title
What Investors Look For in Startup Founders from Former YC Partner

description
► Garry Tan's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIBgYfDjtWlbJhg--Z4sOgQ HOW DO I GET A TECH JOB? ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ 📚 Video courses from JomaClass: 🎓 New to programming? Learn Python here: https://bit.ly/joma_python 🎓 Learn SQL for data science and data analytics: https://bit.ly/joma_sql 🎓 Data Structures and Algorithms: https://bit.ly/joma_dsa 💼 Resume Template and Cover letter I used for applying to software internships and full-time jobs: https://resume.joma.io 💼 Interviewing for jobs now? Get access to interview question database, courses, coaching, and peer community today: https://www.tryexponent.com/?ref=joma 📱 SOCIAL MEDIA ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ https://www.instagram.com/jomakaze/ https://twitter.com/jomakaze https://www.facebook.com/jomakaze Some of the links in this description are affiliate links that I get a kickback from

detail
{'title': 'What Investors Look For in Startup Founders from Former YC Partner', 'heatmap': [{'end': 485.012, 'start': 458.051, 'weight': 1}], 'summary': "Delves into gary tan's transition to an early-stage investor at initialized capital, managing over $500 million with investments in companies valued at $36 billion. it emphasizes the significance of founders with strong engineering skills and creating products that customers truly love, while also discussing common reasons for startup failure and potential billion-dollar startups.", 'chapters': [{'end': 227.83, 'segs': [{'end': 79.23, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 0.309, 'weight': 0, 'content': [{'end': 2.21, 'text': "Today's guest is Gary Tan.", 'start': 0.309, 'duration': 1.901}, {'end': 13.334, 'text': 'He is a designer, engineer, and founder turned early stage investor, co-founding Initialized Capital with Alexis Ohanian in 2013.', 'start': 2.47, 'duration': 10.864}, {'end': 24.918, 'text': "Their firm manages over $500 million and they've invested at the earliest stages of companies like Coinbase, Flexport, Instacart, and Cruise.", 'start': 13.334, 'duration': 11.584}, {'end': 35.762, 'text': 'Prior to Initialize, Gary spent nearly five years as a partner at Y Combinator, advising and funding more than 1, 000 companies and founders.', 'start': 25.618, 'duration': 10.144}, {'end': 45.186, 'text': 'Before YC, he was a co-founder of a blog platform called Posterous, which was acquired by Twitter in 2012 for $20 million.', 'start': 36.362, 'duration': 8.824}, {'end': 50.488, 'text': 'He then worked at Palantir as a founding member of the engineering team.', 'start': 46.206, 'duration': 4.282}, {'end': 54.33, 'text': "And fun fact, he actually designed the Palantir's logo.", 'start': 50.948, 'duration': 3.382}, {'end': 60.895, 'text': 'Gary also holds a Bachelor in Computer Systems Engineering from Stanford University.', 'start': 55.09, 'duration': 5.805}, {'end': 63.537, 'text': 'Wow, that is one heck of a resume.', 'start': 61.656, 'duration': 1.881}, {'end': 64.257, 'text': 'Very impressive.', 'start': 63.577, 'duration': 0.68}, {'end': 65.819, 'text': 'But I got very lucky by getting in.', 'start': 64.337, 'duration': 1.482}, {'end': 67.04, 'text': "That's what everyone says.", 'start': 66.2, 'duration': 0.84}, {'end': 70.523, 'text': 'And here he is talking to me, a YouTuber.', 'start': 67.541, 'duration': 2.982}, {'end': 73.966, 'text': 'Not the camera unless you want to do a little bit of a promo.', 'start': 70.583, 'duration': 3.383}, {'end': 79.23, 'text': 'But yeah, and I also heard that now the initialized portfolio is valued at $36 billion.', 'start': 74.487, 'duration': 4.743}], 'summary': 'Gary tan co-founded initialized capital, managing over $500m and investing in companies like coinbase and instacart. the portfolio is now valued at $36b.', 'duration': 78.921, 'max_score': 0.309, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY309.jpg'}, {'end': 137.254, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 103.009, 'weight': 6, 'content': [{'end': 104.811, 'text': 'Did you do well in high school and college?', 'start': 103.009, 'duration': 1.802}, {'end': 114.339, 'text': 'High school I aimed for exactly perfect A minuses because I figured out