Startup School Curriculum

This is a selection of our most popular curriculum. To see content specific to your stage, sign up! or email arasu.sanjeevi@berkeley.edu

18 mins

How to Get Startup Ideas

YC Partner Jared Friedman shares advice on how to get startup ideas. This video was recorded for the future founder track in Startup School 2020.

31 mins

How to Talk to Users

YC Partner Eric Migicovsky shares a framework for asking questions and collecting feedback from your users.

Watch this if:

• you haven't started talking to users yet

• your users are asking for conflicting features

• you aren't getting valuable information from talking with users

27 mins

How to Pitch Your Startup

In this lecture, YC Partner Kevin Hale goes over how to package up your idea and communicate it to an investor. He shares his tips on how to craft your pitch in a clear and concise way that effectively grabs your audience's attention.

Watch this if:

• this is a must watch!

• you want investors to pay attention to your startup

• people have a hard time understanding what your startup does

13 mins

How to Plan an MVP

YC CEO and Partner Michael Seibel shares his approach to building an MVP and getting your first users as a pre-launch startup.

Watch this if:

• you haven't built an MVP yet

• you're trying to figure out which features to put in your MVP

• you're building an MVP but don't have anyone using it yet

• your MVP is taking longer than expected to launch

19 mins

How to Launch (Again and Again)

YC Partner Kat Manalac presents on how startups should think about launching and why you should do it repeatedly.

Watch this if:

• you haven't launched yet

• you launched, but it didn't go well

16 mins

How to Prioritize Your Time

YC Partner Adora Cheung shares her framework for how founders can efficiently make use of their time. She covers ways to identify and prioritize tasks, in addition to how you can measure their impact on your company.

Watch this if:

• you aren't sure that you're focusing on the right tasks

• you're easily distracted while working on your startup

• you feel like your startup isn't progressing fast enough

23 mins

How to Set KPIs and Goals

YC Partner Adora Cheung covers the importance of defining and tracking KPIs to understand how effectively your startup is reaching your goals.

Watch this if:

• you aren't tracking a key metric yet

• your KPIs aren't growing weekly

• you are tracking too many KPIs

• you and your cofounders argue about which KPIs to track

38 mins

Growth for Startups

YC Partner and growth expert Gustaf Alstromer talks about how to measure product market fit, how to decide on a growth channel, metrics that lie about PMF and other mechanics of growth for startups.

Watch this if:

• you don't have product market fit yet

• your retention is bad (or you don't know what 'retention' means)

• you're trying to find new ways to get new customers

• you want to create a viral loop in your product

• you want to learn how to run online ads

28 mins

How to Find the Right Co-Founder

YC Partner Harj Taggar shares advice on how to find the right co-founder for your startup. This lecture was filmed for the future founder track of Startup School 2020.

27 mins

How to Work Together

YC Partner Kevin Hale talks about the importance of building a successful working relationship with your cofounders, and setting up processes to optimize for the strengths of your team.

Watch this if:

• you and your cofounders argue a lot

• your cofounders aren't doing their fair share of work

• you want to have more effective conversations with your cofounder

27 mins

All About Pivoting

YC Partner and Head of Admissions Dalton Caldwell gives us the rundown on pivoting and shares his advice on how founders should think about it for their startups.

Watch this if:

• you're wondering if you should pivot

• you aren't sure if your new idea is better than your last idea

18 mins

Building Culture

YC Partner Tim Brady covers the importance of building a strong and coherent culture early and shares six things that you can do now to help you create a solid foundation for your startup.

Watch this if:

• you want to inspire your team

• you want to keep your team aligned

17 mins

How to Lead

To succeed in building a big company in the long-term, founders must become good at leading, motivating, and retaining great people. Ali Rowghani, YC Partner and CEO of the YC Continuity Fund, takes from his experience working with great leaders to share his three observations on leadership.

Watch this if:

• you want to learn from someone who worked closely with Steve Jobs and other great founders

• you aren't sure what type of leader you are