Dominic Whyte

How has YC changed Skyvern's trajectory? I've had a few calls with people looking to apply to YC this week, so I thought I would share my experience with the world TL;DR: There are 3 surprising benefits to YC: 1. YC helps you create a peer-group of founders in the same position as you, which can be an incredibly motivating force 2. Bookface, YC’s internal social forum, is a trove of high quality discourse, and acts as an implicit source of warm intros to other YC founders 3. YC’s Launch pad is great for getting your product in front of lots of startup-minded people And there are 2 things that ended up mattering less than I thought: 1. Fundraising — it turns out that building a great product and generating revenue far outweigh YC’s brand when raising money 2. YC’s Brand — while useful as social proof, it doesn’t replace the need to have a great product / solve a real problem Read the full thing here: https://lnkd.in/gNuSkYPN

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How to spot the BEST early-stage opportunities? (Yes, you want to join a very early-stage startup as the first employee... but not just any startup.) 2 weeks ago, I posted on LinkedIn to share how I met Lucas and joined Hyperline. Long before this (lucky) meeting, I had made my "wishlist" for the ideal early-stage project to join - influenced by my short venture into VC. I highly recommend doing this exercise. Why? • To focus your search - there are SO many startups out there!  • To figure out what's important to you, and what's not • To reduce risk exposure - even though the risk is minimal as first employee In my case, I ideally wanted to join... 🥷 A stealth-mode startup, yet to be announced 💻 Building a complex tech product, preferably B2B SaaS 💸 Backed by a top-tier VC fund 💼 Founded by someone who was among the first operators in a successful scaleup OR a repeat founder ready to start a new ambitious project 👾 Led by a founder with a strong tech background (ideally) - to ensure complementarity and be as useful as possible  🌍 With international ambitions from day one 1️⃣ …and of course I wanted to be among the very first employees Beyond these, of course, my #1 criteria was a good personal fit and the promise of an exciting (and fun!) adventure. When I mention these criteria to people, they say I was looking for a needle in a haystack (ou le fameux "mouton à 5 pattes" 🐑 😂). 100% true. I was probably ready to compromise on some of them... but Hyperline ticks all the boxes. (Just because the project meets these criteria doesn't guarantee its long-term success - important to keep this in mind 😉)

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Learn how to fine-tune your product to meet market demands with strategic customer conversations and data-driven feedback mechanisms 👇 ➡ 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗲: Brian Long, CEO & Co-Founder at Attentive 🔌 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿: Nick Moran, General Partner at New Stack Ventures and Nate Pierotti, Principal at New Stack Ventures ✏ “The Playbook to Finding Product-Market Fit, When Founders Should Begin to Scale, and Lessons from Building Attentive” ⭐ 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀: 💬 "I think that what we got right were two things. One, I think that we talked to a tremendous amount of customers, before we started building things. So we learned to hear their problems, hear their issues, and then start building and assaulting those, you know, rather than kind of just jumping right into build-build-build, so that saved us a lot of time." ⭐ 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸, 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀: 💬 "I think you're also looking at things like NPS, you know… because if that number starts dropping, it's often because you're no longer solving the problem." ⭐ 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆: 💬 "I think that we've taken an even longer term focus. We know what can be big. And we know it's dangerous to start getting an ego to think you can do things because it's always very hard. You've always got to think towards taking a longer term view, having a thesis around that view, and then understand how the pieces can come together for success." ───── 👉 Follow me, Alexander Small, for tactics and strategies for building startups from industry-leading Founders, Operators and Investors

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The above is all true, and I'd like to add a really important point. In the Bay Area, I observed that startups collaborate, partner, meet, etc - all in the spirit of the best possible user experience as an end in itself. The startups work together more. It's easy to get a meeting, you can basically show up to someone's office, just walk in, and you're welcomed. Founders work on "cool" experiences or tech first, and worry about financials second. In NYC I found the reverse to be true. It's harder to get a meeting with a founder. When you get one, it's like going to the dentist; the EA schedules a meeting with you 6 weeks in advance, upon arriving you sit in lobby and you wait until you are called. The meeting is transactional, a "novel" user experience or excitement around a technical breakthrough is rarely a main topic. It's much more transactional. This isn't a criticism in any way, it's just an observation that I believe explains why there are less household tech names coming out of NYC. Because if you look at the household tech names in the world - they always put the user first.

