5 ms·

My Y Combinator Interview

186 points by justin 16y ago

pg 16y ago
Wow, some of this is even surprising to me. Interviews were 40 minutes? We only asked for 4%? (Now that I think about it, the very first time we didn't think in terms of percent. Instead we decided on a valuation for each company, and the percent was whatever 6k per founder worked out to at that valuation. So it was probably 4 point something, not exactly 4.) I still remember meeting Emmett and Justin quite well. What impressed us most was how good their demo looked. Also that they'd met in second grade. I remember thinking that Justin looked as if he'd just gotten out of bed, because his hair was standing on end and his eyes had that surprised look you have when you've been jolted awake. I didn't realize till later that he often looks that way.
- justin 16y ago
  Yeah, I remember that they were based on valuations. I'm almost positive the valuation you gave us was 300k (can't remember if that was pre or post though), so the 12k was 4%. I knew the demo cinched in for us (remember, this was back when people didn't know if it was possible to write fancy web apps with things like calendar appointment dragging). Looking back on the emails and our application (thanks, Gmail) I was surprised how much better our application was than I had remembered.
  - pg 16y ago
    Hmm, ok, in your case it would have been an integer percentage.
- dmoney 16y ago
  I notice there's a question about patentability, but some of your essays say to ignore software patents. What changed your mind?
  - pg 16y ago
    It seems a stupid question now. I'm not sure when we dropped it. Patents do matter in a small subset of startups, but only if you first make the company work.
pmjordan 16y ago
Should Google release a calendar along the lines of Gmail, they would be the competitor we would fear most by far. Wow, that was prescient. I'm curious whether this kind of application would stand a chance these days. It's hard to say obviously, as you'd have to ignore the product-specific answers.
- justin 16y ago
  This is the first time I've looked at our app since we sent it in (that I can recall), and I was extremely surprised about how prescient we were on some things. Not only Google Calendar, but who would be potential acquirers (we were talking to them during Kiko and actually had a verbal offer that fell through, although that is a different story to tell), that social networking features would be important in all web applications, that javascript client applications would be actually a good thing to do. The only thing we weren't good a predicting was our release schedule :)
  - pmjordan 16y ago
    The social/personalised advertising remark struck me as very forward-thinking too. It took Facebook a couple of years to get that one right, and now it's making them stacks of money (they may have been ignoring it deliberately to focus on expanding; I have no idea).
  - DJN 16y ago
    If you are to redo it all over, I sure hope you won't reinvent the custom ad solution bit again. You can thank the plethora of open RESTful APIs for that :) I've just finished implementing the Trafficspaces ad server API and oh boy does it create all sorts of new possibilities.
  - walkon 16y ago
    that social networking features would be important in all web applications Just an FYI, social networking isn't even close to being important in "all" web applications.
- abstractbill 16y ago
citricsquid 16y ago
"Social networks have an abundance of data which they should be using to display context relevant advertising." I wonder how the author feels about the way Facebook advertises, if that is what they imagined or if it's better/worse if it isn't.
- justin 16y ago
  We were specifically thinking in terms of time based contextual advertising. I.e. showing you an ad for a Taylor Swift concert if you had a free Friday night (because you didn't have any events on your calendar) and we knew you liked pop music. In retrospect, we might have been better off just creating the time based advertising platform and making an API available to other calendaring services. I still think this is a cool idea and would be excited to see someone execute on it.
  - colkassad 16y ago
    Especially if you have a patent! I kid, I kid. I really enjoyed reading that and I'm glad you have found success beyond Kiko. I remember when Gmail released their calendar and everyone was talking about how it would crush your project. If I remember correctly, someone bought your IP? I wonder what they did with it.
    - abstractbill 16y ago
      Tucows acquired Kiko in an eBay auction: http://gigaom.com/2006/09/05/tucows-bought-kiko/ http://gigaom.com/2006/09/05/tucows-bought-kiko/
jeromec 16y ago
Great to see some posted content from Justin, as he represents my unofficial favorite YC company. The reason is the way justin.tv started out with him live-streaming every moment of his life (video and audio) wearing an always on camera. I still remember watching some of those times, with who knows how many other thousands of viewers from TechCrunch and elsewhere... By far the most memorable event for me was Justin, true to his commitment, taking the camera in with him to use the bathroom, and then watching a user's text come up in the chat room saying, "You just took a crap on live tv! That takes balls man!!!" I'll be able to look back on that part of Internet history and smile for a long time. :)
- rms 16y ago
  :) I was watching when Justin.tv jumped the shark, when Justin took the camera off just when his date was getting good.
  - jeromec 16y ago
    I remember that! :) Justin always took the camera off to go to sleep, but still pointed it at himself. IIRC, he kept this protocol up with the date but darkened the room...or was it putting up a sheet? Hard to remember it was so long ago... So, yeah, a bit disappointing for the audience, but still pretty impressive IMO. Near the beginning of the date I posted in the chat "if he doesn't get a kiss I'm never watching again." Others concurred. Justin didn't disappoint. He walks back into his apartment/headquarters and the room explodes with cheers. Good times. :D
yagibear 16y ago
Business plan from around that time: http://www.scribd.com/doc/24386920/Original-Executive-Summary-for-Kiko-from-early-2005 http://www.scribd.com/doc/24386920/Original-Executive-Summar...
citizenkeys 16y ago
I have added this to my list of links to blog entries about YC interviewees. The list is here: http://ycuniverse.com/interviewees.php http://ycuniverse.com/interviewees.php

