Ali El-Shayeb

🚀 The Pocket Guide of Essential YC Advice: Elevate Your Startup Game! 🚀 Starting a business? Here's a cheat sheet from YC that can make all the difference: 1️⃣ Launch now: Don't wait for perfection. Get your product out there and iterate. 2️⃣ Build something people want: Focus on solving real problems. 3️⃣ Do things that don't scale: Personal touches can lead to big breakthroughs. 4️⃣ Find the 90 / 10 solution: Prioritize the most impactful tasks. 5️⃣ Find 10-100 customers who love your product: Early adopters are your champions. 6️⃣ All startups are badly broken at some point: Resilience is key. 7️⃣ Write code - talk to users: Balance building with real-world feedback. 8️⃣ "It's not your money": Be frugal and smart with investments. 9️⃣ Growth is the result of a great product, not the precursor: Quality drives expansion. 🔟 Don't scale until you've built something people want: Validate first, grow second. 💡 Key Insights: - Valuation ≠ Success: Focus on value creation, not just valuation. - Avoid lengthy deals with big customers unless necessary. - Steer clear of corporate development queries that waste time. - Attend conferences selectively - prioritize those that bring customers. - Pre-product market fit? Stay nimble and do things that don't scale. - Solving one problem well > solving many poorly. - Founder relationships: Your co-founders are your greatest asset. - Sometimes, firing a toxic customer is necessary. - Ignore competitors - focus on your path to avoid 'death by comparison.' 🌟 Final Tips: - Be kind! Courtesy costs nothing but means everything. - Prioritize your health - sleep, exercise, and self-care are non-negotiable. Let these insights guide your entrepreneurial journey. What resonates most with you? Share your thoughts! ⬇️ #Startups #Entrepreneurship #YCombinator #BusinessTips #GrowthMindset #Innovation

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💎 When I launched my first startup, I was convinced our product was revolutionary. I poured my heart and soul into building the perfect app, certain that users would flock to us once we went live. I had dreams of millions of users, hockey stick growth charts and our servers overloading. Man, was I in for a rude awakening 💔. The most dangerous assumption founders can make is to think that if you “build it, they will come”. Far too many founders believe that creating an amazing product is enough - that users will magically discover and adopt it. The truth? It's far more challenging. Your users don't just appear, you have to fight for every single one. 1️⃣ Building a great product is only the first step. There's a vast graveyard of products that were built but never properly distributed. These were potentially game-changing products that faded away in obscurity, not because they necessarily lacked quality, but because they lacked visibility. 💯 Founders must commit significant time, money, and energy to attracting (and retaining) users. This means leveraging multiple channels: ▪ Email marketing ▪ Content marketing ▪ Social media ▪ Influencer marketing ▪ Events ▪ PR ▪ Partnerships ▪ Community building ▪ Paid ads Each channel requires its own strategy, setup and ongoing optimization. 🔥 So to all the founders out there, don't fall into the trap of neglecting user acquisition. Start planning your growth strategy from day one. Make it as big of a priority as your product. Test different channels and approaches, double down on what works, and be prepared to pivot when needed. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to hustle for growth 🚀. It’s the only way. What hard lessons did you learn while building your startup? How did you acquire your first 100 users? What user acquisition channels worked for you? Share your experiences and insights in the comments below! 👇 #startups #growth #marketing #founders

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Important fact about most startup (and VC) success stories. It is convenient to overlook this, but the best companies and products are not built on any specific timeline. The best people win, and that is the only thing that has consistently and repeatably truly won over the test of time.

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How to spot the BEST early-stage opportunities? (Yes, you want to join a very early-stage startup as the first employee... but not just any startup.) 2 weeks ago, I posted on LinkedIn to share how I met Lucas and joined Hyperline. Long before this (lucky) meeting, I had made my "wishlist" for the ideal early-stage project to join - influenced by my short venture into VC. I highly recommend doing this exercise. Why? • To focus your search - there are SO many startups out there!  • To figure out what's important to you, and what's not • To reduce risk exposure - even though the risk is minimal as first employee In my case, I ideally wanted to join... 🥷 A stealth-mode startup, yet to be announced 💻 Building a complex tech product, preferably B2B SaaS 💸 Backed by a top-tier VC fund 💼 Founded by someone who was among the first operators in a successful scaleup OR a repeat founder ready to start a new ambitious project 👾 Led by a founder with a strong tech background (ideally) - to ensure complementarity and be as useful as possible  🌍 With international ambitions from day one 1️⃣ …and of course I wanted to be among the very first employees Beyond these, of course, my #1 criteria was a good personal fit and the promise of an exciting (and fun!) adventure. When I mention these criteria to people, they say I was looking for a needle in a haystack (ou le fameux "mouton à 5 pattes" 🐑 😂). 100% true. I was probably ready to compromise on some of them... but Hyperline ticks all the boxes. (Just because the project meets these criteria doesn't guarantee its long-term success - important to keep this in mind 😉)

