- The speaker is Kat Mignolic, a partner at YC (Y Combinator)
- Kat has worked with Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, and at Wired Magazine
- She helps companies in the Y Combinator program prepare for their press launches
- She focuses on international expansion and encouraging more women to apply to YC
- Kat suggests that regional office leaders in developing countries should find successful local entrepreneurs to provide advice and support
- She also recommends building a local angel investing ecosystem or connecting with funders in places like Silicon Valley
- To recommend a founder to YC, there is a new YC recommendation system that allows anyone to make a recommendation
- Kat advises having honest conversations with co-founders about commitment and considering bringing on a third person or becoming a solo founder if necessary
- When identifying a target customer base, it is important to have a hypothesis and talk to potential customers for feedback
- It is better to have a product that 100 people love than a product that 1,000 users think is okay
- YC investors view self-inflicted failure as a learning opportunity and encourage YC alumni to reach out and explain their situation.

- YC alumni are encouraged to reach out to YC partners to discuss their situations and seek support.
- YC has funded multiple alumni multiple times, showing their commitment to supporting and funding founders in the community.
- Common mistakes made by first-time entrepreneurs include not having early conversations about equity with co-founders, not talking to potential customers, and waiting too long to launch their product.
- Solo founders should focus on both building a prototype and finding co-founders simultaneously.
- When applying to YC, pre-launch startups should demonstrate their team's ability to execute, insights gained from talking to users, and any proof of a need for their product.
- The specific category chosen in the RFS (Request for Startups) does not significantly impact the chances of being accepted by YC.
- YC is focused on funding companies that promote diversity and inclusivity in the technology industry, rather than whether the founder themselves is diverse.

- The speaker is looking to fund nonprofits and startups that focus on making technology more inclusive and attractive to people of all ages and races.
- One company that has been funded is Jopwell, a job marketplace connecting founders of color with tech jobs.
- The standard deal for funding is $120k for 7% equity, and the speaker has not done any other types of deals.
- If a company is not yet incorporated, it can take about a week to receive funding from YC using their standard documents.
- YC considers self-taught developers and engineers as technical founders and has funded many of them.
- When launching a company and seeking press coverage, it is recommended to find warm introductions to reporters and focus on specific publications and reporters that cover the company's industry.
- It is important to have prepared answers to likely press questions and ideally have news or announcements to share when pitching to reporters.
- Press coverage should be tied to newsworthy events, and it is not necessary to become an industry expert before focusing on building the product.
- Press coverage is not a sustainable user acquisition strategy, and it is more beneficial to get in front of early communities and gather feedback before seeking press coverage.
- Developing a thicker skin is important for handling feedback and criticism.
- The speaker jokingly mentions three doomsday prepper skills: having a motorcycle license, being able to shoot a bow and arrow, and having a repository of supplies.

Kat Mignolic, a partner at Y Combinator (YC), shared valuable insights on various topics related to startups and funding. She discussed the importance of regional office leaders finding local entrepreneurs for advice and support, building angel investing ecosystems, and connecting with funders. Kat also highlighted the new YC recommendation system and advised founders to have honest conversations about commitment and consider bringing on additional team members if needed. She emphasized the significance of identifying a target customer base, getting feedback, and having a product that a smaller number of users love rather than a larger number who find it okay. YC investors view self-inflicted failure as a learning opportunity and encourage alumni to reach out for support. Common mistakes made by first-time entrepreneurs include not discussing equity with co-founders early on, not talking to potential customers, and delaying product launch. Kat mentioned the importance of demonstrating a team's ability to execute, insights gained from user conversations, and proof of a product's need when applying to YC. YC focuses on funding companies that promote diversity and inclusivity in the tech industry. The speaker is interested in funding nonprofits and startups that make technology more inclusive and appealing to people of all ages and races. Jopwell, a job marketplace for founders of color, is one such company that has received YC funding. The standard deal for funding from YC is $120k for 7% equity. YC considers self-taught developers as technical founders and has funded many of them. When seeking press coverage, warm introductions to reporters and focusing on specific publications and reporters in the company's industry are recommended. Prepared answers to likely press questions and newsworthy announcements are beneficial. Press coverage should be tied to events, but it is not necessary to become an industry expert before focusing on product development. Press coverage is not a sustainable user acquisition strategy, and early community engagement and feedback are more valuable. Developing resilience to handle feedback and criticism is important for founders. The speaker humorously mentioned three "doomsday prepper skills": having a motorcycle license, archery skills, and a repository of supplies.

