Good interview, but it's a bit weird that while the majority of it focuses on the failures, there were only a few sentences that highlighted what changed to bring success. More or less, they were:
"And I would say the most value [from YCombinator] comes at the end of the program when you get to get in front of a whole bunch of, a room full of investors ... I think what we needed the most at that moment in time was to get the same room together and really just work 110%"
But if I recall correctly, didn't PG recently mention that Airbnb was one of only two YC companies that didn't present at demo day? I guess that's irrelevant, because the reason is that they already had sufficient investment. Still, he only mentions two points: (1) they got an investment, and (2) they worked harder.
I'd love to hear more things specific to the task of achieving critical mass. How much did the free press from being a YC company with a big seed round help out? Did they abandon tying their site to particular events? What were their SEO strategies? etc
Thanks for the suggestions and the feedback, I really appreciate it! Reflecting back on the interview now, I do agree that there were a few additional useful snippets I should have included in the final edit to round out the story.
"And I would say the most value [from YCombinator] comes at the end of the program when you get to get in front of a whole bunch of, a room full of investors ... I think what we needed the most at that moment in time was to get the same room together and really just work 110%"
But if I recall correctly, didn't PG recently mention that Airbnb was one of only two YC companies that didn't present at demo day? I guess that's irrelevant, because the reason is that they already had sufficient investment. Still, he only mentions two points: (1) they got an investment, and (2) they worked harder.
I'd love to hear more things specific to the task of achieving critical mass. How much did the free press from being a YC company with a big seed round help out? Did they abandon tying their site to particular events? What were their SEO strategies? etc