that our college admissions process,', 'start': 105.832, 'duration': 8.507}, {'end': 117.902, 'text': "the transcript that the district would send out, didn't have plus or minus.", 'start': 114.339, 'duration': 3.563}, {'end': 124.548, 'text': "And so every moment I spent on getting a plus or not minus meant that it wasn't optimized.", 'start': 118.303, 'duration': 6.245}, {'end': 125.389, 'text': 'Wow Okay.', 'start': 124.668, 'duration': 0.721}, {'end': 126.21, 'text': "That's a very 80-20 mindset.", 'start': 125.409, 'duration': 0.801}, {'end': 128.091, 'text': "Yeah That's cool.", 'start': 126.23, 'duration': 1.861}, {'end': 129.512, 'text': 'Hey, you got to min-max your life.', 'start': 128.11, 'duration': 1.402}, {'end': 130.012, 'text': "That's true.", 'start': 129.572, 'duration': 0.44}, {'end': 130.472, 'text': "That's true.", 'start': 130.092, 'duration': 0.38}, {'end': 130.872, 'text': "That's true.", 'start': 130.512, 'duration': 0.36}, {'end': 137.254, 'text': "And then what did you do with the other time? Because I'm pretty sure you had more time because you didn't optimize for A pluses.", 'start': 131.132, 'duration': 6.122}], 'summary': 'Focused on optimizing grades for college admissions, aiming for perfect a minuses to save time.', 'duration': 34.245, 'max_score': 103.009, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY103009.jpg'}, {'end': 189.645, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 147.92, 'weight': 4, 'content': [{'end': 149.521, 'text': 'I mean, I wanted to grow up in a house.', 'start': 147.92, 'duration': 1.601}, {'end': 155.226, 'text': 'And I was 14 and I was obsessed with computers and I knew how to make web pages.', 'start': 149.882, 'duration': 5.344}, {'end': 164.613, 'text': 'So I opened up the internet section of the Yellow Pages and cold called until someone gave me a job for seven bucks an hour to make websites for cities.', 'start': 155.706, 'duration': 8.907}, {'end': 166.815, 'text': 'And that was my first job when I was 14.', 'start': 164.913, 'duration': 1.902}, {'end': 177.64, 'text': 'I ended up taking all those earnings over Every summer and winter break for a few years and we ended up putting down the down payment for the home that me and my brother grew up in.', 'start': 166.815, 'duration': 10.825}, {'end': 178.501, 'text': "That's amazing.", 'start': 177.92, 'duration': 0.581}, {'end': 182.462, 'text': 'And so for me, computers just fundamentally changed my life.', 'start': 178.681, 'duration': 3.781}, {'end': 185.303, 'text': 'I grew up sometimes food insecure.', 'start': 182.642, 'duration': 2.661}, {'end': 189.645, 'text': 'I know what it means to be hungry or show up to school wearing the same clothes again.', 'start': 185.363, 'duration': 4.282}], 'summary': 'At 14, i earned $7/hour making websites, bought a home with earnings.', 'duration': 41.725, 'max_score': 147.92, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY147920.jpg'}], 'start': 0.309, 'title': "Gary tan's journey and success", 'summary': "Delves into gary tan's transition from a founder to an early-stage investor at initialized capital, managing over $500 million with investments in companies like coinbase and instacart. his portfolio, valued at $36 billion, reflects funding for about 200 companies at early stages. the chapter also explores how determination and early employment in web design allowed the speaker to contribute to purchasing a home at a young age, transforming their life through computer science.", 'chapters': [{'end': 102.969, 'start': 0.309, 'title': 'Gary tan: from founder to early stage investor', 'summary': 'Features gary tan, co-founder of initialized capital, managing over $500 million, with investments in companies like coinbase and instacart, and a portfolio valued at $36 billion, having funded about 200 companies at early stages.', 'duration': 102.66, 'highlights': ['Gary Tan is the co-founder of Initialized Capital, managing over $500 million and investing in companies like Coinbase and Instacart.', 'Initialized portfolio is valued at $36 billion, with investments in about 200 companies at early stages.', 'Gary Tan spent nearly five years at Y Combinator, advising and funding over 1,000 companies and founders.', "Prior to Y Combinator, Gary was a co-founder of Posterous, acquired by Twitter for $20 million, and a founding member of Palantir's engineering team."]