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I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

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Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://blog.shelfie.com/2015/10/20/24-good-books-to-read-her...

1. You are not Sam A. 2. I asked 3 must-read books, not just 24 good ones. 3. The article is published by Kamil Szybalski, rather than Sam A.

Sam has answered this question in various forms and fashions on several past occasions and I thought you would like to know what he said at those times. But feel free to be snarky and swear at us instead.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#102
post #32
post #26

I'm intrigued by your comments that you're interested in funding social networks—it seems like a new one launches on Product Hunt every day, but few are able to overcome the chicken-and-egg problem and achieve scale. What's your take on the best way to make the network useful on day one for a small number of users? What are you looking for in a YC app for a social network (with or without traction)?

The thing we look for the most is a small number of users that are super, super engaged with the product. Most new social networks we see point to their top-level growth of new users. These usually eventually fade. What you want instead is something that starts with a small number of users that use it many times every day. Snapchat is a good recent example of this phenomenon.

Same with

- pinterest: some collection of moms in middle america

- twitter: SF Tech & SXSW

- facebook: ivy league colleges -> colleges -> high schools -> the world

- snapchat: so-cal teenagers

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#104

I'd love to apply, but I'm on a H1-b visa and I'm basically in prison. How did the other international founders you worked with get around the immigration mess to start a company?

There's a lot of information on the Internet about how to do this, but obviously you should talk to an immigration lawyer.

It really sucks and I think it's a stupid system, but there will be far greater obstacles on your path to being a successful founder.

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