Playbooks

Make something people want

Make something people want.

Everything else (pitching, funding, branding) matters less than building something real people actively want.

Do this: Find 5 people who would be genuinely upset if your product disappeared.

YC's motto

Write code and talk to users

In the early days, a founder's time should go almost entirely to two things: building the product and talking to users.

Do this: Block time this week for both: build sessions and at least 3 user conversations.

YC's core advice to founders

Do things that don't scale

Most startups get their first users by recruiting them by hand, one at a time. Airbnb's founders went door to door photographing hosts' apartments.

Do this: Personally message 20 potential users today. No ads, no automation.

Essay: "Do Things that Don't Scale" (2013)

Measure growth every week

Pick one number (users or revenue) and track its weekly growth rate. Graham notes 5-7% a week is a good rate during YC.

Do this: Choose your one number and write down this week's value.

Essay: "Startup = Growth" (2012)

Know if you're default alive

If your costs stay the same and revenue keeps growing at its current rate, will you reach profit before money runs out? If not, you depend on raising.

Do this: Do the math: monthly costs, monthly revenue, money in the bank.

Essay: "Default Alive or Default Dead?" (2015)

Ask questions even your mom can't lie about

Don't ask if people like your idea; they'll be polite. Ask about their life and what they did in the past. Compliments are not data.

Do this: Rewrite any interview question that starts with "Would you…" into "When did you last…".

Book: The Mom Test (2013)

Get out of the building

There are no facts inside your room, only opinions. Answers come from talking to real customers.

Do this: Go where your customers are this week: a club, a store, a Discord server.

The Four Steps to the Epiphany (2005)

Learn from unhappy customers

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.

Complaints show you exactly what to fix next. Seek them out instead of hiding from them.

Do this: Ask your last 3 users: "What's the most annoying thing about it?"

Book: Business @ the Speed of Thought (1999)

Get to product/market fit

A startup's main job is reaching product/market fit: a good market with a product that satisfies it. You'll feel it when customers pull the product out of your hands.

Do this: Ask users: "How would you feel if you could no longer use this?" Track how many say very disappointed.

Essay: "The only thing that matters" (2007)

Start small and dominate

Don't fight giants head-on. Start with a small, specific market you can own, then expand. Competing on the same thing as everyone else kills profits.

Do this: Describe the smallest group you could be #1 for in the next 6 months.

Book: Zero to One (2014)

Build, measure, learn

Build the smallest version that tests your biggest assumption (an MVP), measure what users do, learn, and repeat fast.

Do this: Write your biggest assumption, then the smallest thing that would test it.

Book: The Lean Startup (2011)

Launch before you feel ready

If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late.

Waiting for perfect means learning nothing. Real feedback beats polish.

Do this: Set a launch date within 14 days and tell someone to hold you to it.

Widely shared advice on launching

The Value Equation

Value = (Dream Outcome × Perceived Likelihood of Achievement) ÷ (Time Delay × Effort & Sacrifice). Raise the top, shrink the bottom.

Do this: Pick one lever: show more proof, deliver a result faster, or remove a step.

Book: $100M Offers (2021)

Make a Grand Slam Offer

Make an offer so good people feel stupid saying no: solve every related problem, add bonuses, and reverse the risk with a guarantee.

Do this: List every problem your customer hits around yours, and solve one as a bonus.

Book: $100M Offers (2021)

The Core Four

There are four ways to get leads: warm outreach (people you know), posting free content, cold outreach (strangers), and paid ads. Start with warm outreach; it's free.

Do this: Message 10 people you already know about what you're building.

Book: $100M Leads (2023)

Sales cures all

Sales cures all.

Revenue solves most early problems: it proves demand, funds the company and attracts investors.

Do this: Try to get one paying customer this month, even at a small price.

Widely shared business advice

Learn to build and sell

Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.

The rarest founders can both make the product and convince people to use it.

Do this: If you're the builder, practice one sales call. If you're the seller, ship one small feature.

Post on X (2018)

Start with a skill people pay for

Gadzhi often tells young people to learn a skill businesses already pay for (like marketing or editing) and sell it as a service. It earns money and teaches sales while you build.

Do this: List one skill you have that a local business would pay for.

His public talks and videos

Document, don't create

You don't need to be an expert to post. Share your real journey (wins, fails, lessons) as it happens.

Do this: Film a 30-second update on what you built or learned this week.

Article: "Document, Don't Create" (2016)

The classic deck order

Purpose, problem, solution, why now, market, competition, product, business model, team, financials. Investors expect this flow.

Do this: Check that your deck answers each of these in order.

Sequoia's business plan / pitch template

10 slides, 20 minutes, 30-point font

Keep pitches to about 10 slides, 20 minutes, and text no smaller than 30 points so you can't cram in too much.

Do this: Cut your deck to 10 slides and delete any line you'd have to read out loud.

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Start with what you have

Blakely started Spanx with $5,000 of her savings and wrote her own patent application to save money.

Do this: List what you can do this month with $0 and with $100.

Spanx founding story

Get creative to survive

When Airbnb was out of money, the founders designed and sold collectible cereal boxes ("Obama O's" and "Cap'n McCain's") to keep going.

Do this: Brainstorm 3 unusual ways to raise $500 for your startup without giving away equity.

Airbnb's founding story (2008)