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One of the biggest BS rules in VC is the requirement for SaaS companies to scale to $10M ARR in 18 months. UiPath: $500K 10 years in. Klaviyo: $1M ARR 3 years in. Lightspeed: $10M ARR 8 years in. Great products take time. The road to the start line can be long. It means defensibility is being built. Be patient, remain lean, always stay super close to the customer. #founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup

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Great things take time to build. If your growth trajectory doesn’t follow the so-called ‘rules,’ don’t worry—focus on creating a sustainable business that’s loved by your paying customers. Stay patient, stay lean, and keep building.

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🎉 Big News at Dreamcraft Ventures! 🎉 I'm very proud to announce the promotion of Mathilde Lyet to Investment Principal, effective October 1st. Since joining 12 months ago, Mathilde has demonstrated strong dedication to Dreamcraft’s mission and a unique blend of analytical rigor, empathy, and leadership qualities that make her an invaluable part of our team. Here’s my five keys on why she's earned it: 🔑 Analytical Mind – With her strong investment toolbox from across stages, Mathilde excels in deep analysis and articulate decision-making. She’s a powerhouse when it comes to running investment motions independently, consistently delivering high-quality work. 🔑 Constant Learner – Always seeking to further sharpen her already well-tuned instincts beyond numbers, particularly for early-stage. And I’ve enjoyed so much being one of her primary sparring partners there. That curiosity and drive for continuous improvement is key. 🔑 Top-Tier Sourcing – Her dealflow brings a unique piece to our firm’s puzzle, building strong relationships across the European VC ecosystem while staying ahead of trends. She keeps her pipe a bit contrarian and avoids the pitfall of too much crowded consensus. 🔑 Operational Excellence – In addition to her investment work, Mathilde has played an important role in optimizing firm operations. From co-leading the hiring of analysts to improving the structure of our investment meetings, her impact has been felt across the team. 🔑 Empathy Leader – Mathilde's combination of intellectual curiosity, emotional intelligence, and a no-nonsense approach makes her a founder magnet and cultural leader internally. There’s just a way of doing this job without being an asshole, and she’s nailing it. Her promotion is not only a recognition of her past accomplishments but a signal of the exciting future ahead. Mathilde, I’m excited to see how you’ll continue to shape Dreamcraft's success and culture as we move forward! Let’s all give her a huge congratulations! 👏 #Dreamcraft #Leadership #VentureCapital #Teamwork #PromotionCelebration

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Over the weekend, Tobi, the founder and CEO of Shopify, discussed the major reason investors passed on Shopify in the early days : market size. I remember that financing round, & I remember having the same concern, & making the same mistake. Living in the valley & driving on 101, the billboards & logo-adorned headquarters of successful companies provide a daily infusion of all the mistakes in I’ve made in guessing how a company or a market might evolve. Years later, I listened as Bill Gurley shared his thoughts about market size. He asked himself a question : whether the startup was increasing, decreasing, or maintaining the market size? (I can’t seem to find the link - but I have it in my notes!) I added that question to my diligence list when meeting startups. Now much later, having seen many companies create categories or reinvigorate aging ones, the question I ask myself has evolved. It’s not as the market size large enough? Instead, it the question is : do we believe this company can create the market? Market size is the output of all the players marketing, selling, building. Their efforts alter, distort, & juice the supply/demand curves of macroeconomics. It’s not a given - not an output or a steady-state CAGR. Often it’s the startups that engender the demand, change the market dynamics, & make markets massive by taking risks with products. When done right, these founders create category-defining businesses like Shopify (now worth $90b)!

