Business & Money · Framework
Everything They Teach at Y Combinator
A one-page reference summarizing core startup lessons from Y Combinator.
This reference sheet condenses core advice taught at Y Combinator across fundamental startup stages. It covers practical rules for team formation, idea validation, MVP speed, organic growth, PR, fundraising, and hiring. Founders can use it as a quick benchmark to audit their practices against established accelerator guidance.
The framework
Everything they teach at Y Combinator
Team
- 2-4 co-founders, minimum 50% engineers
- Make sure you have one year's worth of "ramen money" savings
- All founders must quit jobs completely
- No idea required to start
Idea
- Start brainstorming with teammates before ideas solidify
- One member typically has kernel of the idea
- Get early team buy-in and ownership
- Focus on solving personal problems you deeply understand
Initial steps
- Market research: verify billions in market potential
- Legal setup: set up US incorporation
- MVP development: launch within 2 months maximum
Growth
1. Ad experimentation (least recommended)
2. B2B customer references
a. Focus on providing amazing service, helps with word-of-mouth in industry
3. Built-in viral sharing for consumer products
a. Sharing must be core to product usage
PR
- Handle early PR yourself without agencies
- Treat PR like business development: get warm intros, build relationships, provide real value/news
- Focus on actual news: product launches, funding rounds, major hires, significant partnerships
Fundraising
- If you don't need money, people love to give it to you
- Schedule investor meetings within tight time frame
- Create momentum and FOMO, investors move because they have a fear of missing out
- Focus on showing growth
Operations
- Minimize expenses aggressively, get cheaper office space, reduce founder salaries
- Track all expenses monthly, review every line item
- Focus on extending runway
Hiring
- Each hire should increase company's average talent
- If you can't hire someone who's smarter than you, just do it yourself
- Be completely transparent about stock compensation, outstanding shares, salary benchmarks
- Build loyalty with early employees
- Keep team small and efficient, only hire when absolutely necessary
What it's for
- Audit early-stage startup decisions against Y Combinator principles
- Plan fundraising rounds using tight timelines to generate momentum
- Structure founding team equity, runway, and technical ratios
- Prioritize MVP launch speed and organic distribution channels
Key points
- Team guidelines on co-founder numbers, engineering ratios, and runway
- Idea generation principles focused on personal problem solving
- Launch timeline emphasizing 2-month MVP execution
- Distribution hierarchy prioritizing word-of-mouth and virality over paid ads
- Founder-led PR strategy targeting genuine newsworthy milestones
- Fundraising playbook focused on investor FOMO and condensed meeting schedules
- Lean operations advice to extend runway and cut non-essential costs
- High-bar hiring rules and transparent equity compensation advice
Pricing
Free
Details
- Type
- Framework
- Category
- Business & Money
- Topic
- Startup Advice
- Open source
- No
- Platforms
- other
- For
- Early-stage founders, startup operators, and aspiring entrepreneurs.
- Tags
- startups, y combinator, fundraising, entrepreneurship, mvp, hiring
Why it was saved
- @benln: Condenses YC's core playbook into a scannable reference
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Updated