The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Michael Seibel, chief executive of Y Combinator, the storied Silicon Valley startup bootcamp, to talk about why chaotic markets are good for startups (3:50), how he ended up at YC (6:20), the importance of clarity (7:50), why it’s both easier and harder than ever to launch a company (9:10), the power of the big guys (11:35), the need for regulation (13:45), what has changed since he arrived to Silicon Valley in 2006 (18:05), why bigger is better for YC’s model (20:30), peak accelerator (24:05), getting pitched his own idea (26:10), tackling the diversity challenge (27:30), tech’s number one problem (30:10), how startups are like the NBA (34:30), stupidity vs genius (37:00), how Facebook and Google are cautionary tales (39:30), competing against Big Tech’s money (42:45), artificial intelligence (46:40), and whether scooters are overhyped (49:20)
Plug and Play's Saeed Amidi: "We invest a little money, then pray a lot"
Uber's Frances Frei: "Culture can kill a company, full stop"
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: "Make Data Great Again"
Marc Andreessen: "Darwin has kicked in"
SPECIAL: inside Silicon Valley's quest to defeat ageing
Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff: "You just bankrupted the company."
Pullstring CEO Oren Jacob: “Alexa, order me 100 gallons of chocolate ice cream”
Headspace CEO Rich Pierson: ”This is my business partner, the ex-Buddhist monk.”
Evernote founder Phil Libin: “I sold my first company for $500”
Planet CEO Will Marshall: "We swept the leaves out of the garage and started building satellites"
True Ventures' Jon Callaghan: 'You've got to fail with class'
Thumbtack CEO Marco Zappacosta: "We got 42 'no's' before we got a 'yes'"
Mitch and Freada Kapor: "Uber is a seven-foot tall 12-year old"
Slack co-founder Cal Henderson: 'Email is the cockroach of the Internet'
Meta AR's Ryan Pamplin: "The end of the flatties"
Jason Calacanis: "A cacophony of idiots"
Comet Labs' Saman Farid: "Let's be friends with the robots"
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