which you mentioned in a recent podcast.

8 years later he is the CEO at Open Ai...he didn't just give a lecture he practiced

I'm watching at the age 17😮

Bless you YC for existing!

Going to establish a very great and impactful company.😀 Thank you from all the listeners for providing us gold🌟🌟🌟

who are here came after watching TRS by ranveer

dude has really come a long way

Thanks Ranveer for sharing this valuable input

Very priceless lecture on startup

After beer biceps podcast

This video has aged nicely!

Свой кайф в таких видосиках есть) Не останавливайся, выпускай еще!)🚁

This is the best talk ever. Thanks a lot!

3:10 .. What are the much easier ways to get rich ? :-)

Came here after TRS Clips Raveer Allahbadia's video

This was the first video i got as recommendation Today ❤

Dustin strikes me as a top class bloke through and through who totally and utterly deserves to be a billionaire success story. I really value his advice

great info.. but the UMs and UHs get quite tiring from a listeners perspective

I am here after TRS with Ranveer allahabadia and Pratham Mittal

great advice, thank you for sharing this

It was before 6 years god now youtube recommend me .. What a gold priceless..