Kat Manalac and Craig Cannon go through questions submitted on Hacker News.

To submit a question for Office Hours, send an email to Macro@YCombinator.com with a few sentences of context and your question.

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0:08 - Kat's intro.

1:24 - I want to start an incubator/accelerator in Ecuador for local founders with global scope. How would you suggest regional office leaders foster entrepreneurship in developing countries? 

3:20 - How would you go about starting an incubator in another country?

3:56 - If I know someone who would be great for YC, what’s the best way to connect them to you? 

5:11 - I brought my friend onboard as a cofounder seven months back. We haven't incorporated yet so there's no paperwork involved.

The first three months were very productive as we both worked on the web app but as soon as I started looking into the business side of things and asked him to concentrate on technology his output has gone down drastically. He hasn't delivered any new features in the last four months.

Here are the things he told me when asked about his lack of work:
1. Lost motivation but still want to continue working.
2. Not getting enough time to work on startup, we both are still working on our day jobs.

How can I deal with this situation? Letting him go is an option but it is really tough to find a co founder.

7:47 - As a founder of company in the early stages, how should you identify a target customer base and how do you recommend developing a plan to market and sell to them? How do you identify your first customers?

9:30 - I was part of a previous YC batch and didn't get anywhere meaningful due to a mismatch in team dynamics and, to be honest, a bit of hubris. I think I've come away with a new-found perspective and I'd like to reapply to YC and try again, but I'm worried that my past mistakes will reflect poorly on my future potential.

How do you, as investors, view self-inflicted failure?

11:17 - Which are the most common mistakes you have seen first time entrepreneurs and founders make?

14:00 - I'm a solo founder and dream of having cofounders to help drive this forward with me. So, right now I'm not sure if my primary focus should be on building the cofounding team, or if I should remain completely focused on proving this out on a smaller-scale by building a scrappy prototype that proves this concept is viable before building the cofounding team?

15:25 - When should you start recruiting people?

16:09 - We are a platform for moms to connect, facilitate and empower themselves in their journey of motherhood. We are pre-launch. How do we provide the data asked for in most incubator applications?

18:20 - I am looking to apply to YC and the project fits 2 categories of among the "Request for StartUps" categories [AI and Mass Media], Is this ok if the product touches on these areas but is not defined by them specifically?

There is no exact category for product ( it detects forms of hate speech and allows users to "talk back" through various specific tools, using ai, linguistics, and machine learning.

19:26 - Regarding the Diversity RFS, does YC mean the founder is "diverse" or the product is aimed at a "diverse" market? I am "diverse" but the product isn't particularly aimed at a "diverse" audience.

20:25 - Do you ever let founders take less money (say 60k for 3.5% instead of 120k for 7%)?

20:45 - If the company/person does not have money and is not incorporated yet, how long does it take to get a minimum amount (just so you can deal with the expenses of getting there and being there initially) from YC once you arrive in SV?

21:35 - Do you consider someone who is self-taught and built the prototype herself but does not have a "real" CS background or has ever worked as an "engineer", a "technical founder"?

22:19 - If you're a company launching to the press for the first time, what would you recommend doing?

24:45 - Is it ever too early to think about getting press?

25:50 - Do you recommend people become industry experts?

27:17 - What are the three most important prepper skills?

Hey everyone, I'm here today with Kat Mignolic.

She's a partner at YC, but not everyone might know your story.

And before this, I worked with Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit.

I worked with him after he left Reddit the first time on his fund, a non-profit.

At the time we were also doing a lot of political work around SOPA PIPA.

And prior to that I worked at Wired Magazine for 4 years.

So I have a lot of interest in kind of media and tech and the way they interact.

And so I help a lot of the companies in the batches of Y Combinator prepare for their first press launches.

Yeah, and then I started at YC in 2013 as director of outreach, and that meant outreach to potential applicants.

So when I started, Jess Ken Pee G said, YC has grown organically really well, but what if we have 1 person thinking about how to expand YC, how to reach beyond the population of people that are already applying.