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Applying to Y Combinator? Here is my biggest advice: YC invests in FOUNDERS first (Idea / opportunity second) Your goal is to demonstrate: 1. You have EXTRA hustle, grit and you can make anything happen 2. You obsess over customers problems and will do anything to find your way 🚴‍♀️ 3. You have some unique insights about the problem you have chosen to solve Good luck! 🤓 #ycombinator #startups #founders #entrepreneurs #tech

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How we raised our $1.4M seed round (and a step-by-step guide to help you raise yours) 👇 1️⃣ 👼 Get your round moving with angels The bulk of your seed round (80%+) will come from 1-3 institutional VCs. VCs, however, will rarely be your first check. The more traction your round has, the more confident a VC will be to invest. To find angels, tap into friends, family, and your network. We leveraged the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras alumni network in SF to collect several $10k-$30k checks, totalling over $100k. We got our first VC investment only after raising from angels. 2️⃣ 🗓 Get meetings with VCs booked Now that your round has traction, talk to VCs. NEVER send cold emails. That makes you look desperate, and VCs only invest in ‘hot’ companies. The BEST way to get investor meetings is through intros from their portfolio companies. Many of our Y Combinator batch companies introduced us to their investors! We also got our angels to introduce us to funds. Now’s also a good time to reach back out to investors who reached out when you weren’t raising. Usually, never ask an investor who has passed on you for intros. Only accept intros if the investor can't possibly invest in your company even if they wanted to, eg: they only do Series B+ rounds, they don’t invest in your space, etc. 3️⃣👩‍💼 Pitch! Make your pitch conversational. It should NOT be a one-sided presentation. Your slide deck should be <15 mins. Communicate that your market is large. Sometimes tweaks in positioning can make a big difference. For eg, expanding our target audience from just customer success to an all-in-one video & docs tool for CS, Product Marketing and L&D led to much more interest. At the end of the pitch, there should be clear next steps. Ask them straight up: “Are you going to invest?” If they say no, ask them why and answer their concerns. After the pitch meeting, follow up regularly. Send updates on new customers you’ve closed and new money you’ve raised. Build a sense of FOMO amongst VCs. 4️⃣ 🤝 Take money from whoever offers it to you Do NOT act smart and wait to hear back from the ‘top’ VCs before accepting offers on the table. Don’t try to schedule the meetings such that the “best” funds are first and the “worse” ones are later. Take money from whoever gives it to you. You want to wrap this up quickly and get back to the things that matter - building and closing customers. That said, a VC is going to be a long-term partner in your startup. If you want to learn more about their working style, you can ask them for referrals to portcos. 5️⃣ 🏃‍♂️ Keep at it As technical founders, we love building and talking to users. Running behind investors can be the least enjoyable part of your startup. Still, stick to it. If you can wrap this up now, you won’t have to come back for an extension round later. Even if it takes 2-3 months, get the job done. I'm happy to take any comments or questions on this strategy below! #funding #startups

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aim to have your first revenue in the first three months

