Y Combinator Startup Podcast
00:55:39 · Aaron Epstein, Marvin Schwaibold
[00:55:39] S0: Another video. So you make the video, upload a doc, a blog post, or an idea, and get a narrated animated video in minutes. Edit it just by chatting. I feel like that's what I need all the way up here at the top. [00:55:50] S1: To explain what it is that they're doing. [00:55:52] S0: Yeah. Because right off the bat, I don't even know if this for me. And so how many people do they lose that would be ideal customers Yeah. But can't even figure out that this is for them? [00:55:59] S1: Show me what the product does. And if I'm into that, then show me the results. [00:56:02] S0: Yep. I also noticed it's it's scroll jacking here [00:56:05] S1: Yeah. [00:56:05] S0: Which drives me crazy. [00:56:07] S1: I [00:56:07] S0: agree. Because it it feels less responsive to the scroll that I'm trying to do. It it it takes a while to ramp up to the speed rather
00:56:07 · Aaron Epstein, Marvin Schwaibold
[00:56:07] S0: agree. Because it it feels less responsive to the scroll that I'm trying to do. It it it takes a while to ramp up to the speed rather [00:56:14] S1: than just I think I wanna I wanna take the time here on on this podcast to talk about scroll jacking in general and scroll manipulation on websites. Yep. Smooth scrolling on websites is a disaster in the industry, and I feel like you you use the native scroll on websites and don't hinder the speed at which a user wants to interact with the content of your website. Yep. That is exactly what we were talking about earlier with interruptible interfaces. Yep. Apple has pioneered this for decades, and their software and their hardware is is is proof of that. You want interruptible software because all thought patterns are interruptible. You might think something and click on something else, and you would never wanna get a user into into into a... An environment where they have to smooth scroll or scroll jack through the content because that's the way you think they are gonna perceive or digest this content. Yep. That's almost an arrogant way of going about it. I always feel like I wanna be as as as as as unobstructive as possible and be as as as polite as I enter the room. Dieter Rams would always say, enter politely and quietly when you when you walk into a [00:57:12] S0: It it... Well, also, as users, this is not the only website we've ever used. [00:57:16] S1: Exactly. [00:57:17] S0: We're used to scrolling on probably hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of other websites. [00:57:21] S1: Usually on our phones.
00:57:21 · Marvin Schwaibold, Aaron Epstein
[00:57:21] S1: Usually on our phones. [00:57:22] S0: Yeah. And on phones. And and we get used to the sensitivity and the precision with which we scroll. And when something changes that Yeah. You have to reorient yourself to try to find what you're looking for, and it becomes a distraction. [00:57:33] S1: And it just becomes... It becomes sluggish. Like, I'm I'm trying to pause on this piece of content, but the the animation's kind of still playing. So now I'm trying to use the track back to counter that animation, and it's it's making me uncomfortable. Like, I I I don't I don't wanna have to scroll like that. And then since the tap targets here are really difficult, you have to hit these these tiny buttons [00:57:53] S0: Yep. [00:57:54] S1: It's it's it's a bit complicated. At the end of the day, they just have multiple different carousels on this website, all with video players behind it that open up in a full screen video player, that the only way to exit out is with the escape with the escape button. [00:58:06] S0: Okay. Overall, the videos seem very, very well done. [00:58:09] S1: The videos seem great. Yeah. [00:58:11] S0: And just getting people into those and being able to see more of them and experience them and and understand the case studies behind them seems to be the thing that will convert people. [00:58:20] S1: Yeah. And I think if that's... If if if this is improving the health and safety of Adidas or that construction company, then Nullify is doing is doing a great job. Yep. And that's and that's and that's the product they're selling.
00:58:20 · Marvin Schwaibold, Aaron Epstein
[00:58:20] S1: Yeah. And I think if that's... If if if this is improving the health and safety of Adidas or that construction company, then Nullify is doing is doing a great job. Yep. And that's and that's and that's the product they're selling. [00:58:30] S0: Awesome. Thank you, Nullify. Okay. Next up, we have Instinct, building the lunar future today. Okay. So we got a moon [00:58:41] S1: We got... [00:58:41] S0: Building the lunar future, and we've got some kind of satellite that's floating around. [00:58:44] S1: Yeah. It's nice. It's very immersive. Mhmm. I think it's very safe to say that these guys are working on space technology. Aerospace technology.... Idea? Aerospace technology. So already there, kudos. I think, you know, to to go back into, like, AI world for a second, this is a great example of I think you can very easily get an LLM to to to make you kind of like a a three d version or a WebGL version of a moon that you can put on this website that kinda is interactable with the cursor. Mhmm. That's something that I would that I would probably add to this page. Both of these elements are actually things that I would render in three d and then have as live objects on the page. Mhmm. That's not totally impossible to do now with AI, so there's something there's something around that that I would that I would add to this to to build a... We call them showstopper components. So, like, when you have one or two components on the website that really, like, take all of your attention and, like, really draw you into what's going on [00:59:35] S0: Yep.
00:59:35 · Aaron Epstein, Marvin Schwaibold
[00:59:35] S0: Yep. [00:59:35] S1: I feel like that's an that's an awesome moment to show to show something like that off. [00:59:39] S0: Yeah. I I think this this is very well done because right off the bat, we knew exactly what this was. Yeah. And the animation here of, like, showing it in three d, it could have just been a two d. It could have been a photo Yes. You know, that they superimposed, but there's something about that that draws our attention to, like, oh, this is actually the thing that they're building. [00:59:55] S1: The moon is a photo here in the background, so that's the thing that I was reacting to. But, yeah, you're you're totally right. Also, nice use of of the font. I feel like a lot of the websites right now are working in very safe, considered space with a sans serif, and having the courage to, like, try to wield a serif font on the website is is a nice touch. I will say for... On that note, the logo itself, the font here, and this typography here Mhmm. Are all different and kind of competing, and then there's a lot of color in the logos down here, including your lovely logo, and I feel like it's almost drawing too much attention away from the actual message. Mhmm. And in this case, there's only one message. It's nice and reductive, but you you have space to add one more piece of meta content here that maybe Yeah. Talks more about what your what your company does and what you're building. Yeah. But let's let's dive further in.
00:59:55 · Marvin Schwaibold, Aaron Epstein
[00:59:55] S1: The moon is a photo here in the background, so that's the thing that I was reacting to. But, yeah, you're you're totally right. Also, nice use of of the font. I feel like a lot of the websites right now are working in very safe, considered space with a sans serif, and having the courage to, like, try to wield a serif font on the website is is a nice touch. I will say for... On that note, the logo itself, the font here, and this typography here Mhmm. Are all different and kind of competing, and then there's a lot of color in the logos down here, including your lovely logo, and I feel like it's almost drawing too much attention away from the actual message. Mhmm. And in this case, there's only one message. It's nice and reductive, but you you have space to add one more piece of meta content here that maybe Yeah. Talks more about what your what your company does and what you're building. Yeah. But let's let's dive further in. [01:00:39] S0: So now they get more specific. Instinct is building the lunar lander for today's space industry. So launch, cruise, land. [01:00:45] S1: Yeah. I think that's... It it it kind of explains what's what's going on. [01:00:49] S0: That's really cool that when you hover over it, you see it. I mean, the first one, it did... I couldn't really tell what's happening there. [01:00:54] S1: I don't really... This doesn't really look like a launch to me. [01:00:57] S0: Oh, there we go. Okay. You just had to sit with it for a while. Yeah. So maybe they can get to that faster.