12 ms·

How to Start a Startup: Fall 2014

594 points by atomroflbomber 12y ago

Eduardo3rd 12y ago
"That’s why each lecture will be available via YouTube and iTunes Connect shortly after they happen, and associated reading materials and assignments will be linked to on the course site. To keep in touch with others following along with the lectures from afar, there will be a forum and Facebook group available to discuss their content and provide further opportunities to learn from those involved in startups." So, not quite a MOOC, but still pretty close. I wonder if this is the MVP for scaling YC beyond the individual batches.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  The batches are the secret sauce. (Well, not that secret.) Doing YC without the batches would be a very impressive feat to pull off. It would turn the piston driven machine they have now into the equivalent of a turbine.
  - exelius 12y ago
    The people are the secret sauce. Specifically, the people at YC who know everyone worth knowing in the valley. You join YC for their rolodex; nothing else they do is that different from any other accelerator. Not that YC doesn't add value (they do; especially in companies with very raw founders) but Silicon Valley is all about who you know. That's a lot of value right there.
  - untog 12y ago
    What does that even mean?
    - jacquesm 12y ago
      Apologies for using a metaphor. Let me try to clarify. Batches allow you to look at a bunch of companies at roughly the same point in time. So you now get to look at the companies against the backdrop of all the other companies in the same batch. Rather than having to make a one-shot decision about a single start-up you make a decision about which N of the 100's of applicants you like best which will give you a statistical advantage. But it is possible that YC now has crunched enough data and has enough people in the alumni network that they can abandon the batch model and get the same kind of quality without having to use the batch model. The 'late' applications were a hint in this direction, if they get rid of the batch model entirely they will have potentially a huge benefit both in load (batches will create temporary overload) and in total throughput. So instead of having two 'strokes' per year they'd be moving at an ever accelerating pace until they run at the maximum rate at which viable applicants can apply and be processed.
    - mikeyouse 12y ago
      To explain a bit of the metaphor, a piston has very discrete stages to produce work (at minimum, up and down) whereas a turbine is continuously spinning. YC's history has relied on 'stages' where all the companies are on the same path, they present at demo day, and the investors know exactly what to expect. If they turned into a 'turbine', the companies would all be at random stages, Demo Day would be much different, and YC would come to resemble more typical VC funds.
- wudf 12y ago
  HackReactor is doing it with great success, wouldn't be too surprised to see positive feedback for this course leading to something similar.
- cmadan 12y ago
  Hopefully, they'll also be captioned so that deaf entrepreneurs like me can also watch. They've set the standard by funding non-profits, hopefully they'll also set another standard by building an accessible lecture series.
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    If they aren't let me know and I'll transcribe as much as I have time for, I did the same for one of the start-up schools.
    - cmadan 12y ago
      A transcript would be amazing! Thanks. Could you share the Startup School transcript that you wrote also? Would love to read it.
      - glennsantos 12y ago
        I also needed a transcript (doubles as notes). Will post my own transcript here for you guys.
  - bnjs 12y ago
    Very rough first pass transcription, I'm ironing out the typos: http://www.bnjs.co/2014/09/25/transcript-lecture-1-how-to-start-a-startup/ http://www.bnjs.co/2014/09/25/transcript-lecture-1-how-to-st...
    - cmadan 12y ago
      Apologies for the delayed response, bnjs. Apparently I need to figure out a way to get replies to comments. Thanks for the awesome transcription, I know how much of effort these take :).
danvoell 12y ago
Do all of these people actually come in to Stanford to teach the class? I can't even imagine having a class instructor list like this.
- sama 12y ago
  yes, they are. all of these will be recorded and available online same-day. we'll also post all other material (readings, etc). it should be pretty good--i really tried hard to get the very best people i know on each topic.
  - frankdenbow 12y ago
    Very cool. Maybe a talk about bootstrapping as well in the TBA slots? There are many entrepreneurship paths.
    - jarek 12y ago
      > Maybe a talk about bootstrapping as well in the TBA slots? So the YC course would talk to people about advantages of not going into YC? Hm.
      - mindcrime 12y ago
        Why not? People aren't stupid, and I expect most people realize that some businesses aren't meant for YC for one reason or another. Trying to obscure that fact doesn't make YC better, or more appealing. I'd actually say that covering that material would make YC more appealing, because it would hammer home the point that the YC people are on-the-level, straight-shooters who don't try to distort the truth to favor themselves. Who wouldn't rather do business with somebody like that? It's basically about trust. You could almost make a comparison by analogy the old saw about how "the best way to get customers to use your product is to make it easy for them to leave your product".
startupfounder 12y ago
This is an amazing recruiting tool for YC and is a page out of JOEL SPOLSKY's book: "So if the top 1 percent never apply for jobs (aka get startup funding), how can you recruit them? My theory is that the best way is to find them before they realize there is a job market (aka startup funding)--back when they're still in college."[0] [0] http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070501/column-guest.html http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070501/column-guest.html
- ph0rque 12y ago
  Next cycle, there will be a new question on the YC application: "Have you taken YC's course, or followed along online?"
- staunch 12y ago
  In 2006 YC ran this ad in The Stanford Daily. I always thought it was funny. http://i.imgur.com/HuQxIXT.jpg http://i.imgur.com/HuQxIXT.jpg
  - mikkelewis 12y ago
    "if you need it"
  - kibaekr 12y ago
    Haha!
  - alexanderss 12y ago
    This ad is the poster (pardon the pun) for YC sexism, it still appears in women in tech blog posts all the time. Hard to imagine being a Stanford student in 2006 who has never heard of "Y Combinator" and sees this ad. May get a laugh from a guy like Evan Spiegel, but is just plain creepy to a woman.
  - mqsiuser 12y ago
    Sergey and Larry actually "just got a job" after graduation: Researchers at a university pursuing a phd. They used THIS JOB to develop the technology for their (later) company. Then they FIRST tried to SELL the (search-)algorithm and when they didn't find someone (to pay a couple of millions) they started Google. AND... Larry is/was the driving master mind taking Sergey (and a lot of others) with him to success. Well... it's an add.
andyidsinga 12y ago
i hope blake masters will take notes.
- reledi 12y ago
  Context for those who don't get the reference: Blake Masters took notes for Peter Thiel's Startup course at Stanford. [1] The notes quickly become popular. He actually released a book on startups with Peter Thiel today. [2] 1: http://blakemasters.com/peter-thiels-cs183-startup http://blakemasters.com/peter-thiels-cs183-startup 2: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804139296 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804139296