So, you know, international has been a huge focus of mine.

We do the female founders conference to encourage more women to, you know, apply and start companies.

And so that's been a really fun piece of what I do too, is working with all the, you know, potential applicants of YC.

All right, so we have a ton of questions, so let's go for it.

Kat, I want to start an incubator accelerator in Ecuador for local founders with global scope.

How would you suggest regional office leaders foster entrepreneurship in developing countries?

All right, so I do a lot of traveling and meeting with a lot of international founders for YC.

I think the most important thing to do would be to find people in your region who have Started companies built companies fundraise because you're gonna get the best advice from people who've done it And so it was sort of my dream for YC's international founder community is that you know They'll build a billion-dollar company And then they'll start reinvesting in their startup ecosystem wherever they are.

If Rappi becomes a billion dollar company, hopefully in the future, the founders there will start investing in Colombian startups.

Same for our companies in India and Nigeria.

I think the best chance that a lot of these regional incubators or places have is being fueled by folks that have built big companies and have that kind of skill set and advice that they can pass on.

The next thing I notice is that in most places outside Silicon Valley, it's really hard to fundraise.

And that's because there doesn't exist a local angel investing ecosystem.

So 1 thing that local incubators or universities can do is to start trying to stoke that local kind of investor ecosystem.

Like, find people who are interested in investing in startups and educate them about the best way to be helpful as an investor to those early stage companies.

And if that ecosystem of angel investors doesn't exist, maybe the most helpful thing would be to create a bridge and to introduce them to funders in places like the Silicon Valley that are open to funding international startups and projects.

So would you go about like starting an incubator in another country by recruiting a bunch of investors first or advisors or what would you do?

I mean, ideally, it would be a program that was started by a founder or a former entrepreneur.

And then, or if not, I would find an ecosystem of those mentors that could help.

And then simultaneously, it's kind of like the chicken or the egg, the marketplace problem.

I would try to find, are there ways we can help support them with funding as well?

So building up both sides of that marketplace a little bit.

Kat, if I know someone who would be great for YC, What's the best way to connect them with you?

So we just actually are launching a YC recommendation system and this like essentially will let anyone in the world recommend a founder to YC.

So you can go to ycombinator.com slash recommends and you can you know recommend someone say you know someone from your school or if you're an investor and you met a founder who's early stage and is interested, you can send them our way through the system and then you can track their progress.

1 thing to note is that you don't need a recommendation to get into Y Combinator.

The vast majority of people we fund have never touched base with YC alumni or staff.

And so we still are really proud of that, that we're kind of open as a university is open.

But we started this recommendation system so that it's really becomes, you know, possible for anyone around the world to connect us with founders.

And then also we were just getting all these recommendations through these random channels.

So now it'll make it much easier for us to track who sends us great recommendations and then also to thank you when we end up funding 1.

Alright, so Dear YC, I brought my friend on board as a co-founder 7 months ago.

We haven't incorporated yet, so there's no paperwork involved.

3 months were very productive as we worked together on the web app, but as soon as I started looking into business side work and asked him to concentrate on the development, his output has gone down drastically.

He hasn't delivered any new features in the last 4 months.

Here are the things he told me when he asked for, when I, when I said he wasn't working very well.

1, he lost motivation, but still wants to continue working on it.

And 2, he's not getting enough time to work on the startup.

Letting him go is an option, but it's really tough to find a co-founder.

So co-founder disputes are 1 of the things that we see kill some of the most promising early stage companies.

And having this co-founder conversation as soon as possible is gonna be really important because it's such a hard conversation to have, but you have to be really honest with each other.

Is this someone that's going to double down and commit to the project?

Is this someone who is as committed as you are?

Ideally, you each have 50% stake in the company.

And so you want to be as committed as 1 another.

And So hopefully, this is something you'd be working on for 10 years.

So if you're already having these kind of issues now, if their heart isn't in it, it probably, there's a chance that it might not ever be.

And so I would have the conversation about whether they want to stay on as a co-founder, maybe they just want to be a contributor or maybe they'll come on board later once you are further along.

But honestly, being a solo founder is better and less distracting than having a complicated or fraught co-founder relationship.

