How YC Was Created With Jessica Livingston

Familiar with the lore of Y Combinator? Then you'll know Jessica Livingston - one of the original co-founders who started YC back in 2005. On a recent visit to our SF headquarters she shared with the Lightcone hosts the stories and decisions of the early days that would form the foundations of YC as we know it today. Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) - 0:00 Coming Up 0:55 Jessica Livingston: The social radar 1:49 YC was unique from the beginning 5:20 Why events are so important to YC 13:39 The DNA of YC 18:02 The first batch 23:07 YC dinners were strong motivators to work hard 28:00 Why YC alumni help new founders 29:57 YC going from underdog to serious + desired 35:55 Harj’s legendary meeting with Yuri Milner 41:33 The first YC startup school 46:12 Diana’s experience going through YC 50:08 Lessons from interviewing so many founders 58:05 Outro