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【My 1st startup: Sharing the 12 reasons why I failed】 Reflecting on my failures from my first idea as a first-time founder, I've come to realize that there are common mistakes that many startup founders make. Despite reading books and watching videos on entrepreneurship, I made a critical mistake that I thought I could avoid. However, it's hard to change the dynamics once something starts moving forward like it's hard to fix the dum once the water starts pouring out. As a fresh college graduate and first-time founder, there were many things I had yet to experience as an entrepreneur and business person. I used to be ashamed of the mistakes I made, but I've learned that these mistakes have been methodized because it's hard not to be aware of but not to fall into. Now, I'm not ashamed of my path because I learned a lot from my experience, not just from books or YouTube. I'm working on my next idea, and I'm open to collaborating! My new idea is related to toilets - the Lux Porta Potty for VIP outdoor event-goers. Check out the link for more details on my experiences and why these things happen. We never have a 100% success rate, but I believe I can do better 100%. I embrace and appreciate my failures and all people who have offered to help me and given an advice! I'm not giving up, and excited for the next one! This is the link to the 12 reasons why I failed! You can read more details about why/how happened in my case while I highlighted each title here. I hope this will help as a future reference for another first-time founder, and help get rid of the stigma of sharing own failure. https://lnkd.in/gbQsBkf3 Project Management Learning 1: Have a trial phase and set the reasonable (SMART)GOAL (and set traceable actions) Learning 2:Setting Weekly Goals and Reflections Learning 3: Preserving the Trajectory of Ideas Team Learning 4: Building a Team Based on Needs Over Skills Learning 5:Don’t be a president (Having Mentors, Bosses, and Advisors who check on you regularly) Sales Learning 6: Overcome Shame, Rejection is a good opportunity to learn Learning 7:Sales, Sales, Sales: Get the first deal to build confidence!  Learning 8: Highlight the reason, not the emotion. “Go talk as a customer” Product Learning 9: Don’t start building. (Even if you know this word) Learning 10: Drawing Insights>Pitching Idea Learning 11:Building a Community from Potential Customer Interviews Decision Making Learning 10: Conduct User Interviews with Co-Founders (Big Impact on Decision Making) Learning 11:Don't Trust 'Likes' from Entrepreneurs and Investors: Prioritize Real User Needs and Payment Willingness Learning 12: The Pitfalls of the Tarpit Idea

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E-commerce without a backend? Is that possible❓ Well, yes, but actually, no. We've spent the past few weeks working on Your Next Store: a storefront that prioritizes speed and user experience and requires no other backend except Stripe. 🔹 Sales? Stripe. 🔹 Products? Stripe. 🔹 Shipping? Stripe. You get the idea. Our goal is to keep it as simple as possible, but not simpler. I'm super happy and proud to invite you to join us on our launch on May 28th. We'll do a live video where we'll discuss how YNS works and how we've built it. There will also be a Q&A session about Next.js, e-commerce, and Your Next Store without any time limits. Link is below in the comments.

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Launch YC is one of the coolest pages on Y Combinator's website 💚 There, you will see some of the coolest startup ideas, built by world-class founders - many of whom I'm glad to be friends with. Every YC startup gets a chance to launch their startup there and have YC show it to the world. Launch YC's launches also get sent to thousands of people who subscribe to their newsletter - that way, early adopters can get a step ahead of their competitors by using innovative tools built by YC founders. Today was our turn: we just launched Briefer (YC S23) through Launch YC! If you haven't yet given us an upvote, this is your chance. Link in the comments 👇