And I think maybe an alternate path is bringing on a third person.

Because I know a lot of people who are A, either just good at prototyping stuff or B, don't work well in isolation.

And also just like, I know it sounds silly, but getting stuff on paper early.

I mean, the equity conversation should be had if it hasn't been had already and you should get it, you know, paperwork should happen now.

Yeah, because I mean, you're now in a situation where it's going to get personal, whereas if it were on paper it's like, hey listen, you're not getting this done, it's not going to work out.

Kat, as a founder of a company in the early stages, how should you identify a target customer base and how do you recommend developing a plan to market and sales?

So I think the question is like, how do you identify your first customers?

I think it's best to go at it, have a hypothesis for who your target audience is.

So when you're building something, think through whose problem am I solving and or who is this a hair on fire problem for?

And then, so for example, if I'm building a product that say is helping small businesses with payroll processing, I would go out there and I'd talk to my potential customers.

I would talk to as many potential customers as possible to see like, is what I'm thinking right for you, do you have any feedback?

And then I would start building that product and get it into their hands, even just like the most basic version of it, into the hands of potential users as quickly as possible.

And then you can iterate based on their feedback.

But, you know, there's YC partner, Paul Bukite, always says, you should focus on building a product that 100 people love versus a product that 1,000 users just think is okay.

So if you can, you know, target 100 of those potential customers and get them using and engaged with your early product.

That's a really good sign and a sign that you should continue in that direction.

If you learn really quickly that what you're building isn't right for them, you can either iterate, change the product, Or you can try focusing on another subset of potential customers.

Yeah, and I would pause very quickly if I were in this situation because if you can't figure out if the product is good or not because it's not your problem, you need to find those people.

So Kat, I was part of a previous YC batch and didn't get anywhere meaningful due to a mismatch in team dynamics and to be honest, a bit of hubris.

I think I've come away with a newfound perspective and I'd like to reapply to YC and try again, but I'm worried that my past mistakes will reflect poorly on my future potential.

How do you as investors view self-inflicted failure?

So I think as a YC alumni, you should always feel free to reach back out to the partners at YC and to explain your situation.

And, you know, there might be a lot of partners, depending on, you know, how far back YC funded you, there might be a lot of partners now who don't know the details of your story or that you might not know.

And I think it's always a good option to just come and try to talk to us.

And so we understand, like we see so many different ways that companies fail and we funded so many alumni at this point multiple times.

You know, we just recently had Dennis Mars from Proxy who is coming through his second time.

You know, YC, former YC partner Harge, went through with Triple Byte for a second time.

So it, you know, we love founding alumni.

We love funding, refunding people in the community and we understand like, things don't always work out the first time.

Yeah, and I think like being bold enough to share your story and share that hubris like is valuable too.

Yeah, and being really honest I think is a great thing because we understand that people grow.

You know, we fund a lot of a number of founders who are quite young and it's the first time they're ever building a company and so you learn so much on the job and we understand that like You know, you might not really be the same, you know founder the same leader that you were 7 years ago.

What are the most common mistakes you've seen first time entrepreneurs and founders make?

So the major first mistakes I guess I see are not having the equity conversation quickly enough with co-founders, or not having that conversation about what the split looks like.

Sometimes people wait really long until it becomes a problem.

And you just wanna have that conversation up front as early as possible, as early as you know that you want to co-found a company together.

Right, so what like, when do you know you're at that point?

Like at what point does a project flip over?

So I guess you're talking about, hey, we've been building this thing together or even just talking about starting to build together and we think like this could be a company, like we could grow this into something.

And so would you want to come on board as co-founders?

Ideally we like to fund things that have a 50-50% split or you know equal among all the co-founders.

And having you know, it doesn't hurt to have that conversation like on day 1 even, just so that you know any like awkwardness comes out early and you can address those and get in front of those.

And it's, it is so awkward, but it's worth having that conversation as quickly as possible.

I mean, there's no harm in kind of bringing it up on day 1.

Yeah, I think it's like, as soon as you realize it's gone past the point of like talking about it over beers and you're actually working on it, then it, yeah, it feels like the right time.

I see is not talking to customers so not talking to potential customers, you know before you start building or Not talking, you know, basically just like working on it by yourself having everything in your own head and not getting actual feedback from real people.

