Why This Is The Perfect Time To Start A Startup

Okay. So, we're gonna be doing the Light Cone podcast on stage at Startup School East. What do you guys want to talk about?

I'm just kind of imagining what these founders want. Like, they traveled here on a bus for hours. Like, the headline topic is why this is the perfect time in your life to start a startup.

Why this is different than just starting a company at any other time, but now. There's something special now.

If you work really hard, like, you can arguably be an AI expert.

This is why. It's because, like, we're looking at the data and, like, this is the moment in time for young founders to start a startup.

What do you think, like, the, uh, conclusion is?

I'm just trying to think of what's edgy. And, like, what's edgy is, like... (dial-up modem sounds)

Oh. That's a great client. I love that.

Sorry, guy. Sorry (laughs) .

No, it's great. We just can't use it for YouTube.

Yeah. It's all right (laughs) .

(instrumental music)

I was just, like, having a little think there about which phone to put it in. (laughs) .

(crowd cheering) Hello. Hello, Boston. Welcome to YC Startup School East. It's been more than 10 years since we've actually done any event like this. So with that, I wanna invite up to the stage my fellow group partners of the Light Cone podcast. (crowd cheering) So, this is Harj, Diana, and Jared. And, uh, collectively, we've funded companies worth 100s of billions of dollars. And we've been basically on the frontline of what's going on with, um, AI and working with people just like you doing it. Harj, what are we, uh, gonna dive into today?

All right. So, at YC, we fund more founders per year than any other investor in the world, which means we work with people all different shapes and sizes, right? And we get to see, like, what are some of the advantages and disadvantages of being different types of founders? And so what we thought we'd talk about here today is what advantages do young founders, especially founders in college or who just graduated college, have when it comes to startups? Because that feels relevant to you all, right? The one thing that we hear a lot of when we talk to college students or younger founders is, "Ah, but, like, don't I need to get some work experience? Like, shouldn't I have some, like, business experience or work experience before I go and start one of these companies? And that's what's holding me back?"

I wanna hear from Gary and from Diana, because they both worked at companies before they did their startup. What was that like, guys?

Well, so, uh, it turns out that working for Microsoft cost me $200 million.

(laughs)

(laughs)

I was, like, graduating from Stanford. I studied computer engineering. Uh, child of immigrants, like, we didn't grow up with very much money. So, it was really important to me, uh, to my family that, like, you know, my- my parents were proud that I had health insurance. And so I was about a year into my time as a level 59 PM. Like, apparently the lowest of the low for, uh, you know, college graduates working at the time. Even the whole idea of being slotted into an, uh, level, uh, a level 59, where there are, like, 59 levels, and it, like, goes up to, like, 70 or something. How terrible is that? But, uh, the reason why it cost me $200 million is friends of mine, uh, I was 22 years old, I spent a year in Seattle, and, um, friends of mine were starting a company with, uh, Peter Thiel. Now, he wasn't... Peter wasn't sort of the, like, demigod, you know, billionaire that he is known as today. He actually had just sold PayPal. Uh, I, you know, I knew who he was, but I, you know, sort of didn't understand anything about startups. And, uh, I said, "Well, you know, my friends, you know, they're graduating, but they don't have a real job. I have a real job. I might get promoted to level 60 next year. Peter, do you understand?" And, uh, we were over dinner and he said, "Gary, you're wasting your time. I'm gonna make this a zero-risk opportunity for you." And he said he was gonna write a $70,000 check for me. Uh, "You know, cash this check, quit your job, and we're gonna go change the world." And, uh, I said, "Thank you very much, Mr. Thiel, but I'ma- might get promoted." (laughs) Uh, "You know, I have a real... I have health insurance." And I got on a plane and I went back to Seattle. And it was a big mistake. It did actually literally cost me, uh, on the order of, in today's money, probably close to half a billion dollars. Um, and, you know, Palantir was, like, an idea on a napkin at that moment.