newsfilter.io
Earnings Call, Webinar

YC SUS: Eric Migicovsky hosts founder office hours

Y CombinatorEric Migicovsky, Eric Michakowski, JC, Mary, John, Jake, Nate, Chefy, Wee Susu, Armin, Amy, Lindy
Watch on YouTube →

Office Hours Overview

  • Eric Michakowski, course facilitator at Startup School, facilitates 20–30 minute concentrated sessions for founders to solve specific problems.
  • The format is designed to help founders break isolation, articulate stuck points, and receive focused brainstorming advice from YC partners.
  • Sessions are recorded and shared publicly to provide value to founders facing similar challenges, encouraging founder-to-founder peer support.

Boxcore (JC) – Sports Trivia & Second Screen

  • Product: A "second screen" trivia platform for future events (sports, Oscars) where users play against friends rather than the house.
  • Current Stage: Live beta with 240+ users during the NFL playoffs; currently only ~20 active users as the founder has reduced content to manage solo operations.
  • Problem: The non-technical founder hit a scaling wall and is attempting to hire engineering students in Mexico for $5/hour.
  • Strategy Disagreement:
    • Founder believes users want a centralized app covering all sports (Liga MX, Champions League, etc.) rather than separate apps.
    • Advisor recommends focusing on a single sport or team to achieve viral growth and test the smallest viable feature first.
  • Timeline Risk: Waiting until the Olympics (August) or Euro 2020 is deemed too long; feedback cycles should be reduced to weekly.
  • Actionable Advice:
    • Interview existing users to identify specific retention blockers.
    • Build features in weekly batches based on direct user feedback rather than long-term event planning.
    • Set up a weekly Sunday meeting with engineers to plan the upcoming week's work based on user data.

IQ (Mary) – Hardware & Smartphone Optical Add-on

  • Product: A hardware accessory transforming a smartphone into smart binoculars, featuring a proprietary touchpad and an iOS app ("IQ Space Live").
  • Funding & Backers: Raised $30,000 via Kickstarter (goal: $27,000) and closing a seed round; has 200+ backers.
  • Supply Chain Strategy:
    • Founder plans to manufacture plastic injection-molded parts in China with a target shipment by the 2020 Olympics.
    • Advisor advises against jumping to mass injection molding for 300 units; suggests using 3D printing for the initial pilot batch to mitigate supply chain risks and delays.
  • Production Recommendation:
    • Do not attempt to produce thousands of units to lower per-unit costs if it delays the 300 Kickstarter orders.
    • Prioritize shipping the exact number of units ordered to backers first to generate word-of-mouth and trust.
  • Team & Hires:
    • Team includes a mechanical/optical engineer (CTO) and a software engineer for AR features.
    • Advisor suggests avoiding full-time hires early on; utilize contractors for specific, temporary needs to keep burn rate low.
  • Developer Community:
    • To attract developers for the platform, email the existing 300 backers to ask who is interested in hacking the product.
    • Early adopters are the most likely source of initial ecosystem developers.

TrackPort (Jake & John) – Fintech for Truckers

  • Product: A mobile app for truckers to log detention time (wait times at shippers/receivers) to calculate and invoice unpaid detention fees.
  • User Base: 7 truckers currently using the app for specific jobs; averaging 2–3 uses per trucker per week.
  • Hypothesis Validation:
    • Core problem: Truckers are not reliably paid for 2–3 hours of detention time due to a lack of verification.
    • Proposed solution: Automating payment via a dollar-backed cryptocurrency and smart contracts.
  • Strategic Critique:
    • Adding cryptocurrency and smart contracts introduces unnecessary complexity that hinders testing the core hypothesis.
    • Advisor recommends simplifying to standard payment rails (Venmo, PayPal, or direct bank transfer) to validate if truckers actually need to be paid for detention time.
  • Broker Partnership:
    • Founders are seeking partnerships with brokerages to automate payouts.
    • Advisor suggests ignoring broker integrations initially; truckers can manually trigger invoices via the app to be sent to brokers for payment via existing methods.
  • Goal: Double the user base to 14 truckers within the next week; have users manually invoice to test the payment flow.

Meme Party (Nate) – In-Person Party Game

  • Product: A mobile party game where up to 8 users compete to create the best meme from a shared image prompt; similar to "Apples to Apples."
  • Metrics: 56 weekly active users from previous week; 20 users acquired at a single brewery event.
  • Acquisition Strategy:
    • Online marketing (social media, flyers) yielded no results.
    • In-person events at breweries achieved near 100% conversion for downloads due to immediate social proof and engagement.
  • Retention Gap:
    • No current method to track if users who downloaded at events return to play at home.
    • Advisor suggests adding analytics (e.g., Mixpanel) to track retention and utilizing push notifications to prompt usage on weekends.
  • Product Feedback:
    • Advisors recommend watching users set up the app in person to identify bugs and friction points in the first 30 seconds of onboarding.
    • Suggested new channels: Card shops and trivia nights at pubs.
  • Monetization:
    • Founders are hesitant to introduce ads or in-app purchases to preserve UX.
    • Advisor advises delaying monetization entirely until product-market fit and retention are proven; suggest focusing on tournaments later.