}, {'end': 227.83, 'start': 103.009, 'title': 'Success through hardship and determination', 'summary': "Discusses how the speaker's focus on optimizing high school grades, along with early employment in web design, enabled them to contribute to purchasing a home at a young age, ultimately transforming their life through computer science and determination.", 'duration': 124.821, 'highlights': ["The speaker aimed for perfect A minuses in high school to optimize college admissions, realizing that the transcript didn't distinguish plus or minus grades. Optimizing high school grades for college admissions process, focusing on A minuses, and understanding the impact of plus or minus grades.", 'At 14, the speaker started cold calling for web design jobs, earning seven bucks an hour to make websites for cities, which eventually led to contributing to the down payment for a home. Early employment in web design at 14, earning seven bucks an hour, and contributing to the down payment for a home.', "The speaker's experience of growing up poor, being food insecure, and having to wear the same clothes to school was transformed by the opportunities brought by working with computers. Overcoming poverty through computer science, experiencing food insecurity, and the transformative impact of working with computers."]}], 'duration': 227.521, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY309.jpg', 'highlights': ['Gary Tan is the co-founder of Initialized Capital, managing over $500 million and investing in companies like Coinbase and Instacart.', 'Initialized portfolio is valued at $36 billion, with investments in about 200 companies at early stages.', 'Gary Tan spent nearly five years at Y Combinator, advising and funding over 1,000 companies and founders.', "Prior to Y Combinator, Gary was a co-founder of Posterous, acquired by Twitter for $20 million, and a founding member of Palantir's engineering team.", 'Early employment in web design at 14, earning seven bucks an hour, and contributing to the down payment for a home.', 'Overcoming poverty through computer science, experiencing food insecurity, and the transformative impact of working with computers.', "The speaker aimed for perfect A minuses in high school to optimize college admissions, realizing that the transcript didn't distinguish plus or minus grades."]}, {'end': 529.364, 'segs': [{'end': 254.616, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 228.051, 'weight': 0, 'content': [{'end': 232.396, 'text': "So back to, you know, now what you're doing, you're a VC, right? Initialized capital.", 'start': 228.051, 'duration': 4.345}, {'end': 234.699, 'text': 'And can I ask you what.', 'start': 232.917, 'duration': 1.782}, {'end': 240.645, 'text': 'What kind of companies do you guys invest in or what do you look for? Yeah, totally.', 'start': 235.981, 'duration': 4.664}, {'end': 244.368, 'text': 'We are super focused on the earliest stage.', 'start': 241.646, 'duration': 2.722}, {'end': 247.771, 'text': 'And then so, you know, people with just an idea.', 'start': 245.028, 'duration': 2.743}, {'end': 254.616, 'text': 'When we met Brian Armstrong, who created Coinbase, he just quit his job as head of anti-fraud for Airbnb.', 'start': 248.171, 'duration': 6.445}], 'summary': 'Initialized capital focuses on investing in earliest stage companies, like coinbase founded by brian armstrong.', 'duration': 26.565, 'max_score': 228.051, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY228051.jpg'}, {'end': 366.644, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 320.022, 'weight': 1, 'content': [{'end': 323.847, 'text': "And I think that that's why startups suck so bad.", 'start': 320.022, 'duration': 3.825}, {'end': 330.254, 'text': "That's why you read about you open up TechCrunch, or you open up Twitter and you read about the startup that raised $10 million.", 'start': 324.467, 'duration': 5.787}, {'end': 333.377, 'text': "it's like that doesn't sound very good at all.", 'start': 330.254, 'duration': 3.123}, {'end': 337.68, 'text': "And it's because a lot of startup investors don't think from first principles.", 'start': 333.657, 'duration': 4.023}, {'end': 342.803, 'text': "They're never built a company