186 points by justin 16y ago

pg 16y ago

Wow, some of this is even surprising to me. Interviews were 40 minutes? We only asked for 4%? (Now that I think about it, the very first time we didn't think in terms of percent. Instead we decided on a valuation for each company, and the percent was whatever 6k per founder worked out to at that valuation. So it was probably 4 point something, not exactly 4.) I still remember meeting Emmett and Justin quite well. What impressed us most was how good their demo looked. Also that they'd met in second grade. I remember thinking that Justin looked as if he'd just gotten out of bed, because his hair was standing on end and his eyes had that surprised look you have when you've been jolted awake. I didn't realize till later that he often looks that way.

justin 16y ago
Yeah, I remember that they were based on valuations. I'm almost positive the valuation you gave us was 300k (can't remember if that was pre or post though), so the 12k was 4%. I knew the demo cinched in for us (remember, this was back when people didn't know if it was possible to write fancy web apps with things like calendar appointment dragging). Looking back on the emails and our application (thanks, Gmail) I was surprised how much better our application was than I had remembered.
- pg 16y ago
  Hmm, ok, in your case it would have been an integer percentage.
dmoney 16y ago
I notice there's a question about patentability, but some of your essays say to ignore software patents. What changed your mind?
- pg 16y ago
  It seems a stupid question now. I'm not sure when we dropped it. Patents do matter in a small subset of startups, but only if you first make the company work.

pmjordan 16y ago

Should Google release a calendar along the lines of Gmail, they would be the competitor we would fear most by far. Wow, that was prescient. I'm curious whether this kind of application would stand a chance these days. It's hard to say obviously, as you'd have to ignore the product-specific answers.

justin 16y ago
This is the first time I've looked at our app since we sent it in (that I can recall), and I was extremely surprised about how prescient we were on some things. Not only Google Calendar, but who would be potential acquirers (we were talking to them during Kiko and actually had a verbal offer that fell through, although that is a different story to tell), that social networking features would be important in all web applications, that javascript client applications would be actually a good thing to do. The only thing we weren't good a predicting was our release schedule :)
- pmjordan 16y ago
  The social/personalised advertising remark struck me as very forward-thinking too. It took Facebook a couple of years to get that one right, and now it's making them stacks of money (they may have been ignoring it deliberately to focus on expanding; I have no idea).
- DJN 16y ago
  If you are to redo it all over, I sure hope you won't reinvent the custom ad solution bit again. You can thank the plethora of open RESTful APIs for that :) I've just finished implementing the Trafficspaces ad server API and oh boy does it create all sorts of new possibilities.
- walkon 16y ago
  that social networking features would be important in all web applications Just an FYI, social networking isn't even close to being important in "all" web applications.
abstractbill 16y ago

citricsquid 16y ago

"Social networks have an abundance of data which they should be using to display context relevant advertising." I wonder how the author feels about the way Facebook advertises, if that is what they imagined or if it's better/worse if it isn't.

justin 16y ago
We were specifically thinking in terms of time based contextual advertising. I.e. showing you an ad for a Taylor Swift concert if you had a free Friday night (because you didn't have any events on your calendar) and we knew you liked pop music. In retrospect, we might have been better off just creating the time based advertising platform and making an API available to other calendaring services. I still think this is a cool idea and would be excited to see someone execute on it.
- colkassad 16y ago
  Especially if you have a patent! I kid, I kid. I really enjoyed reading that and I'm glad you have found success beyond Kiko. I remember when Gmail released their calendar and everyone was talking about how it would crush your project. If I remember correctly, someone bought your IP? I wonder what they did with it.
  - abstractbill 16y ago
    Tucows acquired Kiko in an eBay auction: http://gigaom.com/2006/09/05/tucows-bought-kiko/ http://gigaom.com/2006/09/05/tucows-bought-kiko/

jeromec 16y ago

Great to see some posted content from Justin, as he represents my unofficial favorite YC company. The reason is the way justin.tv started out with him live-streaming every moment of his life (video and audio) wearing an always on camera. I still remember watching some of those times, with who knows how many other thousands of viewers from TechCrunch and elsewhere... By far the most memorable event for me was Justin, true to his commitment, taking the camera in with him to use the bathroom, and then watching a user's text come up in the chat room saying, "You just took a crap on live tv! That takes balls man!!!" I'll be able to look back on that part of Internet history and smile for a long time. :)

rms 16y ago
:) I was watching when Justin.tv jumped the shark, when Justin took the camera off just when his date was getting good.
- jeromec 16y ago
  I remember that! :) Justin always took the camera off to go to sleep, but still pointed it at himself. IIRC, he kept this protocol up with the date but darkened the room...or was it putting up a sheet? Hard to remember it was so long ago... So, yeah, a bit disappointing for the audience, but still pretty impressive IMO. Near the beginning of the date I posted in the chat "if he doesn't get a kiss I'm never watching again." Others concurred. Justin didn't disappoint. He walks back into his apartment/headquarters and the room explodes with cheers. Good times. :D

yagibear 16y ago

Business plan from around that time: http://www.scribd.com/doc/24386920/Original-Executive-Summary-for-Kiko-from-early-2005 http://www.scribd.com/doc/24386920/Original-Executive-Summar...

citizenkeys 16y ago

I have added this to my list of links to blog entries about YC interviewees. The list is here: http://ycuniverse.com/interviewees.php http://ycuniverse.com/interviewees.php