#146 - Startup School Week 5 Recap - Kirsty Nathoo and Kevin Hale

Oct 2, 2019

Guest

Kevin Hale

Guest

Kirsty Nathoo

Kirsty Nathoo, Partner and CFO of Y Combinator, shares insights on common financial pitfalls startups encounter and emphasizes the importance of knowing your cash flow and avoiding burnout. Kevin Hale, also a Partner at Y Combinator, discusses the dynamics of co-founder relationships, highlighting how to navigate conflicts and improve teamwork. He provides practical tips for effective communication, stressing the significance of a plan before disagreements arise. Their advice is essential for any startup looking to thrive.

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ADVICE

Realistic Expense Projection

Don't underestimate expenses.
Account for rising costs like employee overhead and increasing customer acquisition costs.

ADVICE

Maintain Financial Oversight

Even with a bookkeeper, founders retain financial responsibility.
Regularly review their reports and question discrepancies to avoid surprises.

ADVICE

Strategic Hiring

Avoid hiring too quickly, especially before achieving product-market fit.
Focus on doing more with less and ensure every hire adds value.

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We've cut down the fifth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.

First a lecture from Kirsty Nathoo. Kirsty is a partner and CFO of YC. Her lecture focuses on the most common mistakes startups make with their finances and how they can avoid making them.

Then a lecture from Kevin Hale. Kevin is also a partner at YC and he’ll talk about the importance of building a successful working relationship with your cofounders and processes you can use to do so.

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

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Topics

00:00 - Intro

00:38 - Kirsty Nathoo - Startup Finance Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

2:08 - #1 - Not knowing what to look at: bank balance, money coming in, and money going out

2:56 - Burn

3:41 - Runway

4:59 - Growth rate

5:48 - Default alive - http://growth.tlb.org and http://paulgraham.com/aord.html

8:09 - #2 - Not looking often enough: every week

9:04 - #3 - Under-Representing Expenses

12:27 - #4 - Out-sourcing responsibility

15:11 - #5 - Scaling too quickly

20:08 - #6 - Letting runway get too low before fundraising - https://blog.ycombinator.com/advice-startups-running-out-of-money/

23:21 - Kevin Hale - How to Work Together

24:49 - Everyone fights

25:43 - Four things to avoid: criticism, contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling

27:40 - Make a plan before you fight: divide and conquer

31:11 - Know thyself - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s9ACDMcpjA

34:12 - Document a process

36:20 - Use nonviolent communication

37:19 - Observation vs evaluation

39:16 - Emotions vs thoughts - https://www.slideshare.net/nonviolent/evaluative-words-list-nonviolent-communication

41:50 - Universal needs

43:38 - Requests vs demands

45:46 - How to Deliver Constructive Feedback in Difficult Situations - https://medium.com/s/please-advise/the-essential-guide-to-difficult-conversations-41f736e63ccf

46:01 - Pay down your emotional debt

47:18 - Practice having level 3 conversations