That's the most important thing I would say any founder should do is really talk to their users.

Then the other thing is just not launching.

A lot of people want everything to be perfect before they see anyone in the real world using it.

I feel like a lot of founders are perfectionists.

And that's not the ideal scenario, because then you'll wait and wait until you've spent all this time building and then you don't have any feedback and suddenly you get it out in the world and no 1 wants to use it or not enough people want to use it.

And so if you just get a really embarrassingly basic version out as quickly as possible, that's the best way to get real feedback from people actually using your product.

I've let way too many things die on my laptop.

So Kat, I'm a solo founder and dream of having co-founders to help drive this forward with me.

So right now, I'm not sure if my primary focus should be on building the co-founding team or if I should remain completely focused on proving this out on a smaller scale by building a scrappy prototype that proves the concept is viable before building the co-founding team.

So if you can build product, then I think it's helpful to start building a prototype or something because it'll make it way easier for you to convince other people to come on board.

And it doesn't have to be anything spectacular, just something, you know, just getting started on it I think is a good, you know, place to go, place to start.

But that said, building a startup is so hard, You know, it helps to have more than 1 person carrying the burden.

I mean, as a lot of founders know, you could be doing a million things at any given moment, but just having 1 other person to split those million things with is super helpful.

So we funded solo founders, And some of them have done really well, but overall we've seen this pattern where it's just so hard as a solo founder.

Try finding the people that you'd love to work with, that you'd love to spend 10 plus years of your life working on this project with.

And then also if you can build simultaneously, start building and that'll make it even easier to convince them.

So what's the point at which I'm like, okay, this is enough to start recruiting people with?

I mean, honestly, ideally you can recruit without a prototype.

So from day 1, if you're really excited about what you're building and you know some folks that you'd love to work with, start talking to them about it.

And it might take a little while to convince them to leave their jobs or work with you on nights and weekends.

But if you know those people and you have them in mind, why not start at the very beginning?

And it might take a while to convince them and while you're trying to convince them, you can start working on the prototype.

You have to just like ask for advice or ask for an intro to another friend and then you're really just moving around them and bringing them in.

Hey Kat, we are a platform for moms to connect, facilitate and empower themselves in their journey of motherhood.

So how do we provide the data asked for in most applications for an incubator like YC?

So if you're pre-launch, we like to see a few things.

We like to see your team's ability to execute.

We like to see that you've talked to users and gained some insights into the space based on your own experiences and the experiences of your potential users.

And then, you know, so digging into those 2 things a little bit in terms of, you know, ability to execute, we look at what projects has your team worked on before?

Like maybe you've worked together before at school or at work or you've done previous side projects together.

We'd like to see that there's some proof that you can work together and build something.

And then, so then we like to see, we love learning new things when we read applications.

So if we're reading your application and you provide us with some insights that you've gained from your users, insights that we might not have thought of before or something unique, that's super excellent.

Like We get really excited when we learn something new.

So I would say, even if you're pre-launch and you can't show user growth, showing those 2 things, your previous ability to execute and that you've talked to users is great.

The other thing I would say is if you have any proof that there is a need for what you're building, say you've built an email list or maybe you've built a community on, maybe it's just a Facebook community, but if you show like, hey, we started this email list and we're getting 10% user growth or subscriber growth every week, that's really impressive and that shows us that there is a large audience for what you're building.

And adding to the pre-launch data, the 1 data point that can hurt you is if you're pre-launched for like 2 years.

Yeah, a lot of folks say, you know, I've been working on this for 4 years, you know, but they haven't launched yet.

And then you're like, so what has happened in that time?

It doesn't necessarily block you, but it can hurt you.

I'm looking to apply to YC and the project fits 2 categories in the RFS, so request for startups.

Those categories being AI and mass media.

Is it okay if the product touches on these areas but is not defined by them specifically?

There's no exact category for the product.

It detects form of hate speech and allows users to talk back through various tools using AI, linguistics, and machine learning.

So when we're reading applications for startups, we don't worry or focus too much on category.

So choose whichever category you think fits best.

It's not going to help you or hurt you, whether you're an AI or mass media.