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Startup decks vs Business plans. It's accepted that a startup needs a deck. Dax Dasilva of Lightspeed Commerce made an important point on 20VC. Writing a business plan - including financial projections - is an important step. It requires discipline. It provides a rigorous framework for thinking deeply about the problem you're trying to solve. Harry Stebbings countered that he doesn't even want to see a deck since it's all dreams. We spent a lot of time and energy on our business plan with the expectation that we would show it to no one ever. The business plan was part of our roadmap for the company. We researched customers - including having 50+ conversations. We wanted to understand them: their background, their interests, their presence on social media. We also wanted to understand how they were evaluated by leadership and how integrated they were with the business of the company they were protecting. We researched pricing both with potential customers and other products in our industry to find out if OpEx or CapEx was a better fit. How did they buy today? How would they like to buy? We did market research to understand the verticals and map the right entry point - we were wrong but that doesn't reduce the value of the research. We looked at competitors in depth to understand what they were seeing that we weren't. Dax is right. This is an invaluable document that should be updated every year - the company is changing, the market is changing, there's more feedback about price and ICP. It's not for sharing with the outside world. It's a map for driving forward. Decks won't get you investment - VCs invest in people. We make decks but we know they don't tell our story. The deck is a calling card. Dax and Harry are both right. https://lnkd.in/e25M82xY

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YC's Pocket Guide 1. Launch now 2. Build something people want 3. Do things that don't scale 4. Find the 90 / 10 solution 5. Find 10-100 customers who love your product 6. All startups are badly broken at some point 7. Write code - talk to users 8. "It’s not your money" 9. Growth is the result of a great product not the precursor 10. Don’t scale your team/product until you have built something people want 11. Valuation is not equal to success or even probability of success 12. Avoid long negotiated deals with big customers if you can 13. Avoid big company corporate development queries - they will only waste time 14. Avoid conferences unless they are the best way to get customers 15. Pre-product market fit - do things that don’t scale: remain small/nimble 16. Startups can only solve one problem well at any given time 17. Founder relationships matter more than you think 18. Sometimes you need to fire your customers (they might be killing you) 19. Ignore your competitors, you will more likely die of suicide than murder 20. Most companies don't die because they run out of money 21. Be nice! Or at least don’t be a jerk 22. Get sleep and exercise - take care of yourself https://lnkd.in/g4RGixkS

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Weekly Update 8.2.24 ⚡ • One month ago, I posted about how we shifted our operating cadence to better manage the tension between dedicated deep work time vs. managing increased merchant onboarding volume as we scale our Shopify App. A few shifts we made as an organization: 1. Engineering cycles — 2 week sprint on new functionality, 1 week focused on maintenance/tech debt. This ensures we continue shipping at a face clip while dedicating 1 week towards housekeeping. So far so good. 2. Dedicated deep work time — Jennifer is leading the charge by carving out 9 am - 1pm on select days for sacred deep work time, allowing her to focus on her top priority. Others on our team will follow lead by carving out dedicated deep work time and silencing notifications during these hours. I'm delinquent on this! I'll follow suit on this next week. 3. Product-led engineering — we've been inspired by companies like PostHog that champion product-led engineering and people like Arnaud Lassignardie, who takes extreme ownership. Our engineering team at TryNow increasingly makes product decisions, interfaces directly with merchants, and pulls forward our product roadmap. Typically, Product Managers define the "What to build" and Engineers define the "How to build." At TryNow, we're increasingly relying on Engineering to define select components of the "What" in addition to the "How." This level of ownership makes for better products. Josh Rathke, excellent work leading the team in this shift! • Onboarding Ian Schneider, Director of GTM at TryNow.com. Grit and Empathetic Leadership are two core value of ours at TryNow. Ian is as gritty as they come and leads with empathy. He's off to an electric start — 8 new deals created in week 1! ⚡ 🔥 • We're onboarding brands across a variety of new verticals (#TryNewThings): pajamas, fine jewelry, color cosmetics, streetwear, bedding, wedding dresses, and premium sandals. #TryBeforeYouBuy #TryNewThings #Shopify

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A lot of Canadian founders are getting robbed. Yup, you read that right. If you’re a founder that: 1️⃣ Generates revenue in USD 2️⃣ Or, has raised USD funds and if you’re operating in Canada, chances are you need to convert some of those USD funds to CAD to pay your operating expenses or if you’re lucky, maybe you have a cash balance that you want to put away in a GIC for some nice interest. Founders: how are you currently converting your currency? I love our Canadian banks, don’t get me wrong, but they take a massive bite out of your profits when it comes to foreign exchange. DO NOT TRADE CURRENCY WITH YOUR BANKS. Sorry to all my bankers reading this! I know so many founders who learned this lesson the hard way and hopefully this post will save a few of you from making that mistake. Moral of the story? Go find yourself an awesome FX trader. Of course, happy to introduce you to ours (no benefit to us, I just want to help our start-up ecosystem in Canada WIN!)

