Y Combinator Startup Podcast
00:25:27 · Farza Majeed, Aaron Epstein
[00:25:27] S1: I think that... This is the most important thing I think about, like, companies making content. What we are doing on a day to day basis at our companies is so far fetched from what most people think is actually happening at a company. Mhmm. And to just give them an inside look of what's actually going on in your process is so cool, and it gets them excited. It gets them interested in what you're doing. What I'm so against and so anti is talking about my life as a founder on the Internet. Mhmm. You'll never catch me making those videos about this is this is my day as a YC founder. Never. Like, I'm not trying to, like, tell you about my life and tell you about, like, my my my... That stuff. I'm trying to show you, like, what I'm doing and why in new ways. And I think that most companies just never show their process. For most companies, big companies, Apple, Meta, you just see Mark Zuckerberg on the stage, and he's showing you his Meta Glasses. But a lot of people, especially early adopters of of products that, you know, that I'm sure many YC founders are working on, are interested in just like, who are this random group of four guys and girls that are making this AI product, and how are they doing it? And just telling... We make these videos in ten minutes. And it's just, hey. Just get up. What are you doing today? And, yeah, it's interesting. It's funny when we started making these, we just made them just to stay accountable because it was was good to kinda tell the people what... It's kinda like stand [00:26:50] S0: up Right.
00:26:50 · Aaron Epstein, Farza Majeed
[00:26:50] S0: up Right. [00:26:50] S1: But in front of the world. Yeah. And so that was kinda the idea. And now we now we do these every two weeks, and it's been really fun. [00:26:56] S0: Yeah. That's really cool. I I think another thing that comes across here is not even just the words that you're saying, but, like, the joy that is in the videos. And I think people see that in your personality, and I think they see that in the music that you choose. And everybody's kinda, like, clapping and supporting each other as they're giving their update, and it's just, like, positive vibes are coming through the video. And how do you capture that? [00:27:20] S1: See, this is so weird because this is where you just have to be yourself. I keep saying that. Mhmm. People always say, how do I start making videos about my company or videos about what I'm working on or have some presence? It's always the same feedback. Make... Take out your iPhone, click record, go go go selfie mode, and talk about what you're doing for thirty seconds and post that to your Instagram. Post that to your TikTok, and then post it to Reddit and Instagram... Or Reddit and YouTube or wherever. And you know how many people take me up on that? Almost, like, maybe 1%, 2% of the time, people will actually do it. Why, though? If I told you right now... I mean, maybe you're different. I don't I don't... You're probably different. You're you're Aaron Epstein. But if you... If I tell you to pull out your phone and record a video, how does that make you feel? And then post it to your personal Instagram.
00:27:20 · Farza Majeed, Aaron Epstein
[00:27:20] S1: See, this is so weird because this is where you just have to be yourself. I keep saying that. Mhmm. People always say, how do I start making videos about my company or videos about what I'm working on or have some presence? It's always the same feedback. Make... Take out your iPhone, click record, go go go selfie mode, and talk about what you're doing for thirty seconds and post that to your Instagram. Post that to your TikTok, and then post it to Reddit and Instagram... Or Reddit and YouTube or wherever. And you know how many people take me up on that? Almost, like, maybe 1%, 2% of the time, people will actually do it. Why, though? If I told you right now... I mean, maybe you're different. I don't I don't... You're probably different. You're you're Aaron Epstein. But if you... If I tell you to pull out your phone and record a video, how does that make you feel? And then post it to your personal Instagram. [00:28:01] S0: Oh, yeah. You're getting nervous about it. Like, what am I gonna say? Yeah. How am I gonna look? What if people think it's stupid? Yeah. And all these thoughts, I think, go through people's heads, and they're afraid
00:28:01 · Aaron Epstein, Farza Majeed
[00:28:01] S0: Oh, yeah. You're getting nervous about it. Like, what am I gonna say? Yeah. How am I gonna look? What if people think it's stupid? Yeah. And all these thoughts, I think, go through people's heads, and they're afraid [00:28:11] S1: of My high school friend follows me. He doesn't care about this Right. What I'm working on. Like, nobody cares. But, see, that's the thing. Like, there's so much value to... You gotta be cringe for a little while, actually, to learn how to not be cringe. And so a lot of people will, like, post their first video and be like, this is this is horrible. I'm not even posting this. But the... I think the important part is to continue doing it. Mhmm. And so, again, every day as a founder, founders watching on YouTube at YC, you're spending eight hours on your laptop making magic, smiling, seeing things that you find are interesting. If you just spend even ten minutes to step back and ask yourself, what's something I did today that made me smile or was interesting or felt new? And just talk about it and then show it and then click post and then close it back to work. That's all you have to do. That's what it means to be launching, I think, in 2026. Just to show your work because that is what launching is. When you launch on TechCrunch or New York Times, you're showing your work. But in 2026, you can show your work every day. And you can actually get an audience just by showing your work every day.
00:28:11 · Farza Majeed, Aaron Epstein
[00:28:11] S1: of My high school friend follows me. He doesn't care about this Right. What I'm working on. Like, nobody cares. But, see, that's the thing. Like, there's so much value to... You gotta be cringe for a little while, actually, to learn how to not be cringe. And so a lot of people will, like, post their first video and be like, this is this is horrible. I'm not even posting this. But the... I think the important part is to continue doing it. Mhmm. And so, again, every day as a founder, founders watching on YouTube at YC, you're spending eight hours on your laptop making magic, smiling, seeing things that you find are interesting. If you just spend even ten minutes to step back and ask yourself, what's something I did today that made me smile or was interesting or felt new? And just talk about it and then show it and then click post and then close it back to work. That's all you have to do. That's what it means to be launching, I think, in 2026. Just to show your work because that is what launching is. When you launch on TechCrunch or New York Times, you're showing your work. But in 2026, you can show your work every day. And you can actually get an audience just by showing your work every day. [00:29:11] S0: A lot of people think, well, I'm not targeting Gen z or whoever is stereotypically TikTok users, Instagram users. Therefore, I should not use that as a channel Yeah. To try to acquire my business customers or I sell to procurement or whatever. But it it sounds like your argument is, that's not true. There's all kinds of people [00:29:29] S1: Oh, yeah.
00:29:29 · Farza Majeed, Aaron Epstein
[00:29:29] S1: Oh, yeah. [00:29:29] S0: Using these platforms that are real humans that happen to work at companies where they could be your customer [00:29:35] S1: Oh, yeah. [00:29:35] S0: And would be interested in seeing your product. Right? [00:29:37] S1: Yes. Everybody in the world is on... Not everybody in the world, but a large majority of the world is [00:29:44] S0: browsing through these platforms. Billions. [00:29:46] S1: Yes. We found that design agencies really loved our product. Like, three of them that found us naturally. So the question became, how do we get more design agencies? Now I'm curious. What what what would you do if you take yourself back, like, to founder mode Aaron? [00:30:01] S0: Oh, I don't know. Probably the default for a lot of people is, like, go look on LinkedIn and Yeah. You know, try to find people that list the place they work as a design agency or go to communities that they hang out in or, like, specialized design [00:30:13] S1: Totally. [00:30:14] S0: Websites or something.