Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup (Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz)

Lecture Transcript: http://tech.genius.com/Sam-altman-lecture-1-how-to-start-a-startup-annotated

Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, and Dustin Moskovitz, Cofounder of Facebook, Asana, and Good Ventures, kick off the How to Start a Startup Course. Sam covers the first 2 of the 4 Key Areas: Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution; and Dustin discusses Why to Start a Startup.

See the slides and readings at startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec01/

Discuss this lecture: https://startupclass.co/courses/how-to-start-a-startup/lectures/64030
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Chris’ interview was so incredible that we couldn’t contain it in just one episode, so today is only part one–you’ll have to check back soon for part two!

*Disclaimer: Chris has a potty mouth and we’ve attempted to bleep out all of his swear words. We apologize in advance if any snuck by our censors.

1:00 Welcome everyone! Today on TWiST we have Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital.
2:30 Thank you to Hiscox for supporting the show. Everyone go to hiscoxusa.com/smallbiz to get a free quote online in less than 15 minutes.
5:00 Chris, welcome to the show.
6:15 What is it that you do on a daily basis?
9:15 Chris: There’s a lot of garbage getting funded today.
10:00 What does it mean to be a founder in your book?
12:15 Is fearlessness a good trait?
14:45 Has it become too easy to become a founder?
19:15 How did you wind up being an investor in companies like Facebook, Twitter and Uber?
20:00 Chris shares the story of how he found himself in a huge financial hole.
25:30 Thank you to Stamps.com for their support of the show! Everyone go to stamps.com and use the code TWIST for your free, 4-week trial.
28:15 Chris resumes his story of how he gambled and lost big.
29:45 What happens when people come to collect on the debt?
34:30 What was Speedera’s business?
35:00 How did you land at Google?
38:15 Chris: My first angel investment was in Photobucket.
40:00 Is it right that you once took over on the secondary market for most Twitter shares?
44:30 True or false: people in the Valley tend to be like “dude, I got you,”–until the money comes in.
47:45 Has VC behavior gotten better or worse in the last decade?
50:30 Tell me about Garrett Camp of Stumbleupon.
51:45 Twitter, some would say, is screwing over the developers that helped build it. What’s your take on that?
1:00:00 Are you slowing down on angel investing right now?
1:01:45 Chris reveals the existence of the fund Lowercase Stampede.
1:03:30 What gives you the ability to look at a new space with fresh eyes?
1:05:30 How did you get involved in Hollywood?
1:07:00 What do you think the impact of Kickstarter is on the entertainment business?
1:10:15 This concludes part one of Jason’s interview with Chris. Party two is coming soon–stay tuned!

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FOLLOW ON TWITTER
Jason: @jason
Chris: @sacca
Hiscox: @hiscoxsmallbiz
Stamps.com: @stampscom
Video Rating: 4 / 5