Office Hours with Kat Manalac

TL;DR

Kat Manalac, YC partner, advises founders on cofounder equity conversations (have them early), talking to users before building, and launching an embarrassingly basic version quickly. She emphasizes that press is not a sustainable acquisition strategy; warm intros to reporters and community launches (Product Hunt, Show HN) are more effective.

Key insights

• The most common first-time founder mistakes are: not having the equity conversation quickly enough, not talking to customers, and not launching (waiting for perfection).
• For international ecosystems, the best path is to have local founders who have built large companies reinvest and mentor; simultaneously build a local angel investor ecosystem or create a bridge to Si
• YC prefers founders not be incorporated before funding because a clean slate allows them to help set up correctly from the start.