before or they never built software before.", 'start': 338.12, 'duration': 4.683}, {'end': 344.484, 'text': "Like they don't know how to be an engineer.", 'start': 342.863, 'duration': 1.621}, {'end': 345.825, 'text': "They don't know how to be a designer.", 'start': 344.544, 'duration': 1.281}, {'end': 347.286, 'text': "They've never built anything.", 'start': 346.125, 'duration': 1.161}, {'end': 352.049, 'text': 'And so what do you do? You rely on your PowerPoint watching skills, I guess.', 'start': 347.706, 'duration': 4.343}, {'end': 360.918, 'text': 'So, aside from technical skills or what they can and cannot do in terms of personality traits, what do you look for in these founders?', 'start': 353.11, 'duration': 7.808}, {'end': 366.644, 'text': 'The number one thing I think is actually grit around iteration.', 'start': 361.319, 'duration': 5.325}], 'summary': 'Startup investors lack first-principles thinking, value grit around iteration.', 'duration': 46.622, 'max_score': 320.022, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY320022.jpg'}, {'end': 458.051, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 423.178, 'weight': 3, 'content': [{'end': 428.002, 'text': 'figure out what they need and then build the thing and then have someone be really happy that that exists.', 'start': 423.178, 'duration': 4.824}, {'end': 428.963, 'text': "So it's simple.", 'start': 428.462, 'duration': 0.501}, {'end': 430.865, 'text': "It's actually shockingly simple.", 'start': 429.063, 'duration': 1.802}, {'end': 435.93, 'text': 'So it sounds simple, but I mean, obviously, finding product market fit is not always easy.', 'start': 431.185, 'duration': 4.745}, {'end': 436.41, 'text': 'Oh, yeah.', 'start': 436.07, 'duration': 0.34}, {'end': 438.312, 'text': "Right And like, that's actually like the biggest thing.", 'start': 436.45, 'duration': 1.862}, {'end': 442.096, 'text': 'So imagine if I did find a product market fit, how would I pitch it to you?', 'start': 438.452, 'duration': 3.644}, {'end': 445.259, 'text': 'How can you extract the most signal out of my pitch?', 'start': 442.396, 'duration': 2.863}, {'end': 447.681, 'text': 'Or how should I make my pitch so that you can extract?', 'start': 445.339, 'duration': 2.342}, {'end': 448.222, 'text': 'Yeah, totally.', 'start': 447.701, 'duration': 0.521}, {'end': 458.051, 'text': 'number one thing is uh, and i get cool, i get probably 20 cold emails every single day, which is crazy, and these are actually not actionable for me,', 'start': 448.602, 'duration': 9.449}], 'summary': 'Finding product market fit is key to success; receiving 20 cold emails daily is not actionable.', 'duration': 34.873, 'max_score': 423.178, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY423178.jpg'}, {'end': 491.797, 'src': 'heatmap', 'start': 458.051, 'weight': 4, 'content': [{'end': 463.175, 'text': "because in that email i can't actually tell what is it, who's it for?", 'start': 458.051, 'duration': 5.124}, {'end': 465.357, 'text': 'what problem does it solve?', 'start': 463.175, 'duration': 2.182}, {'end': 467.96, 'text': "and then, how do i even know if it's actually solved?", 'start': 465.357, 'duration': 2.603}, {'end': 470.021, 'text': 'well, those are sort of the four things.', 'start': 467.96, 'duration': 2.061}, {'end': 478.368, 'text': "really it's not a lot of things, but If someone was gonna cold email me or cold pitch me or pitch anything to any investor,", 'start': 470.021, 'duration': 8.347}, {'end': 479.769, 'text': 'that would be how I advise it.', 'start': 478.368, 'duration': 1.401}, {'end': 485.012, 'text': "And that's sort of the process that a founder has to take every single day.", 'start': 479.969, 'duration': 5.043}, {'end': 488.475, 'text': "And it's not just for investors, it's actually to your customer too.", 'start': 485.553, 'duration': 2.922}, {'end': 491.797, 'text': "Because the customer's sitting there You know, I'm trying to buy Bitcoin.", 'start': 488.495, 'duration': 3.302}], 'summary': 'Email pitch should address problem, solution, and verification to effectively attract investors and customers.', 'duration': 33.746, 'max_score': 458.051, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY458051.jpg'}], 'start': 228.051, 'title': 'Investing in early-stage companies and creating