cperciva 12y ago
Marginally related: Anyone know when startup school invitations go out? I believe the application deadline was last week.
- TheMakeA 12y ago
  Somewhere it was said that invitations would go out about a week after the deadline, so I would expect them by September 19th.
  - katm 12y ago
    Yes - they should go out by midnight Friday PT.
    - jtcchan 12y ago
      I don't know I missed this - but any chance I can apply late? :(
bbrunner 12y ago
It's interesting that this is inside of the computer science department and is limited to engineering students considering YC has really been expanding the companies it's accepting. E145[0], an existing and highly sought after technology entrepreneurship course, is just a general engineering class and isn't limited to traditional engineering majors, as far as I'm aware. Tons of great founders of tech companies come from disciplines outside of engineering and manage to learn enough on their own. I would wonder if it's a function of keeping it from getting oversubscribed or possibly a way to allow the curriculum to be narrowly focused towards how to build a scalable software business. Exciting stuff regardless! [0] http://e145.stanford.edu/ http://e145.stanford.edu/
- akbar501 12y ago
  Quote from: http://e145.stanford.edu http://e145.stanford.edu > All undergraduate students at Stanford University of any major are encouraged to join us (no graduate students please) So, enrolment appears to be open to any Stanford undergrad.
  - imkevinxu 12y ago
    There's a class called E245 that's only for graduate students, no undergrads
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- kogir 12y ago
  What makes you think that because it's inside the CS department it's limited to engineering students? At Stanford any student can register for nearly any class.
rokhayakebe 12y ago
YC is on a tear. I have a feeling these guys were testing a model up until this year, and now they are just ready to get started and blow things up.
dalek2point3 12y ago
Let me also plug this short essay "Entrepreneurs Need Strategy" -- very helpful in thinking about startups. http://mbasys.lingnan.sysu.edu.cn/resource/upload/upkimg/2013/0513/20130513074848_31242.pdf http://mbasys.lingnan.sysu.edu.cn/resource/upload/upkimg/201...
mrdiran 12y ago
Thank you for doing this.
hackerews 12y ago
This is really powerful and good for the world. If you work incredibly hard over a short period of time and watch these videos, you are emulating quite a bit of YC.
crazypyro 12y ago
I am beyond jealous. That instructor list is unreal. Students at Stanford get another peg up on the starting ladder... (Also there is only 90 universities signed up for watch parties, yet copy lists "hundreds")
- sama 12y ago
  it's online! don't be jealous; watch the talks.
  - guybrushT 12y ago
    And just because of that (i.e. making it available online) I cannot even begin to describe just how much good this might do in the world. I could expand this sentiment to every teacher or lecturer who has chosen to put their video online, especially the great ones. They have done a great service to the world (probably beyond what they may themselves realize). I recently met an undergrad student in India who considered Steve Huffman to be his guru (he was a fan of his Udacity course, and so am I, btw) and swears by everything Steve taught him. And, Steve probably does not even know that he has a fan following in a small town in India :)
  - crazypyro 12y ago
    Oh I definitely will! Its hard to argue that its a true substitute for face-to-face encounters, especially with some of the guest instructors. I don't mean to diminish the value of the online class at all.
  - samstave 12y ago
    When do we hear if our application to attend Startup School coming up is accepted/rejected?
    - katm 12y ago
      You'll hear by Friday night.
  - reduce 12y ago
icu 12y ago
Thank you! I'm really looking forward to following online!
penfold26 12y ago
Thats a whos who of the startup world which is fantastic. I hope you can motivate students in not only on just the web side to change the world. Sort of a great way to teach future entrepreneurs the requirements, structure and path of a successful startup.
hkailahi 12y ago
Wow this is exciting and unexpected! I am curious to see if the students who take this course end up being more likely to dropout afterwards.
- bdcs 12y ago
  Interesting idea! Though, my guess is few. Many of the "startup-dropouts" probably already have. It sounds like this course doesn't bring any new information to the table, but, rather, is the most concise one can get with 1000 minutes. As an interesting corollary, Virgil Elings taught an entrepreneurship course at UCSB wherein the first day he assigned the following homework assignment: Drop out and work-for/start-up a company. I didn't take attendance (neither did he, for that matter!), but it seems nobody dropped out.
  - hkailahi 12y ago
    Happy coincidence - I'm a current UCSB undergrad, and I'm taking the entrepreneurship class this Fall.
crixlet 12y ago
truly amazing list. So this is a class specifically for the Stanford computer science program?
- akbar501 12y ago
  Yes, the in person course is only for Stanford undergrads: http://e145.stanford.edu/ http://e145.stanford.edu/ Every who is not enrolled at Stanford can access the same material here: http://startupclass.samaltman.com/ http://startupclass.samaltman.com/ EDIT: Correct link to CS 183b: https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=CS+183&collapse= https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filt...
  - crazypyro 12y ago
    I think the class you linked is different course number? Sam's class is CS 183B, according to the website.
graphene 12y ago
Seems surprising that Paul Buchheit is not on the list? His Startup School Europe talk was amazing, although to be fair it was more "why to start a startup" than how.
jordhy 12y ago
Honestly this is like having "The Justice League" give a course about "How to be a Superhero". Congratulations to the team that has put this together. Best round up of speakers in any startup course that I can remember. This is great news for the community.
comatose_kid 12y ago
This is great. Someday if/when the lectures are streamed real-time, consider a reddit group for remote students to ask good (upvoted) questions to the lecturer.
wj 12y ago
Another great resource from Stanford on startups is their Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders lecture series. http://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html http://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html Talks have been given by some of the same people (including Marc Andreessen, Aaron Levie, Reid Hoffman, and Marissa Mayer) and many others. This talk on negotiation is one of the best lectures I've ever heard and I've recommended it to people dozens of times: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1573 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1573
- platonichvn 12y ago
  Completely agree. It is one of the few podcasts I listen to regularly.
- kevinwang 12y ago
  Thanks for linking that lecture on negotiation! - it was an enjoyable listen and I especially liked the emphasis on fairness and even altruism to others in negotiations. I think humanity's a lot more fun to think about when people are good to each other.
- crixlet 12y ago
  Agreed. Have been listening to these podcasts. Great material
- djb_hackernews 12y ago
