4 ms·

Notes from YC Startup School Europe

84 points by nqureshi 12y ago

jl 12y ago
Thanks nqureshi for making these notes. Unfortunately, I couldn't travel to this Startup School and am really missing it (missed live stream, too, because I'm with my kids). I'm most curious to know if attendees enjoyed the talks and the overall event. I'd like to start looking forward to the 2015 version if there should be one :)
- stevedomin 12y ago
  It was a great day and a great event, really inspiring! Definitely worth going next year if it comes to Europe again.
- nqureshi 12y ago
  Thanks jl! Everyone I spoke to loved the event, particularly because: 1. The talks were awesome 2. It was ridiculously well-organised (and the food was superb) 3. There was a really good crowd there I look forward to more YC events in London!
- read 12y ago
  jl, I enjoyed the last talk you gave including the gem: Quietly determined people tend to win because the scenesters usually can't build anything. - Jessica Livingston
- pasiaj 12y ago
  It was absolutely wonderful for me, but mostly for meeting all these wonderful people. I came to London early and got together with some other attendees the day before. I can't say it was productive, but atleast we got to simulate a Silicon Valley -type of social environment for a day.
iKristjan 12y ago
I couldn't watch the stream myself, but those notes were great! I especially liked the summary parts. Thanks!
- nqureshi 12y ago
  Thanks Kristjan!
read 12y ago
The voices that interrupt the stillness are the ones that are the daemons. Redefine success as "learning something interesting". External success is a mistake. - Paul Buchheit His goal for Gmail was to get to 100 happy users. "What would it take for your to be a happy user."
- nqureshi 12y ago
  Yeah, that part of Paul's talk was amazing. He said most people thought Gmail was a mistake, so he explicitly set a goal to make 100 users really happy, and just went round asking them "What exactly can I make this product do to make you happy?" Then he'd just pick things off the list and do them.
  - Hacquoil 12y ago
    Expanding on the idea of 'redefining success', I love how he explained that if the answer to the "What can I do to make you happy?" question was too complex to implement, he'd just keep asking different people until he found problems that were relatively easy to solve.
soneca 12y ago
Thanks for the notes! I couldn't open the live stream. About the notes, some of the advice feels great. But i just can't relate to it. I mean: Stripe - they weren't getting a lot traction, then Peter Thiel funded them. Homejoy - they were about to close, then Paul Graham gave them some money. Then everything else sounds like "good advice if you can get a meeting with some of SV legends". Specially the Homejoy one sounds to want make you feel guilty if you quit. Well, if I am that close to running out of cash to pay my bills and in the edge of quiting, guess what, I can't get a meeting with a legendary VC to get his money and endorsement. I will just quit.
- nqureshi 12y ago
  I guess it comes down to how far you're willing to push. If you do move to the Valley (as YC partners frequently advise you to), then you probably could get a meeting with Peter Thiel if you really tried. I mean if someone figuratively held a gun to your head and told you to, you probably could. I agree with the general point, though - you need a certain amount of baseline opportunity to be able to do this stuff. That is a problem that needs fixing.
  - soneca 12y ago
    No, i couldn't. Not until I had dozens and dozens of meetings with other entrepreneurs, then other infestors, create relationships, trust. I would need to spend all my current cash just to pay my expenses on the valley for the time to pull that out. And not working nearly enough to justify it. I mean, these asvice "work really hard" sounds like bs to me. As a lot of people who fails don't work hard. As luck isn't necessary and people who work hard enough inevitably get lucky. I work hard and smart as I can. But I still know the odds are against me. Stories about how all my toughest troubles were solved by a legendary VC trusting me isn't much you can learn from.
    - wj 12y ago
      Read up on the concept of a "luck surface area". You can start building it now no matter where you are. If you're the type of person who say, "I will just quit" you might not be the type of person that a VC wants to fund. I've heard it said (might have been from a Stanford ETL talk) that you should do a startup because when you wake up in the morning you absolutely can't do anything else. If I was a VC I would want to fund people with that level passion. Access to capital or a VC is just a roadblock. Detour around it or take another road.
acrim 12y ago
I also took notes, but at a key point/insight level. My notes are here for anyone they are of use to... https://docs.google.com/document/d/14cGeSs5CgRIgMuwjmkq43hsgqDG_-XKpYltnok9FKPg/pub https://docs.google.com/document/d/14cGeSs5CgRIgMuwjmkq43hsg...
pskittle 12y ago
is there a recorded version which we could see, like the NY startup school?
- webignition 12y ago
  The whole event was filmed. I'd expect an edited version will be made available.
jonvillage 12y ago
Haha I laughed when I read "move to Buenos Aires". I am currently here with my startup. If someone wants to grab a coffee and share ideas, you should tweet me! Twitter: @jonvillage