products people love', 'summary': "Discusses initialized capital's focus on investing in early-stage companies, exemplifying coinbase, and emphasizes the significance of founders with strong engineering skills. it also underscores the importance of creating products that customers truly love, highlighting product market fit and effective pitching to investors and customers.", 'chapters': [{'end': 366.644, 'start': 228.051, 'title': 'Investing in early-stage companies', 'summary': "Discusses initialized capital's focus on investing in early-stage companies, citing the example of coinbase, and emphasizes the importance of founders with strong engineering skills and grit for iteration in building successful startups.", 'duration': 138.593, 'highlights': ['Initialized Capital focuses on investing in the earliest stage companies and individuals with just an idea. They emphasize investing in people with just an idea, as seen in the example of Brian Armstrong who quit his job at Airbnb to work on Bitcoin, which has now grown to a worth of over 30 billion.', "The significance of founders' engineering skills and grit for iteration is emphasized over traditional VC criteria like buzzwords and resumes. The chapter highlights the importance of founders' engineering skills and grit for iteration in building successful startups, contrasting it with the reliance of many VCs on buzzwords and resumes, which often leads to the failure of startups.", "The chapter underscores the adverse impact of many startup investors' lack of firsthand experience in building companies and software. It points out the adverse impact of startup investors who lack firsthand experience in building companies and software, leading them to rely on superficial evaluation methods like PowerPoint watching skills, which contributes to the failure of startups."]}, {'end': 529.364, 'start': 366.825, 'title': 'Creating products people love', 'summary': 'Emphasizes the importance of creating products that customers truly love, even more than prestigious credentials, and highlights the key factors of product market fit and effective pitching to both investors and customers.', 'duration': 162.539, 'highlights': ['Creating products that customers truly love is more important than prestigious credentials like Stanford and Harvard degrees or Google and Facebook resumes.', 'Getting at least one or two people to really love a product is the kernel of something that could grow a lot faster.', 'Finding product market fit and effectively pitching to investors and customers are crucial steps for founders.', "Cold emails or pitches should clearly address what the product is, who it's for, what problem it solves, and how the solution is verified.", "The customer's perspective is crucial, as highlighted by the example of the difficulties in buying Bitcoin before the existence of Coinbase."]}], 'duration': 301.313, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY228051.jpg', 'highlights': ["Initialized Capital focuses on investing in the earliest stage companies and individuals with just an idea, exemplified by Brian Armstrong's success with Bitcoin.", "Emphasizes the importance of founders' engineering skills and grit for iteration over traditional VC criteria, contrasting it with reliance on buzzwords and resumes.", 'Underscores the adverse impact of startup investors lacking firsthand experience in building companies and software, leading to reliance on superficial evaluation methods.', 'Creating products that customers truly love is more important than prestigious credentials, emphasizing the significance of product market fit and effective pitching to investors and customers.', "Emphasizes the crucial steps for founders, including finding product market fit and effectively pitching to investors and customers, and the importance of addressing the customer's perspective."]