  I'd be interested to know what about the negotiation lecture you think make it one of the best. I just listened to it for the first time and didn't actually find too much content. The speaker had a lot of anecdotes but I didn't find too much actionable advice or processes. This is what I pulled from it: * Be calm, don't get angry * Learn what the other party really wants * Offer a price you think is fair, offer it early * Don't horse trade, unless the other party likes to horse trade. * be trustworthy * have an attorney I'm not trying to be a downer, honestly. I think I may be missing the forest for the trees.
  - wj 12y ago
porter 12y ago
YC leading the pack of incubator followers yet again. Excited to watch this!
- espitia 12y ago
  Yup. The network is a true competitive advantage. What other incubator can get this caliber of speakers? Amazing. I'm truly thankful for this.
amix 12y ago
The list of speakers looks fantastic! This said, I think the list lacks diversity. I think it would be great to have someone outside of SV in it (e.g. Jason Fried, Jeff Bezos etc.) One of the better Startup School talks I seen was from DHH (that presented another way of building a successful company).
- petercooper 12y ago
  But then they'd have to cover stuff like focusing on sales from the start of a business, developing a business model, and making money (from customers) ASAP. (In case of confusion, I have my tongue in cheek ;-) These topics will surely be covered in the content somewhere if it's about building a business.)
lcnmrn 12y ago
It should be called the fail class.
sethbannon 12y ago
In some sense, this seems to represent an open sourcing of YC. I bet this will become a foundational resource for aspiring entrepreneurs for years to come.
codeonfire 12y ago
Why is everything like this at Stanford? Why not some other schools for a change?
- wj 12y ago
  Because most of the speakers live within driving distance of Stanford? I would love for more schools to offer course on entrepreneurship. I'm not sure if I was ready for one while I was in college though.
michaelochurch 12y ago
Three cheers for the furthering concentration of privilege and access!
- jacquesm 12y ago
  You're not doing yourself any favours with comments like these. YC is going out of their way to make this stuff accessible and privilege has nothing to do with it whatsoever. Please, don't do this.
  - michaelochurch 12y ago
    Perhaps it wasn't the most useful comment I've written, but I think I have a strong point. It's not the information or know-how that makes YC a game-changer. It's the connections and seal of approval, which are scarce by definition. And now the Stanford -> Funded pipeline is even stronger, which means that everyone else is slightly (imperceptibly) more an outsider fuckhead employee on 0.04%. I don't begrudge YC, really. It's a brilliantly run business and it's probably done a lot of good for the world. It's just fun to snark about these things because, honestly, most of the people "out there" (the ones who actually think protesting Google Buses makes some kind of sense) are going to react more harshly than I do. I just make fun of shit.
    - jacquesm 12y ago
      > It's not the information or know-how that makes YC a game-changer. YC is composed of equal parts capital, smarts and process. That's not taking into account the connections or the seal of approval, those are results not inputs! You could claim they are inputs now but it wasn't always like that. > It's the connections and seal of approval, which are scarce by definition. Connections are not scarce at all. You - and anybody else - have the power to reach out to those that you want to reach. Assuming you play at 6 degrees for a bit you'll find a link to whoever you want to reach. What makes the difference is that once YC gives you that coveted 'seal of approval' (and that's also not that scarce, vast numbers of start-ups have received it) that some people will throw money at you. But that's a curse and a blessing at the same time, for many of those recipients will receive the 'curse' and only a few will eventually see it as a blessing. But all of them agree: the experience alone was well worth it. Now I'm not a YC alumnus, nor will I ever be one but I think that if a very large number of people that go through a program think it is worth it then that has my vote. The seal of approval is something that VCs that do not wish to do their own vetting have come up with, they have basically outsourced their vetting to YC because YC does so much better a job of this than they could ever do by themselves that they might as well try to get in on the feeding frenzy aka demo day. And YC has forever been expanding the size of their batches based on capacity available for processing. So the scarcity element would seem to be under control and reducing. > And now the Stanford -> Funded pipeline is even stronger, which means that everyone else is slightly (imperceptibly) more an outsider fuckhead employee on 0.04%. On the contrary, all the material will be made available, so you too can benefit from this. Stanford is merely a convenient vehicle. > I don't begrudge YC, really. I'll take your word for it. But it seems as if you do hold some kind of grudge and a pretty deep one. > It's a brilliantly run business and it's probably done a lot of good for the world. So why all this negativity then? It's like walking around on a square attempting to insult random people for either being successful, connected, part of some perceived secret cabal or some other figment of the imagination. That's a strange line to walk. > It's just fun to snark about these things because, honestly, most of the people "out there" (the ones who actually think protesting Google Buses makes some kind of sense) are going to react more harshly than I do. I just make fun of shit. Well, it's good to have that on the table then because I honestly believed that you were serious in the way you present yourself. You're obviously a pretty smart fellow, the bit that I did not understand is if you're so jealous of all this why are you hurting your personal rep at this level. But if you're just 'making fun of shit' then that explains things sufficiently for me, I tried to make sense of it. My mistake.
rkaplan 12y ago
What's fantastic about this is that even though the class is at Stanford, everyone from around the world can follow along just as easily. Stanford is opening up more and more of its opportunities to the general public, which is awesome. Another one I'd recommend taking advantage of is Stanford's Hacking Hours: https://www.facebook.com/groups/750201348380852/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/750201348380852/ This is a weekly on-campus meetup where people hack on their projects in a collaborative environment. It's open to the general public, and anyone nearby with code to write is welcome to come work on it at Stanford.
- wasd 12y ago
  That's awesome. Is the wifi network open for non students? This is an issue at UC Berkeley :(.
  - rkaplan 12y ago
    Absolutely, there are guest codes for everyone who shows up.
lifeisstillgood 12y ago
I have spent quite some time and effort (failing) to get an open source company into open source contracts in the UK government. Bu I want to because things like the GDS (grand father of USGDS) are saying open source is the future of government And this is one more tick in that argument - what YC is doing is industrialisation of startup founding - and now they are "open sourcing" the how to, I would think that any government not stealing these ideas and throwing money that otherwise would languish in bureaucratic purses is missing a huge opportunity.
