STARTUP SCHOOL

ORIENTATION
Startup School 2019 Team
• Kevin Hale, YC Partner
• Adora Cheung, YC Partner
• Steven Pham, Batch Director
• Kyle Corbitt, Software Engineer
• Ashwin Kumar, Data Analyst
• YC Partners & YC Alumni
Need Help?
• startupschool@ycombinator.com
• The Forums!
Our Goals
• Give you a structure and an excuse
to work on your startup.
• Improve how you think
and talk about your startup.
• Revisit with you first principles
to find insights and growth.
• Build a global community of founders.
You’re not alone.
You’re in the right place.
You’re in good company.
28K 25K
+ spectators!
founders!

Deadline is now Aug 4th

 11K Full Time

21K
startups!
8K Part Time
4K Launched
5K Prototype
4K Idea
5K Teams
16K Single
12K Technical
9K NonTechnical
4K Female
 1.8K SF

21K
startups!
1.1K NYC
885 London
640 Bangalore
498 Toronto
474 Lagos
410 Moscow
295 Berlin
251 Paris
168 Bogota
 2.4K B2B

21K
startups!
1.7K Consumer
1.4K AI
1.3K E-commerce
1.1K Marketplaces
1.1K Fintech
487 Dev Tools
406 Blockchain
184 Esports
97 Moonshots
How to Graduate
• Submit 8/10 weekly updates
• Participate in 8/10 group sessions
• You must submit a weekly update to be
able to participate in a group session.
How to Get the $15K Grant
• You have to graduate.
• You apply to YC at end of the course
• Application due September 25th
• Interviews in October
• If accepted into YC batch,
you don’t have to take it!
Time Commitment
• 2-3 hours / week
• 15 min to write Weekly Update
• 1 hour of video content
• 30 min - 1 hour in group session
• 15 min - 30 min prep
• Try to free up Thursdays 8pm local time
for Group Sessions.
MON Weekly Update Opens
Monday AMA
WED Record Live Lecture
Weekly Update Due
THU Video Lecture Released
Group Sessions
FRI Friday AMA
Deadlines / Important Times
• Wed 4pm PDT. Weekly update due.
• Wed 6:30pm PDT. Groups are locked.
• Thu 12pm PDT. Video Lectures Released
• Thu 8pm LOCAL. Group sessions start.
What’s in Our Software?
• Weekly Updates* • Directory
• Group Sessions* • Forums
• Lectures • Library
• Meetups • Deals

* Required
Weekly Updates
• We start asking Mondays at 12am PDT
• The update is about the previous week.
• Should take 15 minutes max to fill out.
• Due Wednesdays by 4pm PDT
• Find under the My Updates Tab
TIPS Be honest.
Be concise.
If before launch, we ask
when till for a reason.
99% of you should be
tracking revenue.
Always be talking
to users.
Profile
• Complete your profile
• Keep company updated
• Add your cofounders
• Affects group matching
• Changes features available in directory
Group Sessions
• Starts Thursdays at 8pm LOCAL time
• Done over video using our software
• You must submit a Weekly Update to
participate in a group session.
• You can request a different time, but it’ll
be with companies in different timezone.
• Grouping algo is run Wed 4:30pm PDT
What do we talk about?
• Intro yourself
• Intro what company does (1 liner)
• Share last week progress
• What were biggest obstacles?
• What are goals next week?
• Open discussion
• Give anonymous feedback in software
About the Groups / Matching
• Group size is between 5 and 8 companies
• We match startups based on proximity,
timezone, vertical, and progress.
• Single founders looking for cofounder are
matched with each other.
• Every week, you’ll be matched with
different companies. (50-80 startups!)
Lectures
• 20 Lectures by YC Partners
• Record Wed @ 9am PDT
• Release video on Thurs @ 12pm PDT
• Some bonus lectures / workshops
• All lectures followed by Q&A
• All lectures are 20min
 7/24 San Francisco
7/31 San Francisco
8/7 San Francisco
8/14 San Francisco
8/21 San Francisco
8/28 San Francisco
9/4 Austin
9/11 Bogota
9/18 Boston
Lectures 9/25 Berlin
Meetups
• 14 Cities around the world
• Evenings 5pm-8pm
• Usually Saturdays. Check schedule.
• Find under events section.
Meetups
7/24 NYC 9/7 Mexico City
7/31 Los Angeles 9/11 Bogota
8/7 Chicago 9/12 Waterloo
8/14 Wash DC 9/14 Sao Paulo
8/21 Seattle 9/18 Boston
8/28 Tel-Aviv 9/21 London
9/4 Austin 9/25 Berlin
Directory
• Find other companies by name,
description, vertical, or proximity.
• Find all companies from your
group sessions.
• If you’re looking for cofounder (in profile),
then you’ll be able filter other cofounders
who are also looking.
16K
single
founders!
8.3K Technical
8.4K NonTechnical
2.8K Female
DO NOT
SPAM directory!

Or you’ll be banned
from all YC events.
Forums
• Post what helps community.
• If expert, help others!
• Search before you post.
• Don’t spam or scrape.
• We organize AMAs on Mon and Fri.
• Launch on Show SUS and ask for help!
28K
founders!
8.9K Engineers
5.9K Product
3.9K Operations
2.7K Marketing
2.0K Sales
1.3K Design
1.1K Science
Library
• Contains essays and articles by YC
partners, alumni, and experts we trust.
• Organized by topic / stage of startup.
• There’s no required reading, but we
recommend going through articles when
stuck on a problem in a topic.
Deals
• There are over $30K worth of deals and
credits for Startup School companies.
• Some deals increase when you graduate.
• Do NOT share the deals with others or
they could be revoked.
Next Steps
• Submit your weekly update.
• Update your profile, company, add
cofounders.
• Browse forums, library, deals.
• On Thursday, the first lecture and group
sessions begin!
Thanks!