}, {'end': 1015.974, 'segs': [{'end': 587.091, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 551.444, 'weight': 0, 'content': [{'end': 553.406, 'text': 'So why do you think startups fail??', 'start': 551.444, 'duration': 1.962}, {'end': 557.69, 'text': 'What are the most common issues or problems that make them fail??', 'start': 553.666, 'duration': 4.024}, {'end': 562.675, 'text': 'Yeah, the number one really early ends up being co-founder problems actually.', 'start': 557.81, 'duration': 4.865}, {'end': 568.16, 'text': "Especially when you're only two or three people, you actually kind of need those people.", 'start': 563.916, 'duration': 4.244}, {'end': 570.782, 'text': "And so that's probably the number one thing.", 'start': 568.78, 'duration': 2.002}, {'end': 573.483, 'text': "And that's why, when we look for teams that are starting out,", 'start': 570.802, 'duration': 2.681}, {'end': 579.107, 'text': 'we really like teams that have actually worked together before or have known each other for a really long time.', 'start': 573.483, 'duration': 5.624}, {'end': 587.091, 'text': 'I mean one litmus test almost for whether or not a co-founder is good is have you ever been camping in a storm?', 'start': 579.567, 'duration': 7.524}], 'summary': 'Co-founder problems are the main reason for startup failure, emphasizing the importance of a strong team bond.', 'duration': 35.647, 'max_score': 551.444, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY551444.jpg'}, {'end': 686.078, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 658.122, 'weight': 1, 'content': [{'end': 662.424, 'text': 'Aside from co-founder stuff, honestly, a lot of it is shipping.', 'start': 658.122, 'duration': 4.302}, {'end': 667.106, 'text': 'So a lot of people are so obsessed with getting it perfect.', 'start': 662.744, 'duration': 4.362}, {'end': 669.047, 'text': 'that they actually never ship.', 'start': 667.726, 'duration': 1.321}, {'end': 674.23, 'text': 'And there are lots of examples of companies that have actually raised millions of dollars, hired tens of people,', 'start': 669.087, 'duration': 5.143}, {'end': 676.812, 'text': 'worked on problems for years and then never shipped.', 'start': 674.23, 'duration': 2.582}, {'end': 683.396, 'text': "Sometimes when they finally do ship, it's so late that the opportunity for them was a year and a half ago.", 'start': 677.052, 'duration': 6.344}, {'end': 686.078, 'text': 'Competitors came and went.', 'start': 683.476, 'duration': 2.602}], 'summary': 'Many companies fail to ship products due to obsession with perfection, leading to missed opportunities and lost investments.', 'duration': 27.956, 'max_score': 658.122, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY658122.jpg'}, {'end': 746.186, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 718.243, 'weight': 2, 'content': [{'end': 725.788, 'text': "Well, we started companies before, so part of it is so many investors have never started anything, and so they're very leaned back.", 'start': 718.243, 'duration': 7.545}, {'end': 732.412, 'text': "And if you've ever done pitches, you can kind of tell what kind of pitch it's gonna be immediately,", 'start': 725.848, 'duration': 6.564}, {'end': 738.097, 'text': "because it kind of feels like you're being watched by your teachers from high school or something.", 'start': 732.412, 'duration': 5.685}, {'end': 746.186, 'text': "It's lean back, there's not a lot of discussion, there's no back and forth, it's just impress me and then I'm gonna grade you.", 'start': 739.779, 'duration': 6.407}], 'summary': 'Investors lack entrepreneurial experience, resulting in a tense, one-sided pitch environment.', 'duration': 27.943, 'max_score': 718.243, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY718243.jpg'}, {'end': 901.238, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 873.484, 'weight': 5, 'content': [{'end': 878.846, 'text': 'The reality is, in our experience after funding lots of people, if we need control, we funded the wrong company.', 'start': 873.484, 'duration': 5.362}, {'end': 885.129, 'text': 'I mean, we want to find companies, we want to find founders who they have a clear sense of their direction.', 'start': 878.866, 'duration': 6.263}, {'end': 894.394, 'text': 'And honestly, any investor, any advisor is only going to spend, what, an hour, two hours per week at most thinking about this problem.', 'start': 885.829, 'duration': 8.565}, {'end': 898.116, 'text': 'As a founder, the founder is thinking about this like 24-7.', 'start': 894.654, 'duration': 3.462}, {'end': 901.238, 'text': "Even when they're sleeping, they're thinking about the problems that they have.", 'start': 898.596, 'duration': 2.642}], 'summary': 