staunch 12y ago
The fact that this information be made available online on the same day is quite a gift. That will take some effort. Thank you. I would humbly suggest that early on you should address what YC means by startup. PG's essay on growth is by far the most well conveyed explanation. I think it would clear up a lot of confusion people have about Startups vs small businesses. http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html
- idlewords 12y ago
  The fact that people disagree on the definition of "startup" isn't a sign of confusion. Rather, it reflects the fact that there are genuine differences between people in our industry about how to develop new business models, and how to define success. Graham has articulated one side of that debate with his essay, but calling it an explanation is disingenuous.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
pptr1 12y ago
Just finished reading Peter Thiel's Zero to One; and it is interesting that both him and Marissa Mayer are going to teach. He sort of disses her in the book. This is a quote from his book. "Beginning with brand rather than substance is dangerous. Ever since Marissa Mayer became CEO of Yahoo! in mid-2012, she has worked to revive the once-popular internet giant by making it cool again. In a single tweet, Yahoo! summarized Mayer’s plan as a chain reaction of “people then products then traffic then revenue.” The people are supposed to come for the coolness: Yahoo! demonstrated design awareness by overhauling its logo, it asserted youthful relevance by acquiring hot startups like Tumblr, and it has gained media attention for Mayer’s own star power. But the big question is what products Yahoo! will actually create. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he didn’t just make Apple a cool place to work; he slashed product lines to focus on the handful of opportunities for 10x improvements. No technology company can be built on branding alone."- [1] [1] - Zero to One Book by Peter Thiel
- lee 12y ago
  I don't really see the "diss" in that passage. I see more of an honest question.
  - arfliw 12y ago
    Same. He certainly leaves open the possibility that she is creating those products as we speak.
- jeffchuber 12y ago
  Is Yahoo really a products company or a content and advertising company?
  - eldarionski 12y ago
    Actually Yahoo is all of these.For example this IS pure http://vividads.com.au/ http://vividads.com.au/ advertising company
asenna 12y ago
I live pretty close to Stanford but I am not a student. Is it possible for me to just "sit in" for a couple of lectures? :) http://www.quora.com/What-does-Stanford-do-about-non-Stanford-students-sitting-in-on-classes http://www.quora.com/What-does-Stanford-do-about-non-Stanfor...
selmnoo 12y ago
This is a fantastic move by the YC folks. Doing the class at Stanford raises their profile in just the right place -- now more of just the right and able individuals will apply to YC (especially because YC basically "teaching" at Stanford has earned them validation as a place to go for Stanford students, who up til now may have had any reservation about joining YC, or just simply hadn't considered the possibility, or just didn't know of YC). I hope to see a lot of good come out of this. I hope the next class comes to us in the East coast? :) (Harvard and MIT, producer of Drew Houston, Mark Zuckerberg, etc.)
- jacquesm 12y ago
  > now more of just the right and able individuals will apply to YC I sincerely hope that that is not why they chose Stanford.
- sillysaurus3 12y ago
  now more of just the right and able individuals will apply to YC Do those people care about Stanford? The founders of neither Dropbox nor Airbnb attended Stanford, for example. Evidence thus far seems to indicate that elitism isn't the right metric to optimize for. That said, there's certainly a large talent pool concentrated at Stanford. Keeping YC a meritocracy seems important, so hopefully it won't become something else.
liz_062 12y ago
another great information..cool post!
brianstorms 12y ago
Nice, but, very few of those individuals have started a startup in the past five years, or even ten years. What exactly do they KNOW that is going to help you, the founder? I don't think this is the ideal lineup for a day of talks about How to Start a Startup in the fall of 2014. The past few years have been particularly brutal for starting a startup. Mostly because there are so many others doing the same thing, and most of them are vying for the same funding dollars you're vying for. Thousands upon thousands of people are trying and have tried, and most have failed, and all have stories to tell. That is the norm, that is the most likely outcome: failure. Instead, you'll hear from billionaires and superachievers and tech celebrities none of whom have been hungry, driven with a vision, struggling to build something new, fighting the good fight, any time recently. They're disconnected, imho. Go ahead and downvote, I know, it's YC heresy, but so be it.
- muneeb 12y ago
  There is the argument that you can't learn much from failure. You could've failed for 6-7 reasons in reality and can have a theory about the 2-3 reasons for your failure with some overlap between the two. Successful people however had a series of small wins and small failures and got to experience the difficulties/challenges at each level of success.
- _sentient 12y ago
  I can't speak for the rest of the lineup, but I know that YC partners see hundreds of startups run through their program each year. The aggregate value of that is significant, and there are very few patterns they haven't already encountered. Having seen so many iterations of the startup process, I'd argue that they are eminently qualified to give advice on the subject. I'd certainly prefer it over some random, anecdotal account from a founder who just happened to be in the trenches recently.
  - muneeb 12y ago
    +1 to this. YC partners are in a unique position
- TimJRobinson 12y ago
jackosutherland 12y ago
I am very excited to have a chance to listen in on this course. I currently attend a state university in Illinois that has a small entrepreneurship program and I am working hard to get every student involved in the startup space in Chicago where I know they will gain the most knowledge and experience. This course that Sam and YC are making available will be a huge resource to myself and my fellow students this semester. Appreciate the hard work and thought. Can't wait!
krrishd 12y ago
A MOOC I'd definitely recommend taking along side this is the Startup Engineering from Stanford, taught by Balaji Srinivasan and Vijay Pande. I've taken a lot of MOOCs but that was one that truly changed a lot of things in terms of how I approached tech and startups, and it actually says in it's description that it's somewhat of a sequel to CS183 (this new course is CS183B). https://www.coursera.org/course/startup https://www.coursera.org/course/startup
- tew28 12y ago
  I'll second this sentiment. Balaji's class goes into real-world implementation and if you learn everything packed into the dense curriculum, you'll come out much more powerful and capable. This new class seems only to extend upon the theory of the original CS183.
Firecracker 12y ago
Any word on why the Stanford class is marked as closed to signups?
kibaekr 12y ago
Wow this list is unreal. It's the Olympic lineup of the startup world. So jealous of the students that get to attend in-person.
mathattack 12y ago
It takes guts to open source yourself. It also highlights that so much of the value comes from the in person meetings - sharing of ideas and networking.
droob 12y ago
"37 Proven Systems to Win Powerball"