WP Clover (Chefy) – WordPress Management for SMBs

  • Product: Transitioning from a lifestyle consulting business to a managed service platform for WordPress hosting, development, and maintenance for small businesses.
  • Pricing Strategy: Higher cost than DIY builders (Wix) but significantly cheaper than hiring a freelancer ($3,000).
  • Target Market Confusion:
    • Original audience was women; data shows men are converting better.
    • Advisor recommends segmenting the market by user type (e.g., those with existing Wix sites vs. new businesses) rather than demographics.
  • Customer Discovery:
    • Founder should interview 5–10 potential customers in different segments to identify a specific "burning" pain point.
    • Recommend using a spreadsheet to track interview data and identifying the most responsive segment before scaling marketing.
  • Messaging:
    • Landing pages should focus on business outcomes (e.g., "Get listed on Google," "Get more leads") rather than technical features like "WordPress."
    • Different landing pages may be needed for customers with existing sites versus those needing new sites.

Wee Susu (Yusuf) – Rotational Savings Groups

  • Product: A digital platform for "rotating savings and credit associations" (ROSCAs) allowing small groups to pool money and take turns receiving the total pot.
  • Risk Assessment:
    • Expanding to open, public groups carries high risk of resembling a pyramid scheme or fraud.
    • Advisor suggests focusing initially on verified, closed social circles (friends/family) where trust is higher.
  • MVP Strategy:
    • Building an app immediately is unnecessary; the service can be validated manually using Venmo/Square Cash and Google Spreadsheets.
    • Founder should manually manage 3–5 groups to test if users actually want the service and to identify necessary app features.
  • Regulatory & Technical:
    • Handling money directly requires a money transmitter license; advisor suggests using marketplace features from PayPal or Stripe Connect to avoid being the money transmitter.
    • Reference to WePay (YC company) as a potential solution for handling peer-to-peer payments in a marketplace context.

PhyLabs (Armin) – Genetic Prediction Software

  • Product: Software using machine learning to analyze influenza DNA sequences to predict genetic evolution for better vaccine design.
  • Technical Bottleneck:
    • Data (tens of thousands of sequences) is publicly available, but current analysis tools take months to process small datasets (e.g., 500 samples).
    • Current capability of PhyLabs: Can analyze 10,000 sequences in one hour.
  • Milestone Adjustment:
    • Founder originally set a milestone of "analyzing data in one hour."
    • Advisor suggests setting a more achievable initial milestone: "Faster than existing software" (e.g., reducing time from one month to two weeks).
    • The goal should be to demonstrate a speed advantage over current tools to persuade scientists to adopt the software.
  • User Validation:
    • Founder has passive contact with epidemiologists but needs to actively engage them to validate willingness to pay for speed improvements.
    • Recommendation: Benchmark current performance against existing tools and launch a soft landing page to gauge interest.

Curved Wear (Amy) – Hardware for Curvy Women

  • Product: Technical pants for curvy women with features like moisture-wicking and deep pockets, currently unavailable in the market.
  • Manufacturing Challenge:
    • Founder struggles to get a pattern maker to execute a specific vision, resulting in repeated failed prototypes.
    • Pattern maker in LA and founder in SF are having communication issues.
  • Prototyping Strategy:
    • Advisor recommends abandoning the expensive external pattern maker for the initial prototype; founder should learn to create patterns herself or hire a local tutor to build the first pair.
    • Goal: Build one functional pair for herself to validate the concept and regain motivation.
  • Hardware Go-to-Market:
    • Do not attempt to mass produce or seek funding immediately.
    • Strategy: Build one, then five, then ten handmade units; sell these to early adopters (friends, hiking groups) at a premium to validate demand.
    • Social media marketing is secondary to solving the product creation problem.

WorkLife (Lindy) – Proactive Mental Health Benefits

  • Product: A B2B workplace benefit offering company-funded, confidential therapy to all employees (opt-out model) to prevent mental health issues rather than treat them after the fact.
  • Value Proposition:
    • Claims ROI based on studies: 73% increase in productivity, 67% reduction in turnover, 62% reduction in sick days.
  • Sales Strategy:
    • Founder is 7–8 weeks into idea stage and needs the first sale.
    • Advisor recommends cold-approaching former employers or personal network connections to make warm intros to HR directors.
    • Crucial Advice: Do not sell via email; conduct in-person coffee meetings to overcome the "no" bias of email and gather non-verbal feedback.
  • Discovery Method:
    • Follow the "Mom Test" framework: Ask HR directors about their top three problems before pitching the solution to ensure the problem is validated by them, not just assumed.
    • Goal: Secure a reference customer from the founder's past network to leverage for future sales.