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Launch YC is one of the coolest pages on Y Combinator's website 💚 There, you will see some of the coolest startup ideas, built by world-class founders - many of whom I'm glad to be friends with. Every YC startup gets a chance to launch their startup there and have YC show it to the world. Launch YC's launches also get sent to thousands of people who subscribe to their newsletter - that way, early adopters can get a step ahead of their competitors by using innovative tools built by YC founders. Today was our turn: we just launched Briefer (YC S23) through Launch YC! If you haven't yet given us an upvote, this is your chance. Link in the comments 👇

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5 new unicorns just got created. Network your way in before the jobs are posted: These companies just hit $1B+ valuations: • Aven (fintech) • Flo Health Inc. (women's health app) • Harvey (legal AI) • Gradiant (cleantech water) • EliseAI (conversational AI) New funding means new headcount, but there's a brief window before jobs are posted. Act now to get ahead: 1. Research their missions and next focus areas (techcrunch funding announcement articles and linkedin profile experience descriptions are good for this) 2. Connect with hiring managers or connections 3. Prepare your pitch with clear positioning DON'T reach out unless you have a very clear positioning and a shot at the role. If you can't already describe what a role you could do with your eyes closed would look like that would be unique to that company, then you may be wasting everyone's time. Your proactive approach could land you a role before it's even open. Just be weary of business health vs. valuation multiples.

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🚀 AI-Powered Fintech on the 23% Share Rise 🚀 ... being an E-Commerce company. Earnings update 🤑 Shopify just pulled the Toronto Stock Exchange out of a 5-week slump with impressive second-quarter results. The tech sector is on the rise, thanks to Shopify's 23% share increase, fueled by its AI-powered e-commerce solutions that outperformed analysts' expectations and set a positive tone for the upcoming quarter. While global FinTech investment cooled in H1 2024, AI and RegTech are shining bright amid the uncertainty. Case in point: NCR Voyix, with a workforce of around 15,000 across 35 countries, has agreed to sell its digital banking product (serving 1,300 financial institutions and over 20 million active users) to Veritas Capital for $2.45 billion. On another note, Monzo Bank, a leading Open Banking and Neobank, just hit 10 million customers in the UK. This highlights a clear trend in how Gen Z prefers to manage their finances, and it’s a trend to watch closely. Stay tuned! #FinTech #AI #Ecommerce #StockMarket #DigitalTransformation #GenZ #RegTech

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35 Days into YC: 3 Real Startup Lessons We Didn't Expect 🪄 #1 Master the Art of the Impromptu Pitch - Keep it magical: Your demo should always tell a story — keep the focal point your users, and make sure they experience the “WOW” moment of your trick. 🎯 #2 Activation Trumps Acquisition: The Real Metric That Matters - At Spur (YC S24) we measure activation by measuring the frequency with our users are creating and running tests on the platform. - Signing up for a demo, a pilot, or even onboarding does *not* signal activation The question that really matters: are your users actually using your product and finding value from it? ✨#3 Make things ridiculously easy for your customers - Set up easy channels of communication with your customers, and be proactive about using them. - Handoff doesn't cut it, your customers should hit the ground running when you onboard them — even if it means you are doing the work to set them up P.S. 👀 Keep an eye out! Exciting things to come from us early next week #ycombinator #AI #Testing

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Initially, Shopify struggled to raise VC because of 1 misunderstood metric. Today its market cap is $86.5B. 😳 Investors evaluating Shopify were stuck on the fact there were already 10,000 e-commerce merchants, causing concern around TAM. But if you don't get TAM right, you won’t be able to calculate slope, which is what you’re supposed to be investing in anyway. You need to answer two questions to get that evaluation right: → Is this a trend that’s going to continue to grow significantly? → Is this a company that’s capable of catalyzing that growth? If investors had answered the above, they would have seen that the addressable market was likely to grow exponentially—and that Shopify was going to be the primary enabler of that growth. In theory, investors get it. But in practice, it's actually very hard to invest in because you have to be able to understand the dynamics of why that increase will happen. One indicator is the rate and quality of progression in a product’s service, particularly if you're a user of a similar product. AI is a great illustration of how this is happening right now. Its progression rate is astonishing. If a service provider's service is getting better over time, you should invest in it with the assumption that it’s progressing exponentially. That's why I'm bullish on Notion right now. The way they've implemented AI indicates that as AI improves, Notion will accrue increasing benefits. Take their recent announcement that inside Notion, users can call on their other apps for information, reinforcing themselves as the front page of where you do work, making it your OS. I break it all down in the video below. Comment any topics you want me to cover for future Whiteboard Wednesdays. 

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