594 points by atomroflbomber 12y ago

"That’s why each lecture will be available via YouTube and iTunes Connect shortly after they happen, and associated reading materials and assignments will be linked to on the course site. To keep in touch with others following along with the lectures from afar, there will be a forum and Facebook group available to discuss their content and provide further opportunities to learn from those involved in startups." So, not quite a MOOC, but still pretty close. I wonder if this is the MVP for scaling YC beyond the individual batches.

jacquesm 12y ago
The batches are the secret sauce. (Well, not that secret.) Doing YC without the batches would be a very impressive feat to pull off. It would turn the piston driven machine they have now into the equivalent of a turbine.
- exelius 12y ago
  The people are the secret sauce. Specifically, the people at YC who know everyone worth knowing in the valley. You join YC for their rolodex; nothing else they do is that different from any other accelerator. Not that YC doesn't add value (they do; especially in companies with very raw founders) but Silicon Valley is all about who you know. That's a lot of value right there.
- untog 12y ago
  What does that even mean?
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    Apologies for using a metaphor. Let me try to clarify. Batches allow you to look at a bunch of companies at roughly the same point in time. So you now get to look at the companies against the backdrop of all the other companies in the same batch. Rather than having to make a one-shot decision about a single start-up you make a decision about which N of the 100's of applicants you like best which will give you a statistical advantage. But it is possible that YC now has crunched enough data and has enough people in the alumni network that they can abandon the batch model and get the same kind of quality without having to use the batch model. The 'late' applications were a hint in this direction, if they get rid of the batch model entirely they will have potentially a huge benefit both in load (batches will create temporary overload) and in total throughput. So instead of having two 'strokes' per year they'd be moving at an ever accelerating pace until they run at the maximum rate at which viable applicants can apply and be processed.
  - mikeyouse 12y ago
    To explain a bit of the metaphor, a piston has very discrete stages to produce work (at minimum, up and down) whereas a turbine is continuously spinning. YC's history has relied on 'stages' where all the companies are on the same path, they present at demo day, and the investors know exactly what to expect. If they turned into a 'turbine', the companies would all be at random stages, Demo Day would be much different, and YC would come to resemble more typical VC funds.
wudf 12y ago
HackReactor is doing it with great success, wouldn't be too surprised to see positive feedback for this course leading to something similar.
cmadan 12y ago
Hopefully, they'll also be captioned so that deaf entrepreneurs like me can also watch. They've set the standard by funding non-profits, hopefully they'll also set another standard by building an accessible lecture series.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  If they aren't let me know and I'll transcribe as much as I have time for, I did the same for one of the start-up schools.
  - cmadan 12y ago
    A transcript would be amazing! Thanks. Could you share the Startup School transcript that you wrote also? Would love to read it.
    - glennsantos 12y ago
      I also needed a transcript (doubles as notes). Will post my own transcript here for you guys.
- bnjs 12y ago
  Very rough first pass transcription, I'm ironing out the typos: http://www.bnjs.co/2014/09/25/transcript-lecture-1-how-to-start-a-startup/ http://www.bnjs.co/2014/09/25/transcript-lecture-1-how-to-st...
  - cmadan 12y ago
    Apologies for the delayed response, bnjs. Apparently I need to figure out a way to get replies to comments. Thanks for the awesome transcription, I know how much of effort these take :).

danvoell 12y ago

Do all of these people actually come in to Stanford to teach the class? I can't even imagine having a class instructor list like this.

sama 12y ago
yes, they are. all of these will be recorded and available online same-day. we'll also post all other material (readings, etc). it should be pretty good--i really tried hard to get the very best people i know on each topic.
- frankdenbow 12y ago
  Very cool. Maybe a talk about bootstrapping as well in the TBA slots? There are many entrepreneurship paths.
  - jarek 12y ago
    > Maybe a talk about bootstrapping as well in the TBA slots? So the YC course would talk to people about advantages of not going into YC? Hm.
    - mindcrime 12y ago
      Why not? People aren't stupid, and I expect most people realize that some businesses aren't meant for YC for one reason or another. Trying to obscure that fact doesn't make YC better, or more appealing. I'd actually say that covering that material would make YC more appealing, because it would hammer home the point that the YC people are on-the-level, straight-shooters who don't try to distort the truth to favor themselves. Who wouldn't rather do business with somebody like that? It's basically about trust. You could almost make a comparison by analogy the old saw about how "the best way to get customers to use your product is to make it easy for them to leave your product".

startupfounder 12y ago

This is an amazing recruiting tool for YC and is a page out of JOEL SPOLSKY's book: "So if the top 1 percent never apply for jobs (aka get startup funding), how can you recruit them? My theory is that the best way is to find them before they realize there is a job market (aka startup funding)--back when they're still in college."[0] [0] http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070501/column-guest.html http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070501/column-guest.html

ph0rque 12y ago
Next cycle, there will be a new question on the YC application: "Have you taken YC's course, or followed along online?"
staunch 12y ago
In 2006 YC ran this ad in The Stanford Daily. I always thought it was funny. http://i.imgur.com/HuQxIXT.jpg http://i.imgur.com/HuQxIXT.jpg
- mikkelewis 12y ago
  "if you need it"
- kibaekr 12y ago
  Haha!
- alexanderss 12y ago
  This ad is the poster (pardon the pun) for YC sexism, it still appears in women in tech blog posts all the time. Hard to imagine being a Stanford student in 2006 who has never heard of "Y Combinator" and sees this ad. May get a laugh from a guy like Evan Spiegel, but is just plain creepy to a woman.
- mqsiuser 12y ago
  Sergey and Larry actually "just got a job" after graduation: Researchers at a university pursuing a phd. They used THIS JOB to develop the technology for their (later) company. Then they FIRST tried to SELL the (search-)algorithm and when they didn't find someone (to pay a couple of millions) they started Google. AND... Larry is/was the driving master mind taking Sergey (and a lot of others) with him to success. Well... it's an add.

andyidsinga 12y ago

i hope blake masters will take notes.

reledi 12y ago
Context for those who don't get the reference: Blake Masters took notes for Peter Thiel's Startup course at Stanford. [1] The notes quickly become popular. He actually released a book on startups with Peter Thiel today. [2] 1: http://blakemasters.com/peter-thiels-cs183-startup http://blakemasters.com/peter-thiels-cs183-startup 2: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804139296 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804139296

cperciva 12y ago

Marginally related: Anyone know when startup school invitations go out? I believe the application deadline was last week.

