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💭 Just don’t die. That’s the first real lesson. (00:00–01:40) Dalton Caldwell (Managing Director @ YC) shared what he’s learned from advising 1,000+ startups. Not growth hacks. Not pitch tips. Just the brutal truth about what makes startups survive and succeed. Here’s what stood out to me: - Beware the tarpit idea. (00:00–01:40 & 22:04–26:35) Some ideas sound promising, location-based apps, friend meetup platforms, but have quietly eaten hundreds of startups alive. They feel validated…until you realize they’ve been failing for a decade. - The best pivots feel like going home. (01:40–02:45 & 12:23–19:26) The strongest pivots aren’t leaps, they’re returns. Founders who pivot closer to what they deeply understand (like Brex moving from Brazil to US FinTech) tend to unlock traction through lived experience. - Rationally, you should’ve quit, but you didn’t. (05:05–10:13) Every iconic startup has a “we almost died” phase. Airbnb should’ve folded multiple times. What saved them? Not brilliance, just relentless focus and love for the mission. - Talk to users, even when it’s awkward. (40:32–42:51) Great founders push through discomfort. Airbnb pitched renting strangers’ homes to strangers. It wasn’t elegant, but it worked. Conversation is the only reliable UX test. - Founders give up mentally before they run out of cash. (36:14–38:27) Most startups still have money in the bank when they die. What they don’t have is willpower or clarity left. Resilience is the real runway. - Belief is gravity. (49:59–52:00) The best founders warp reality around them. Their conviction attracts talent, capital, and early users. People don’t just believe in the product, they believe in you. - Early growth hacks are overrated. (1:06:24–1:08:26) Instagram didn’t beat Hipstamatic by doing A/B tests. They focused on product, social graph, and sharing. If you don’t have PMF, data won’t save you. - 20 Startup Ideas YC Wants to Fund. (52:00–56:43) From spatial computing to defense tech to industrial revival, there’s never been a better time to build hard, unsexy things. YC doesn’t offer a startup cheat code. But if there was one, it might be: - Get close to users. - Avoid the traps. - Keep going. And again..just don’t die. Full episode: “Lessons from 1,000+ YC Startups” with Dalton Caldwell