STATION Featuring: Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator (video)
In this episode of STATION Featuring, we spoke with Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator.
What is Y Combinator?
Y Combinator is a 3 month program run twice a year in Mountain View, California which gives selected startups $120k for 7% equity. With the advisors and mentors, these startups work to build a great product, then pitch that product to investors at end of program.
In the 12 years since its inception, Y Combinator has funded over 1,500 companies in many different verticals: hardware, software, supersonic airplanes, nuclear fusion, treatments for cancer… The list goes on.
Some notable YC Alumni:
Dropbox, AirBnb, Stripe, Algolia, Coinbase, Twitch, Reddit
Why was Y Combinator started?
“People forget how different the world was 12 years ago. Investors had most of the leverage and technical founders were told they needed business people to run the company. The founding thesis of Y-Combinator was that Engineers can start and run companies and have great success.”
How has it changed over the past 12 years?
“One of the things that is weird is that it was not cool to start a startup. It was certainly not mainstream to start a startup 12 years ago and now it really is. Now it’s something that people really think about as a resume item on their career and Y Combinator is like a thing that they want to get into. So that is different and we have to watch out for that.”
Some strengths that European startups have in particular?
“One of the things that I’ve learned that’s been most surprising is that the most successful entrepreneurs all around the world are very similar. It sort of makes me happy ‘cause we’re all pretty similar and there aren’t sort of these regional differences of what makes a good entrepreneur in France or England or the United States.”
What makes a good entrepreneur?
“Good entrepreneurs are determined. They are smart. They are aggressive. They have a vision for the future that they’re very motivated by and they think a startup is the way to do that. And that’s true no matter where you are in the world.”
Watch the full interview on YouTube below to get Sam’s take on:
- the YC application process
- how Silicon Valley & startup culture has changed over the years
- advice for entrepreneurs
- and much more!