TheMakeA 12y ago
Somewhere it was said that invitations would go out about a week after the deadline, so I would expect them by September 19th.
- katm 12y ago
  Yes - they should go out by midnight Friday PT.
  - jtcchan 12y ago
    I don't know I missed this - but any chance I can apply late? :(

bbrunner 12y ago

It's interesting that this is inside of the computer science department and is limited to engineering students considering YC has really been expanding the companies it's accepting. E145[0], an existing and highly sought after technology entrepreneurship course, is just a general engineering class and isn't limited to traditional engineering majors, as far as I'm aware. Tons of great founders of tech companies come from disciplines outside of engineering and manage to learn enough on their own. I would wonder if it's a function of keeping it from getting oversubscribed or possibly a way to allow the curriculum to be narrowly focused towards how to build a scalable software business. Exciting stuff regardless! [0] http://e145.stanford.edu/ http://e145.stanford.edu/

akbar501 12y ago
Quote from: http://e145.stanford.edu http://e145.stanford.edu > All undergraduate students at Stanford University of any major are encouraged to join us (no graduate students please) So, enrolment appears to be open to any Stanford undergrad.
- imkevinxu 12y ago
  There's a class called E245 that's only for graduate students, no undergrads
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
kogir 12y ago
What makes you think that because it's inside the CS department it's limited to engineering students? At Stanford any student can register for nearly any class.

rokhayakebe 12y ago

YC is on a tear. I have a feeling these guys were testing a model up until this year, and now they are just ready to get started and blow things up.

dalek2point3 12y ago

Let me also plug this short essay "Entrepreneurs Need Strategy" -- very helpful in thinking about startups. http://mbasys.lingnan.sysu.edu.cn/resource/upload/upkimg/2013/0513/20130513074848_31242.pdf http://mbasys.lingnan.sysu.edu.cn/resource/upload/upkimg/201...

mrdiran 12y ago

Thank you for doing this.

hackerews 12y ago

This is really powerful and good for the world. If you work incredibly hard over a short period of time and watch these videos, you are emulating quite a bit of YC.

crazypyro 12y ago

I am beyond jealous. That instructor list is unreal. Students at Stanford get another peg up on the starting ladder... (Also there is only 90 universities signed up for watch parties, yet copy lists "hundreds")

sama 12y ago
it's online! don't be jealous; watch the talks.
- guybrushT 12y ago
  And just because of that (i.e. making it available online) I cannot even begin to describe just how much good this might do in the world. I could expand this sentiment to every teacher or lecturer who has chosen to put their video online, especially the great ones. They have done a great service to the world (probably beyond what they may themselves realize). I recently met an undergrad student in India who considered Steve Huffman to be his guru (he was a fan of his Udacity course, and so am I, btw) and swears by everything Steve taught him. And, Steve probably does not even know that he has a fan following in a small town in India :)
- crazypyro 12y ago
  Oh I definitely will! Its hard to argue that its a true substitute for face-to-face encounters, especially with some of the guest instructors. I don't mean to diminish the value of the online class at all.
- samstave 12y ago
  When do we hear if our application to attend Startup School coming up is accepted/rejected?
  - katm 12y ago
    You'll hear by Friday night.
- reduce 12y ago

icu 12y ago

Thank you! I'm really looking forward to following online!

penfold26 12y ago

Thats a whos who of the startup world which is fantastic. I hope you can motivate students in not only on just the web side to change the world. Sort of a great way to teach future entrepreneurs the requirements, structure and path of a successful startup.

hkailahi 12y ago

Wow this is exciting and unexpected! I am curious to see if the students who take this course end up being more likely to dropout afterwards.

bdcs 12y ago
Interesting idea! Though, my guess is few. Many of the "startup-dropouts" probably already have. It sounds like this course doesn't bring any new information to the table, but, rather, is the most concise one can get with 1000 minutes. As an interesting corollary, Virgil Elings taught an entrepreneurship course at UCSB wherein the first day he assigned the following homework assignment: Drop out and work-for/start-up a company. I didn't take attendance (neither did he, for that matter!), but it seems nobody dropped out.
- hkailahi 12y ago
  Happy coincidence - I'm a current UCSB undergrad, and I'm taking the entrepreneurship class this Fall.

crixlet 12y ago

truly amazing list. So this is a class specifically for the Stanford computer science program?

akbar501 12y ago
Yes, the in person course is only for Stanford undergrads: http://e145.stanford.edu/ http://e145.stanford.edu/ Every who is not enrolled at Stanford can access the same material here: http://startupclass.samaltman.com/ http://startupclass.samaltman.com/ EDIT: Correct link to CS 183b: https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filter-coursestatus-Active=on&page=0&catalog=&q=CS+183&collapse= https://explorecourses.stanford.edu/search?view=catalog&filt...
- crazypyro 12y ago
  I think the class you linked is different course number? Sam's class is CS 183B, according to the website.

graphene 12y ago

Seems surprising that Paul Buchheit is not on the list? His Startup School Europe talk was amazing, although to be fair it was more "why to start a startup" than how.

jordhy 12y ago

Honestly this is like having "The Justice League" give a course about "How to be a Superhero". Congratulations to the team that has put this together. Best round up of speakers in any startup course that I can remember. This is great news for the community.

comatose_kid 12y ago

This is great. Someday if/when the lectures are streamed real-time, consider a reddit group for remote students to ask good (upvoted) questions to the lecturer.