84 points by nqureshi 12y ago

jl 12y ago

Thanks nqureshi for making these notes. Unfortunately, I couldn't travel to this Startup School and am really missing it (missed live stream, too, because I'm with my kids). I'm most curious to know if attendees enjoyed the talks and the overall event. I'd like to start looking forward to the 2015 version if there should be one :)

stevedomin 12y ago
It was a great day and a great event, really inspiring! Definitely worth going next year if it comes to Europe again.
nqureshi 12y ago
Thanks jl! Everyone I spoke to loved the event, particularly because: 1. The talks were awesome 2. It was ridiculously well-organised (and the food was superb) 3. There was a really good crowd there I look forward to more YC events in London!
read 12y ago
jl, I enjoyed the last talk you gave including the gem: Quietly determined people tend to win because the scenesters usually can't build anything. - Jessica Livingston
pasiaj 12y ago
It was absolutely wonderful for me, but mostly for meeting all these wonderful people. I came to London early and got together with some other attendees the day before. I can't say it was productive, but atleast we got to simulate a Silicon Valley -type of social environment for a day.

iKristjan 12y ago

I couldn't watch the stream myself, but those notes were great! I especially liked the summary parts. Thanks!

nqureshi 12y ago
Thanks Kristjan!

read 12y ago

The voices that interrupt the stillness are the ones that are the daemons. Redefine success as "learning something interesting". External success is a mistake. - Paul Buchheit His goal for Gmail was to get to 100 happy users. "What would it take for your to be a happy user."

nqureshi 12y ago
Yeah, that part of Paul's talk was amazing. He said most people thought Gmail was a mistake, so he explicitly set a goal to make 100 users really happy, and just went round asking them "What exactly can I make this product do to make you happy?" Then he'd just pick things off the list and do them.
- Hacquoil 12y ago
  Expanding on the idea of 'redefining success', I love how he explained that if the answer to the "What can I do to make you happy?" question was too complex to implement, he'd just keep asking different people until he found problems that were relatively easy to solve.

soneca 12y ago

Thanks for the notes! I couldn't open the live stream. About the notes, some of the advice feels great. But i just can't relate to it. I mean: Stripe - they weren't getting a lot traction, then Peter Thiel funded them. Homejoy - they were about to close, then Paul Graham gave them some money. Then everything else sounds like "good advice if you can get a meeting with some of SV legends". Specially the Homejoy one sounds to want make you feel guilty if you quit. Well, if I am that close to running out of cash to pay my bills and in the edge of quiting, guess what, I can't get a meeting with a legendary VC to get his money and endorsement. I will just quit.

nqureshi 12y ago
I guess it comes down to how far you're willing to push. If you do move to the Valley (as YC partners frequently advise you to), then you probably could get a meeting with Peter Thiel if you really tried. I mean if someone figuratively held a gun to your head and told you to, you probably could. I agree with the general point, though - you need a certain amount of baseline opportunity to be able to do this stuff. That is a problem that needs fixing.
- soneca 12y ago
  No, i couldn't. Not until I had dozens and dozens of meetings with other entrepreneurs, then other infestors, create relationships, trust. I would need to spend all my current cash just to pay my expenses on the valley for the time to pull that out. And not working nearly enough to justify it. I mean, these asvice "work really hard" sounds like bs to me. As a lot of people who fails don't work hard. As luck isn't necessary and people who work hard enough inevitably get lucky. I work hard and smart as I can. But I still know the odds are against me. Stories about how all my toughest troubles were solved by a legendary VC trusting me isn't much you can learn from.
  - wj 12y ago
    Read up on the concept of a "luck surface area". You can start building it now no matter where you are. If you're the type of person who say, "I will just quit" you might not be the type of person that a VC wants to fund. I've heard it said (might have been from a Stanford ETL talk) that you should do a startup because when you wake up in the morning you absolutely can't do anything else. If I was a VC I would want to fund people with that level passion. Access to capital or a VC is just a roadblock. Detour around it or take another road.

acrim 12y ago

I also took notes, but at a key point/insight level. My notes are here for anyone they are of use to... https://docs.google.com/document/d/14cGeSs5CgRIgMuwjmkq43hsgqDG_-XKpYltnok9FKPg/pub https://docs.google.com/document/d/14cGeSs5CgRIgMuwjmkq43hsg...

pskittle 12y ago

is there a recorded version which we could see, like the NY startup school?

webignition 12y ago
The whole event was filmed. I'd expect an edited version will be made available.

jonvillage 12y ago

Haha I laughed when I read "move to Buenos Aires". I am currently here with my startup. If someone wants to grab a coffee and share ideas, you should tweet me! Twitter: @jonvillage