Elad Gil Shares Advice from the High Growth Handbook, a Guide to Scaling Startups

Elad Gil -   / eladgil   - is an entrepreneur, operator, and investor. He cofounded Color Genomics - https://www.color.com/ - and Mixer Labs. Worked at Google and Twitter. And has invested in companies including Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe. He just released the High Growth Handbook - https://www.amazon.com/High-Growth-Ha... - which is a guide to scaling startups published by Stripe Press - http://press.stripe.com/ It contains tactical advice on key issues for post product-market fit companies such as the role of the CEO, hiring executives, late stage fundraising, M&A, and other topics. It also includes interviews with people in tech, including Sam Altman, President of YC Group. You can find the High Growth Handbook on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/High-Growth-Ha... The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon -   / craigcannon   We're accepting applications from startups for the Winter 2019 funding cycle. Apply here: http://ycombinator.com/apply Read the transcript here - https://blog.ycombinator.com/elad-gil... *** Topics 00:14 - Why should an entrepreneur read the High Growth Handbook? 4:45 - On Marc Andreessen's comment, "The companies that charge more tend to grow faster." 6:00 - Myths about startups 7:00 - Leon Coe asks - What types of businesses do you avoid investing in? 8:30 - Things to just say 'no' to 11:50 - Companies that may be too early 14:02 - On Naval Ravikant's comment, "The most successful class of people in silicon valley on a consistent basis are either the venture capitalists, or people who are very good at identifying companies that have just hit product/market fit. They have the background, expertise, and references that those companies really want to help them scale." 16:51 - On Claire Hughes Johnson's "Guide to Working with Claire" 18:50 - Masud Hossain asks - How did most of the companies you interviewed get their first 10 customers? 20:05 - Masud Hossain asks - Is content really king? 22:00 - Narayan Mallapur asks - Where do founders make the most mistakes? Is it on hiring? What steps should they take to avoid these pitfalls? 24:05 - Brianne Kimmel asks - What are some lessons learned in highly regulated sectors? When should you hire a General Counsel? How do you prioritize public policy and lobbying efforts? 28:15 - Media cycles 30:05 - Marius Chawa asks - What are the top three things a startup "must" achieve before VC firms would line up to fund them? 33:55 - Taylor Caforio asks - My company is at our early MVP stage. What is he best way to find a balance between giving our earliest customers the 6 star treatment while also having swift and exponential growth in the back of our minds. 36:04 - Tanmay Khandelwal asks - When you are sprinting in growth stage, how do you predict engineers required and hire accordingly? 37:51 - TD Bryant II asks - When your organization is experiencing exponential growth, how do you choose which functions to outsource vs build/hire? 41:00 - Andrew Pikul asks - Who is your favorite Dragon Ball (Z/GT/Super) villain?