wj 12y ago

Another great resource from Stanford on startups is their Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders lecture series. http://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html http://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html Talks have been given by some of the same people (including Marc Andreessen, Aaron Levie, Reid Hoffman, and Marissa Mayer) and many others. This talk on negotiation is one of the best lectures I've ever heard and I've recommended it to people dozens of times: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1573 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1573

platonichvn 12y ago
Completely agree. It is one of the few podcasts I listen to regularly.
kevinwang 12y ago
Thanks for linking that lecture on negotiation! - it was an enjoyable listen and I especially liked the emphasis on fairness and even altruism to others in negotiations. I think humanity's a lot more fun to think about when people are good to each other.
crixlet 12y ago
Agreed. Have been listening to these podcasts. Great material
djb_hackernews 12y ago
I'd be interested to know what about the negotiation lecture you think make it one of the best. I just listened to it for the first time and didn't actually find too much content. The speaker had a lot of anecdotes but I didn't find too much actionable advice or processes. This is what I pulled from it: * Be calm, don't get angry * Learn what the other party really wants * Offer a price you think is fair, offer it early * Don't horse trade, unless the other party likes to horse trade. * be trustworthy * have an attorney I'm not trying to be a downer, honestly. I think I may be missing the forest for the trees.
- wj 12y ago

porter 12y ago

YC leading the pack of incubator followers yet again. Excited to watch this!

espitia 12y ago
Yup. The network is a true competitive advantage. What other incubator can get this caliber of speakers? Amazing. I'm truly thankful for this.

amix 12y ago

The list of speakers looks fantastic! This said, I think the list lacks diversity. I think it would be great to have someone outside of SV in it (e.g. Jason Fried, Jeff Bezos etc.) One of the better Startup School talks I seen was from DHH (that presented another way of building a successful company).

petercooper 12y ago
But then they'd have to cover stuff like focusing on sales from the start of a business, developing a business model, and making money (from customers) ASAP. (In case of confusion, I have my tongue in cheek ;-) These topics will surely be covered in the content somewhere if it's about building a business.)

lcnmrn 12y ago

It should be called the fail class.

sethbannon 12y ago

In some sense, this seems to represent an open sourcing of YC. I bet this will become a foundational resource for aspiring entrepreneurs for years to come.

codeonfire 12y ago

Why is everything like this at Stanford? Why not some other schools for a change?

wj 12y ago
Because most of the speakers live within driving distance of Stanford? I would love for more schools to offer course on entrepreneurship. I'm not sure if I was ready for one while I was in college though.

michaelochurch 12y ago

Three cheers for the furthering concentration of privilege and access!

jacquesm 12y ago
You're not doing yourself any favours with comments like these. YC is going out of their way to make this stuff accessible and privilege has nothing to do with it whatsoever. Please, don't do this.
- michaelochurch 12y ago
  Perhaps it wasn't the most useful comment I've written, but I think I have a strong point. It's not the information or know-how that makes YC a game-changer. It's the connections and seal of approval, which are scarce by definition. And now the Stanford -> Funded pipeline is even stronger, which means that everyone else is slightly (imperceptibly) more an outsider fuckhead employee on 0.04%. I don't begrudge YC, really. It's a brilliantly run business and it's probably done a lot of good for the world. It's just fun to snark about these things because, honestly, most of the people "out there" (the ones who actually think protesting Google Buses makes some kind of sense) are going to react more harshly than I do. I just make fun of shit.
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    > It's not the information or know-how that makes YC a game-changer. YC is composed of equal parts capital, smarts and process. That's not taking into account the connections or the seal of approval, those are results not inputs! You could claim they are inputs now but it wasn't always like that. > It's the connections and seal of approval, which are scarce by definition. Connections are not scarce at all. You - and anybody else - have the power to reach out to those that you want to reach. Assuming you play at 6 degrees for a bit you'll find a link to whoever you want to reach. What makes the difference is that once YC gives you that coveted 'seal of approval' (and that's also not that scarce, vast numbers of start-ups have received it) that some people will throw money at you. But that's a curse and a blessing at the same time, for many of those recipients will receive the 'curse' and only a few will eventually see it as a blessing. But all of them agree: the experience alone was well worth it. Now I'm not a YC alumnus, nor will I ever be one but I think that if a very large number of people that go through a program think it is worth it then that has my vote. The seal of approval is something that VCs that do not wish to do their own vetting have come up with, they have basically outsourced their vetting to YC because YC does so much better a job of this than they could ever do by themselves that they might as well try to get in on the feeding frenzy aka demo day. And YC has forever been expanding the size of their batches based on capacity available for processing. So the scarcity element would seem to be under control and reducing. > And now the Stanford -> Funded pipeline is even stronger, which means that everyone else is slightly (imperceptibly) more an outsider fuckhead employee on 0.04%. On the contrary, all the material will be made available, so you too can benefit from this. Stanford is merely a convenient vehicle. > I don't begrudge YC, really. I'll take your word for it. But it seems as if you do hold some kind of grudge and a pretty deep one. > It's a brilliantly run business and it's probably done a lot of good for the world. So why all this negativity then? It's like walking around on a square attempting to insult random people for either being successful, connected, part of some perceived secret cabal or some other figment of the imagination. That's a strange line to walk. > It's just fun to snark about these things because, honestly, most of the people "out there" (the ones who actually think protesting Google Buses makes some kind of sense) are going to react more harshly than I do. I just make fun of shit. Well, it's good to have that on the table then because I honestly believed that you were serious in the way you present yourself. You're obviously a pretty smart fellow, the bit that I did not understand is if you're so jealous of all this why are you hurting your personal rep at this level. But if you're just 'making fun of shit' then that explains things sufficiently for me, I tried to make sense of it. My mistake.

rkaplan 12y ago

What's fantastic about this is that even though the class is at Stanford, everyone from around the world can follow along just as easily. Stanford is opening up more and more of its opportunities to the general public, which is awesome. Another one I'd recommend taking advantage of is Stanford's Hacking Hours: https://www.facebook.com/groups/750201348380852/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/750201348380852/ This is a weekly on-campus meetup where people hack on their projects in a collaborative environment. It's open to the general public, and anyone nearby with code to write is welcome to come work on it at Stanford.

wasd 12y ago
That's awesome. Is the wifi network open for non students? This is an issue at UC Berkeley :(.
- rkaplan 12y ago
  Absolutely, there are guest codes for everyone who shows up.

lifeisstillgood 12y ago

I have spent quite some time and effort (failing) to get an open source company into open source contracts in the UK government. Bu I want to because things like the GDS (grand father of USGDS) are saying open source is the future of government And this is one more tick in that argument - what YC is doing is industrialisation of startup founding - and now they are "open sourcing" the how to, I would think that any government not stealing these ideas and throwing money that otherwise would languish in bureaucratic purses is missing a huge opportunity.

