After hearing about all the successful companies that came out of Y Combinator (YC), I always pictured it as a magical place. I always told myself it was where dreams came true.
So, when WayUp told me I won the ability to shadow Y Combinator Partner and COO Qasar Younis for a day after I applied, I was beyond ecstatic; I felt like I’d won a free trip to Disneyland!
Special thanks to the great people at WayUp, Red Bull and Y Combinator for making this happen!
When I arrived, Qasar greeted me with open arms, and he promptly introduced me to some of the startups in the summer batch at Y Combinator. As I listened to their stories and how they ended up at YC, I soon realized it wasn’t the place that made it magical; it was the people.
What did I take away from my visit? Below are the 3 most important things I learned from shadowing Qasar for a day.
1. Building a Product Requires a Lot of Feedback
Part of my day was sitting in on “office hours” listening to Qasar Younis and Justin Kan (founder of successful live-streaming video platform Twitch) give advice to early-stage startups. During this session, I learned about market risk and startup growth.
Startups often start off with research, but it doesn’t stop there. More often than not, research is continuously done through a product development cycle. For a startup to grow, it requires a lot of iteration based off the feedback from customers. After listening to the feedback, the team must then assess the necessary risks to take.
Main takeaway: Build a product with a target audience in mind, or you will be building a un-needed product.
2. Determination Is a Big Part of Success
Building a business is hard and will most likely take years. Founders must be aggressive and fight for their vision. All YC can do is provide the tools and advice; it is ultimately up to the founders to put in the effort to make their companies successful.
It’s easy to be distracted by all the glitz and glamour of startups, but when you take that away, it is just a group of people working hard to solve a problem they all share.
Main takeaway: Invest in sweat equity.
3. Have Fun
Want to make a big change in the world? Well, it’s not going to be easy. Mistakes will be made and others will be blamed. You must work as a team and persist.
During the day, I got to hear Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey speak, and he discussed his lifelong fascination with knowing how information was dispersed. It was his joy and passion for helping people follow others who interested them that led him to create Twitter and love the company, even during the hard times.
By doing something you enjoy, you will be less likely to give up when times get tough, so have fun!
Main takeaway: Don’t forget to love what you do.
I have never met anyone as down-to-earth as Qasar, and although our time together was short, I learned a lot from him. My day at YC really inspired me to work harder, and I hope that one day I will be reunited with all the great people I met at Y Combinator again.