'Investors seek founders with clear vision and dedication, as they spend minimal time compared to founders.', 'duration': 27.754, 'max_score': 873.484, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY873484.jpg'}, {'end': 944.475, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 915.326, 'weight': 3, 'content': [{'end': 918.708, 'text': 'now, what advice would you give them if they want to do a startup?', 'start': 915.326, 'duration': 3.382}, {'end': 922.704, 'text': "I guess the number one thing is pick a problem that's around them that they understand.", 'start': 919.042, 'duration': 3.662}, {'end': 927.926, 'text': "So the hardest thing about students starting startups is they haven't experienced enough of life.", 'start': 922.764, 'duration': 5.162}, {'end': 935.289, 'text': 'And a lot of the biggest problems that exist in humanity today that could be addressed by startups.', 'start': 928.326, 'duration': 6.963}, {'end': 939.912, 'text': 'they actually require a lot of weird specialized knowledge.', 'start': 936.67, 'duration': 3.242}, {'end': 944.475, 'text': "And so often I ask them well, what's weird about you?", 'start': 941.213, 'duration': 3.262}], 'summary': 'To start a successful startup, students should focus on solving a problem they understand and possess unique specialized knowledge for, as many significant problems require such expertise.', 'duration': 29.149, 'max_score': 915.326, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY915326.jpg'}, {'end': 1015.053, 'src': 'embed', 'start': 986.383, 'weight': 4, 'content': [{'end': 990.046, 'text': "And where that meets, that's where a billion-dollar startup could be.", 'start': 986.383, 'duration': 3.663}, {'end': 996.51, 'text': "So you need to know something weird and special and different than everyone else who's a great engineer.", 'start': 991.267, 'duration': 5.243}, {'end': 997.591, 'text': "Yeah, that's awesome.", 'start': 996.51, 'duration': 1.081}, {'end': 1004.42, 'text': 'Yeah, like try to find inefficiencies in the world, especially if it affects you personally, because then you understand the problem very well.', 'start': 997.731, 'duration': 6.689}, {'end': 1005.161, 'text': 'Yeah, totally.', 'start': 1004.68, 'duration': 0.481}, {'end': 1007.023, 'text': 'And then apply technology to it.', 'start': 1005.181, 'duration': 1.842}, {'end': 1011.548, 'text': "And then usually that's a pretty good combination for a successful startup, right? Yeah, totally.", 'start': 1007.163, 'duration': 4.385}, {'end': 1015.053, 'text': "Awesome All right, we'll take a break here and then we'll talk about VCs.", 'start': 1011.769, 'duration': 3.284}], 'summary': 'Finding inefficiencies and applying technology can lead to successful billion-dollar startups.', 'duration': 28.67, 'max_score': 986.383, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY986383.jpg'}], 'start': 529.364, 'title': 'Startup challenges, investment criteria, advice, and strategy', 'summary': "Discusses common reasons for startup failure, co-founder problems, timely product shipping, initialized capital's advantage, funding approach, personalized support, unique expertise intersections, and potential billion-dollar startups.", 'chapters': [{'end': 814.963, 'start': 529.364, 'title': 'Startup challenges and investment criteria', 'summary': "Discusses common reasons for startup failure, emphasizing co-founder problems as the number one issue, and highlights the importance of shipping products timely to capitalize on opportunities. initialized capital's advantage lies in its experience as former entrepreneurs, providing a more engaged and supportive approach to investment.", 'duration': 285.599, 'highlights': ['Co-founder problems are the number one reason for startup failure, especially in small teams where the relationship between co-founders is crucial. Co-founder issues are cited as the primary cause of startup failure, particularly in small teams, emphasizing the significance of a strong co-founder relationship.', 'Startups should focus on shipping products timely rather than striving for perfection, as delays can result in missed opportunities and wasted resources. The importance of timely product shipping is emphasized, with examples of companies losing out on opportunities and burning millions of dollars due to delayed releases.', 'Investors at Initialized Capital offer a more engaged and supportive approach, leveraging their experience as former entrepreneurs to provide valuable insights and assistance. Initialized Capital distinguishes itself by offering a more engaged and supportive approach to investment, leveraging their experience as former entrepreneurs to provide valuable insights and assistance to startups.']