staunch 12y ago

The fact that this information be made available online on the same day is quite a gift. That will take some effort. Thank you. I would humbly suggest that early on you should address what YC means by startup. PG's essay on growth is by far the most well conveyed explanation. I think it would clear up a lot of confusion people have about Startups vs small businesses. http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html

idlewords 12y ago
The fact that people disagree on the definition of "startup" isn't a sign of confusion. Rather, it reflects the fact that there are genuine differences between people in our industry about how to develop new business models, and how to define success. Graham has articulated one side of that debate with his essay, but calling it an explanation is disingenuous.

deleted 12y ago

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pptr1 12y ago

Just finished reading Peter Thiel's Zero to One; and it is interesting that both him and Marissa Mayer are going to teach. He sort of disses her in the book. This is a quote from his book. "Beginning with brand rather than substance is dangerous. Ever since Marissa Mayer became CEO of Yahoo! in mid-2012, she has worked to revive the once-popular internet giant by making it cool again. In a single tweet, Yahoo! summarized Mayer’s plan as a chain reaction of “people then products then traffic then revenue.” The people are supposed to come for the coolness: Yahoo! demonstrated design awareness by overhauling its logo, it asserted youthful relevance by acquiring hot startups like Tumblr, and it has gained media attention for Mayer’s own star power. But the big question is what products Yahoo! will actually create. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he didn’t just make Apple a cool place to work; he slashed product lines to focus on the handful of opportunities for 10x improvements. No technology company can be built on branding alone."- [1] [1] - Zero to One Book by Peter Thiel

lee 12y ago
I don't really see the "diss" in that passage. I see more of an honest question.
- arfliw 12y ago
  Same. He certainly leaves open the possibility that she is creating those products as we speak.
jeffchuber 12y ago
Is Yahoo really a products company or a content and advertising company?
- eldarionski 12y ago
  Actually Yahoo is all of these.For example this IS pure http://vividads.com.au/ http://vividads.com.au/ advertising company

asenna 12y ago

I live pretty close to Stanford but I am not a student. Is it possible for me to just "sit in" for a couple of lectures? :) http://www.quora.com/What-does-Stanford-do-about-non-Stanford-students-sitting-in-on-classes http://www.quora.com/What-does-Stanford-do-about-non-Stanfor...

selmnoo 12y ago

This is a fantastic move by the YC folks. Doing the class at Stanford raises their profile in just the right place -- now more of just the right and able individuals will apply to YC (especially because YC basically "teaching" at Stanford has earned them validation as a place to go for Stanford students, who up til now may have had any reservation about joining YC, or just simply hadn't considered the possibility, or just didn't know of YC). I hope to see a lot of good come out of this. I hope the next class comes to us in the East coast? :) (Harvard and MIT, producer of Drew Houston, Mark Zuckerberg, etc.)

jacquesm 12y ago
> now more of just the right and able individuals will apply to YC I sincerely hope that that is not why they chose Stanford.
sillysaurus3 12y ago
now more of just the right and able individuals will apply to YC Do those people care about Stanford? The founders of neither Dropbox nor Airbnb attended Stanford, for example. Evidence thus far seems to indicate that elitism isn't the right metric to optimize for. That said, there's certainly a large talent pool concentrated at Stanford. Keeping YC a meritocracy seems important, so hopefully it won't become something else.

liz_062 12y ago

another great information..cool post!

brianstorms 12y ago

Nice, but, very few of those individuals have started a startup in the past five years, or even ten years. What exactly do they KNOW that is going to help you, the founder? I don't think this is the ideal lineup for a day of talks about How to Start a Startup in the fall of 2014. The past few years have been particularly brutal for starting a startup. Mostly because there are so many others doing the same thing, and most of them are vying for the same funding dollars you're vying for. Thousands upon thousands of people are trying and have tried, and most have failed, and all have stories to tell. That is the norm, that is the most likely outcome: failure. Instead, you'll hear from billionaires and superachievers and tech celebrities none of whom have been hungry, driven with a vision, struggling to build something new, fighting the good fight, any time recently. They're disconnected, imho. Go ahead and downvote, I know, it's YC heresy, but so be it.

muneeb 12y ago
There is the argument that you can't learn much from failure. You could've failed for 6-7 reasons in reality and can have a theory about the 2-3 reasons for your failure with some overlap between the two. Successful people however had a series of small wins and small failures and got to experience the difficulties/challenges at each level of success.
_sentient 12y ago
I can't speak for the rest of the lineup, but I know that YC partners see hundreds of startups run through their program each year. The aggregate value of that is significant, and there are very few patterns they haven't already encountered. Having seen so many iterations of the startup process, I'd argue that they are eminently qualified to give advice on the subject. I'd certainly prefer it over some random, anecdotal account from a founder who just happened to be in the trenches recently.
- muneeb 12y ago
  +1 to this. YC partners are in a unique position
TimJRobinson 12y ago

jackosutherland 12y ago

I am very excited to have a chance to listen in on this course. I currently attend a state university in Illinois that has a small entrepreneurship program and I am working hard to get every student involved in the startup space in Chicago where I know they will gain the most knowledge and experience. This course that Sam and YC are making available will be a huge resource to myself and my fellow students this semester. Appreciate the hard work and thought. Can't wait!

krrishd 12y ago

A MOOC I'd definitely recommend taking along side this is the Startup Engineering from Stanford, taught by Balaji Srinivasan and Vijay Pande. I've taken a lot of MOOCs but that was one that truly changed a lot of things in terms of how I approached tech and startups, and it actually says in it's description that it's somewhat of a sequel to CS183 (this new course is CS183B). https://www.coursera.org/course/startup https://www.coursera.org/course/startup

tew28 12y ago
I'll second this sentiment. Balaji's class goes into real-world implementation and if you learn everything packed into the dense curriculum, you'll come out much more powerful and capable. This new class seems only to extend upon the theory of the original CS183.

Firecracker 12y ago

Any word on why the Stanford class is marked as closed to signups?

kibaekr 12y ago

Wow this list is unreal. It's the Olympic lineup of the startup world. So jealous of the students that get to attend in-person.

mathattack 12y ago

It takes guts to open source yourself. It also highlights that so much of the value comes from the in person meetings - sharing of ideas and networking.

droob 12y ago

"37 Proven Systems to Win Powerball"