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Startup Playbook (2015)

by navinsylvester on 1/16/19, 1:04 AM with 55 comments

• by sama on 1/16/19, 3:33 AM

  I just re-read this for the first time in years--it needs a re-write. I will try!

  But first this has inspired me to get to work on the forgotten Part II.

• by ArtWomb on 1/16/19, 2:04 AM

  Anyone seeking a deeper dive into the legal foundations of startup formation, Clerky's Handbook forms a good companion to this:

  https://handbook.clerky.com/

• by b_b on 1/16/19, 2:05 AM

  It seems so incredibly generous of this that I caught myself being so cynical as to doubt any ulterior motives at attracting just more companies to YC overall. But it seems to me that these resources and advice are made in earnest, thank you Sam Altman (and Gregory Koberger!) for the contribution of these materials.

• by rdlecler1 on 1/16/19, 6:48 AM

  While I agree, and I give a lot of this advice to our portfolio companies the biggest problem with do things that don’t scale and monopolizing small markets is that other VCs often don’t buy into this vision and founders are forced to follow their path: loose focus, chase the biggest market, and do things that scale, just to raise capital. What’s great about YC is that it recalibrated the VCs in their orbit which is good for their portfolio companies.

• by jm20 on 1/16/19, 2:22 AM

  This has actually been around for a couple years now. It is so good, in fact, that we actually require new hires at Kodable to read this as part of their onboarding, since it describes how we operate and make decisions as a company so well.

• by azhenley on 1/16/19, 1:59 AM

  Is this available as a podcast? I can't find it, but I'd like to listen to these as I drive to my non-startup job.

• by tomglynch on 1/16/19, 2:24 AM

  If you would like to download the entirety of the audio to listen to later, I've grabbed each mp3 and collated them here:

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

  https://storytime.voxsnap.com/30/audio/2018/09/14/ycombinato...

• by junetic on 1/16/19, 9:13 AM

  "You should talk to your users and watch them use your product, figure out what parts are sub-par, and then make your product better. Then do it again. This cycle should be the number one focus of the company, and it should drive everything else."

  "Literally watch them use your product. Sit in their office if you can. Value both what they tell you and what they actually do. "

  ^^ If anyone is having a hard time with any of the above, let me know. Happy to offer a free user video on us. We work on an on-demand/automated remote user testing service to help you learn from your users much more easily and quickly:

  https://www.userlook.co

• by lbriner on 1/16/19, 10:44 AM

  I must admit to seeing the headline and thinking, "oh no, another set of advice that only works for some companies and not others" but actually, it is just enough information to be useful to many small companies but not too much detail to get into "this doesn't work for my company" territory.

  The bottom line of a CEO is to make the company successful and to make decisions with conflicting advice but this provides the bit that the best CEOs cannot always know and that is only from experience so I love the ballpark numbers, the common mistakes and the counter-intuitive advice.

• by hronis on 1/16/19, 7:41 AM

  This is awesome! I'm Helena Ronis, co-founder and CEO of VoxSnap, the startup that did the audio & player embedded in the post. Feel free to share your feedback with us about the player or audio.

• by dang on 1/16/19, 4:54 AM

  Discussed at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10514729

• by tonyabram on 1/16/19, 8:57 AM

  1. I’ve made an outline of this Playbook on paper, works well to review it monthly/quarterly to refresh knowledge.

  2. Many times I shared the Playbook, people failed to consume it.

  3. Based on (1+2) idea: to make a short overview of the Playbook. Like those 3-minute hand-drawing YouTube videos. @sama could narrate one and make it as widespread as “Here’s to the crazy ones...” mp3 we all might have, narrated by Steve Jobs.

• by asciimo on 1/16/19, 4:05 PM

  And for those of us who are not founders, this is some new material: https://sarahbrownmarketing.com/power-to-the-startup-people-...

• by outericky on 1/16/19, 6:06 AM

  It's not just for ideas or those considering startups. Definitely a good reminder of what the "roots" are even for later stage companies. A lot of things hit home for me in terms of CEO roles, growth, hiring, culture and product.

• by milancurcic on 1/16/19, 4:05 AM

  I would love to hear the audio version narrated by sama.

• by hyperpallium on 1/16/19, 1:50 AM

  is the narration downloadable?

• by BucketSort on 1/16/19, 2:12 AM

  Thanks Sam!

• by debbiedowner on 1/16/19, 3:11 AM

  Is the narrator a machine? He said "eee gee" for eg.