}, {'end': 1015.974, 'start': 815.983, 'title': 'Startup advice and strategy', 'summary': 'Discusses the approach to funding startups, emphasizing the importance of understanding the problem, providing personalized support to founders, and finding unique intersections of expertise for potential billion-dollar startups.', 'duration': 199.991, 'highlights': ['The chapter emphasizes the importance of understanding the problem and providing personalized support to founders, recommending that startups address problems they understand and offering tailored assistance to founders. Importance of understanding the problem, Personalized support to founders, Recommending startups to address problems they understand', 'The chapter highlights the significance of finding unique intersections of expertise for potential billion-dollar startups, suggesting that the combination of specialized knowledge and engineering skills can lead to successful startups. Finding unique intersections of expertise, Combination of specialized knowledge and engineering skills, Potential for successful startups', "The chapter briefly discusses the approach to funding startups, emphasizing the need to find companies with a clear sense of direction and the limited influence of investors and advisors on the company's direction. Finding companies with clear direction, Limited influence of investors and advisors"]}], 'duration': 486.61, 'thumbnail': 'https://coursnap.oss-ap-southeast-1.aliyuncs.com/video-capture/4cDCl4cS5xY/pics/4cDCl4cS5xY529364.jpg', 'highlights': ['Co-founder problems are the number one reason for startup failure, especially in small teams where the relationship between co-founders is crucial.', 'Startups should focus on shipping products timely rather than striving for perfection, as delays can result in missed opportunities and wasted resources.', 'Investors at Initialized Capital offer a more engaged and supportive approach, leveraging their experience as former entrepreneurs to provide valuable insights and assistance.', 'The chapter emphasizes the importance of understanding the problem and providing personalized support to founders, recommending that startups address problems they understand and offering tailored assistance to founders.', 'The chapter highlights the significance of finding unique intersections of expertise for potential billion-dollar startups, suggesting that the combination of specialized knowledge and engineering skills can lead to successful startups.', "The chapter briefly discusses the approach to funding startups, emphasizing the need to find companies with a clear sense of direction and the limited influence of investors and advisors on the company's direction."]}], 'highlights': ['Gary Tan is the co-founder of Initialized Capital, managing over $500 million and investing in companies like Coinbase and Instacart.', 'Initialized portfolio is valued at $36 billion, with investments in about 200 companies at early stages.', 'Gary Tan spent nearly five years at Y Combinator, advising and funding over 1,000 companies and founders.', "Prior to Y Combinator, Gary was a co-founder of Posterous, acquired by Twitter for $20 million, and a founding member of Palantir's engineering team.", "Initialized Capital focuses on investing in the earliest stage companies and individuals with just an idea, exemplified by Brian Armstrong's success with Bitcoin.", "Emphasizes the importance of founders' engineering skills and grit for iteration over traditional VC criteria, contrasting it with reliance on buzzwords and resumes.", 'Co-founder problems are the number one reason for startup failure, especially in small teams where the relationship between co-founders is crucial.', 'Startups should focus on shipping products timely rather than striving for perfection, as delays can result in missed opportunities and wasted resources.']}