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Why engineers at early stage startups should double as customer success: 1/ engineers at early stage startups shouldn't just write code. they need to be in the trenches with customers. why? because understanding the user firsthand is the only way to build products that truly matter. 2/ founders get this. they're out there talking to customers, solving problems on the fly. but why leave this crucial task to just them? engineers need to feel the pain points too. it sharpens their instincts and improves their coding decisions. 3/ the usual excuse: "engineers should focus on building, not support." wrong. the best code comes from a deep understanding of user needs. without that, you're just guessing. and guesswork is a luxury early stage startups can't afford. 4/ the divide between engineering and customer success is a relic of bloated corporations. early stage startups thrive on agility and alignment. tearing down these silos accelerates feedback loops and drives innovation. 5/ engineers in the trenches aren't just solving bugs. they're witnessing the impact of their work in real-time. this builds a stronger connection to the product and the mission. it's not just about writing code; it's about creating value. 6/ imagine an engineer hears the same complaint from multiple users. instead of filtering this feedback through layers of bureaucracy, they can pivot instantly. this kind of responsiveness is the competitive edge early stage startups need. 7/ customer success isn't just a department; it's a mindset. by having engineers engage directly with users, they develop empathy. this empathy translates into intuitive, user-centric design choices that no amount of abstract brainstorming can replicate. 8/ the early stage startup journey is brutal. long hours, tight budgets, relentless pressure. but this crucible forges stronger teams. engineers who understand and empathize with users' struggles are more motivated to push through these challenges. 9/ every interaction with a customer is a goldmine of insights. when engineers handle support, they uncover nuances that drive better feature development. these insights are often lost when feedback is secondhand. 10/ let's be real: early stage startups live or die by their ability to adapt and grow. engineers on the front lines of customer success are not just coding; they're shaping the future of the company with every interaction. 11/ in the end, it's about breaking down barriers. everyone in the startup should be obsessed with the customer. engineers doubling as customer success isn't just a strategy; it's a philosophy that fuels the relentless drive to build something great. 12/ so if you're an engineer at an early stage startup, embrace the chaos. dive into customer success. the trenches are where the magic happens, where real innovation is born. don't just build products; build products that matter.

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What makes one company startup-y versus other not as much, basically comes down to: - ability to take RISKS / carve very bold paths > that could lead to outsized impact 🔥 (OR not work at all! 👎) - constantly INNOVATE, whether it be the product, the CAC, the cross-sell opportunities, the strategic partnerships .. anything and everything that can get you to quantum jumps! 🌡️💊🧬 - how PEOPLE feel in the organisation, do they try to think differently and try new things, do they get rewarded for hacking whacking, do they understand the company is flat and zero ego and they can air any idea or feedback they have 🧸 That’s it!

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Solve for information asymmetries! Architecture & Civil Engineering - Layout interpretation ~other industries: Healthcare - <Prescription> interpretation Financial Products - <Subject to market risks documentation> interpretation Loans - <Fine print> interpretation There’s going to be a slew of startups commercialising this year with a value prop of simplification using AI

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How to pitch: The company has zero traction —> “We’re early” You only have 2 customers —> “We’re working with design partners” You currently have no revenue but hoping some pipeline finally closes —> “we’re on track to exit this year at $3M ARR” You’re in the natural kill zone of a FAANG —> “We view them as partners rather than competitors” There’s no way the tech can actually work —>“We’re manifesting the future” And of course: One of your developers uses Co-Pilot to write some front end code —> “We’re an AI company”

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SF maintains its throne as the startup hub. Check out the t𝗼𝗽 𝟭𝟬 startup hotspots in the US¹: - San Francisco - NYC - LA - Austin - Seattle - Boston - Chicago - Atlanta - San Diego - Denver. Curious for more? Use Harmonic to discover this and many more startup trends shaping the VC landscape: https://lnkd.in/g8ZGmMBm #startups #venturecapital #founders #investors #vcs #ai ¹ Total number of startups founded in the last year.

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Running a startup is lonely. I just joined @Intro as an Expert. Happy to talk about the stuff you can't google ⤵️ ✔️ How to launch an MVP ✔️ Finding product-market fit ✔️ Early-stage fundraising ✔️ All things product ✔️ ... and more No fluff. Just actionable insights from my experiences as 3x venture-backed founder (w/ 2 exits).

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Dear Fellow VCs who hate most VCs, The world needs us to step up. Predatory VCs are pillaging founders. They are thieves! Case in point: ACCELERATORS In my not-so-humble opinion, the best startup accelerator in the world is Y-Combinator ("YC"). Any startup accelerator offering deal terms worse than YC's standard deal is stealing from founders! YC's standard $500,000 deal is "$125,000 for 7% + additional $375,000 on an uncapped safe with an MFN" If you're capable and able, then let's please create more local accelerators that are ethical, effective, and entrepreneur-focused. The world needs it! There are one too many bad apple-accelerators out there. Let's change the game. Aim for higher ground!

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