Interview, Fireside Chat, Statement
Geoff Ralston and Adora Cheung Discuss Startup School
- The 10-week Startup School course runs from the week of August 27th through the end of October, offering two participation paths: auditing for access to live streams, lectures, and notes, or applying for the official track which includes weekly advisor meetings, a community forum, and exclusive deals with partners like Amazon, Stripe, and Atlas.
- A $10,000 equity-free grant will be awarded to 100 companies selected based on progress, with eligibility requiring attendance at at least 9 of 10 weekly group meetings and consumption of at least 9 of 10 lectures; the course includes an in-person component in Mountain View, California, which is optional and not required for course completion or grant qualification.
- The curriculum targets early-stage founders with ideas ready for full-time work or existing projects with any number of users, covering startup mechanics, product development, market fit, growth, hiring, cap tables, and fundraising, while specifically addressing applications to the YC Winter 2019 batch given an expected core admission rate of 1% to 2%.
- Speakers include YC partners Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Sam Altman (as President), and Michael Seibel (as CEO), with additional speakers and a public list to be released alongside the podcast; advisor sessions are online and weekly, designed to facilitate problem-solving among founders working in similar industries or time zones.
- Past content from the last two years remains accessible in a public library, while this year's content is expected to cover similar areas in new ways, with a specific experiment involving the $10,000 grant aimed at helping promising startups that might otherwise fail to thrive; last year's completion rate was 56%, with this year's target set higher to incentivize finishing through the grant opportunity.
- Applications are expected to remain open for two weeks after podcast publication with anticipated high volume, and the program emphasizes equity in access while advising against travel that might detract from startup progress, relying on YC founders to mentor strangers despite their own concurrent startup commitments.