Y Combinator Startup Podcast
00:27:52 · Gustaf Alstromer, Chaz Englander
[00:27:52] S2: So during YC, we have this group office hour topic where we talk about the... What motivates you to build a company. And it's mostly to surface sort of the motivations for founders and their cofounders. So when things are really tough, you know why you're there. Do you guys remember what was your initial motivation when you started the first two companies and then maybe what it is today? [00:28:13] S0: When we have our one to ones, we're not brainstorming how to raise money. We're brainstorming actually how we can do this for the rest of our lives because it is so rewarding. Building something for individuals, making money, I think, it just gets boring so quickly, right? It's not really that motivating. Whereas building something that makes people smile, that's very impactful and a lot of people are using it, that's just so motivating to us. And I think that really has been the story across all the companies. And I think what's been nice about this and surprising about this is we questioned ourselves going from a two consumer brand heavy type businesses into a B2B, but actually, particularly in the world of AI, the most important element is the B2C element, and that is, to us, the most rewarding element. When you do a demo to someone or they click Run and they do something, and it is just... There's no money that can buy those moments. [00:29:10] S2: Because they've never seen that before. [00:29:11] S0: And they've never seen it before. They've never seen it. It's like with
00:29:11 · Chaz Englander, Arnie Englander, Gustaf Alstromer
[00:29:11] S0: And they've never seen it before. They've never seen it. It's like with [00:29:12] S1: our previous companies with Fancy, when you would be at the door with their delivery ten, twelve minutes after they ordered it, and there you saw their face, like, what the hell is You're going already here. Like Chaz said, it's priceless. [00:29:25] S2: I've noticed this with AI products that often the customers cannot even imagine what the solution will look like because the models are so good and they're so advanced right now. And very often, you just have to build... Like, you build it for them first. Like, you can't really figure out... Try to figure out what the problems are because, like, it's not a specific problem you're solving. It's just like It's just a whole other league of solutions. Yeah, [00:29:49] S0: and the difficult thing as well is you do have to rethink things slightly from the ground up. So I do think that, at least as of today, our product... We made a call that we would kind of rebuild our version of PowerPoint, Word, and Excel because we do believe, at least for the time being, that the way in which people interact with technology, regardless of type of technology, remain quite consistent. In other words, a long form document, a storytelling presentation in Tabula across Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. We think that would stay the same. [00:30:22] S2: So you're not trying to get people to change the current [00:30:24] S1: use of
00:30:24 · Arnie Englander, Chaz Englander, Gustaf Alstromer
[00:30:24] S1: use of [00:30:24] S0: We're not trying to get, because we just think that that's what people are very used to. However, if we look at what we're seeing this year, a lot of what's happened up until now is humans are still coming into these systems, and they are clicking Run on something, basically, right? We think the biggest shift this year is going to be that even that element won't happen. And therefore, elements of the user interface, we think, will be less important. In other words, these tasks will happen entirely autonomously. As you arrive in the morning and the things that you would normally have had to go and trigger and click Run, they will already be there. They will already be done. [00:31:03] S2: Right, right, right. You guys are siblings. Historically in YC, we've known that this is a pretty good recipe for a good co founder relationship. Tell us... I mean, you've been co founders of multiple companies. You've had other co founders too. Tell us what you've learned about the most important thing. Maybe for the audience of founders who are thinking about finding a company, what should I be looking for in my co founder? And what's important and what's not important? [00:31:26] S1: I think we mentioned it previously around hiring. I think this is sort of tenfold when it comes to your co founder. You're going to spend so much time with this person, more time that you spend with your family, with your partners, with your friends. So I think, first and foremost, is that person someone that you want to spend a lot of time with? Obviously, we're not...
00:31:26 · Arnie Englander, Chaz Englander, Gustaf Alstromer
[00:31:26] S1: I think we mentioned it previously around hiring. I think this is sort of tenfold when it comes to your co founder. You're going to spend so much time with this person, more time that you spend with your family, with your partners, with your friends. So I think, first and foremost, is that person someone that you want to spend a lot of time with? Obviously, we're not... [00:31:50] S0: We're still not sure. Yeah, we're still not sure. [00:31:53] S2: I think if you were not sure, you wouldn't say that. [00:31:55] S0: Exactly, exactly. Otherwise, would be really awkward. [00:31:58] S1: It would [00:31:58] S0: be really awkward. [00:31:59] S1: So look, we've always had a really good relationship. I think not all brothers working together, I think, is a good idea. I think, you know, we've been fortunate enough we've always had a good, you know, personal and working relationship. One of the things that makes things really easy, I think, is... And again, not all siblings are like this, but there's no filter between us. We're very transparent, we're very honest, and I think with your founder, you need to be exactly that. There can't be any miscommunication, lack of communication. We all know one of the biggest reasons, if not the biggest reason why startups fail, is found a fallout. And I think with us, we're always very good at communicating, trusting each other. Another thing on the trust piece then is the way
00:32:43 · Chaz Englander
[00:32:43] S0: that we describe our Venn diagram. I think I'm an engineer, but I'm not actually an engineer. I think I am. I only studied computer science. I studied accounting. So our Venn diagram, and I think if you're thinking about another co founder, I'd really consider this, is Arne obviously handles engineering products, and I handle finance, commercials, and products as well, kind of in the middle. So the overlap in our Venn diagram is basically customers and product, which we think is just the most important piece anyway. And that bit we both really enjoy and we love, but we also love all the other stuff. And I think that clear segregation of duties and interests from day one, I think is really important. So I think one of the things that we think that we look at is I really emphasize that point of interest because actually you may... For example, Arne may have studied CS, and I may have said, But if I really am interested in wanting to basically do Arne's job and write the bulk of the production code, then we've probably got a problem. Know what I mean? And so I think it's like, really think about that, and that tends to last for a long time as well.
00:33:53 · Gustaf Alstromer
[00:33:53] S2: I got this email, I think it was yesterday, from a person who was in their early 20s. They were basically asking me for not startup advice, but life advice. So what do I do? I'm like 21. And I think he was writing something along the lines of, like, I know I can go and build something b to b that's quite narrow with AI, but it doesn't seem to motivate me enough. I wanna build something much bigger, like, I have a bigger impact in the world. Like, if you got that email, if you would give him advice, like, would you advise someone who's in their really early 20s or in school, and they're thinking about their career right now or maybe in the world of AI, or they're thinking about starting a company but wanna do something big? Like, what would you tell them?