It's basically something that we just use internally for kind of our own kind of knowledge on what percentage of companies are coming in for each category, but it doesn't really impact your chances.

Yeah, I mean, like, to be clear, you don't have to pick an RFS.

The diversity in the RFS category, diversity is a category in the request for startups.

Does YC mean the founder is diverse or the product is aimed at a diverse market?

I am diverse, that's in quotes, but the product isn't particularly aimed at a diverse audience?

So we are focused with diversity, not on whether the founder is diverse.

We're looking for companies that are, I think that the wording in the RFS is, we want to fund nonprofits and startups that are working on making technology a place that is more inclusive and attractive to people of all ages, races.

So 1 company that comes to mind that we funded is Jopwell.

So Jopwell is a job marketplace that connects founders of color with tech jobs.

And so that would be perfect for the diversity RFS.

But that's, yeah, again, I wouldn't worry too much about category or RFS, but that's what we were intending with that 1.

Do you ever let founders take less money for a different amount of equity?

So against the standard terms of 120k for 7%?

Our standard deal is 120k for 7% so we have not done any of those other deals, other types of deals.

If the company person does not have money and is not incorporated yet, how long does it take to get a minimum amount from YC once you arrive in the Valley?

So once you get funded by YC and if you're not incorporated and you use our standard docs, it should be a really easy, quick process.

But of course, you know, and I pinged our lawyers about this who work on all the incorporations, and then they said that the devil is in the details as always, so, you know, based on, you know, it depends based on your company and your specific needs, but generally it's a very fast process Especially if you're not incorporated We actually almost prefer companies not to be incorporated because then we you know It's a it's a clean slate and we can help you do it right from the very beginning.

All right, Kat, do you consider someone who is self-taught and built the prototype herself but does not have a quote real CS background or have ever worked as a quote, I don't know why engineers in quotes, but that's a real job.

Engineer, do you consider them a technical founder?

Yes, we've funded so many people that are self-taught developers and engineers, and I think that's super impressive, that's like potentially Just seeing that you had the will and gumption to go out there and learn and build yourself is, I think, potentially more impressive.

But yes, I would definitely consider someone self-taught, the technical co-founder.

So if you are a company that's going to launch, you wanna do some PR, marketing, whatever, what would you recommend?

Okay, if you are a company that is launching to the press for the first time, the number 1 thing I would do is to find warm intros.

So if you shoot cold emails to reporters, I would say 9 out of 10 times you're going to get no response at all.

So if you can find other founders in your community, or if you've talked to potential investors, or just try to find someone who can give you a warm intro to the reporter that you want to target, then that's ideal.

It still might be 50-50 in terms of whether you get a response, but you have a better chance.

Second, I would say really focus on what...

Do research on, you know, each, you know, major publication that you want to be in and the reporters, and they're usually reporters have beats.

So if you're building a drone company and you want to pitch TechCrunch, you'll want to reach out to Laura Kolodny, for example.

And you should kind of have a sense, you know, create a little document that shows all the reporters that cover your beat.

And then what I do is if you're doing an exclusive stack rank who you want to reach out to and if you know hit your first you know choice first and offer them an exclusive.

Then you know what we work with YC founders a lot on that I think and if you can share a link we can share a link to our questions, is we help them through what we call whiteboarding process.

And it basically just goes over likely questions that you'll be asked by press.

And so it's really basic stuff, like what you do, why you're better than what's currently in the market, who your competitors are, why would someone use you over them, why is now the time that this startup is gonna take off and why are you the team to do it?

So we help the founders kind of come up with all those answers in a really succinct way.

And I always think it's great to have those answers drafted.

Basically make a personal FAQ for your company and so that you can use and have on hand when you're talking to the reporter.

And ideally you have some amount of news when you're pitching someone.

If you have news that is timely or you're part of a trend or have a fundraising announcement, that's probably ideal.

Is there a point at which that it's too early to start thinking about launching or doing press in any way?

Yes, I think you know when tech crunch and when YC started in 2005 and and tech runs started, you know after that and I you know, there were not that many startups.

So any startup that existed, you know, folks like TechCrunch would cover.

But now they, you know, I'm guessing they get tens if not hundreds of pitches every week.

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Office Hours with Kat Manalac