Jessica Livingston at Female Founders Conference 2014

TL;DR

Jessica Livingston, YC co-founder, recounts YC’s origins from a small summer experiment to a 20B+ portfolio. She gives general founder advice (determination, empathy, make something people want a lot, live cheaply, focus) then specific advice for women: start a startup before kids if possible, outsource non‑child tasks; be prepared to be ignored if you’re quiet; non‑programmers should learn to cod

Key insights

• YC’s batch model was discovered accidentally and turned out to be the most important feature, creating peer support.
• The speaker’s own lack of startup credentials illustrates that genuine interest in the problem is more important than prior qualifications.
• The hypothesis that cheaper startup costs would unlock more founders was unconventional in 2005; YC initially struggled to get press but reached early adopters through Paul Graham’s essays.