How to Start a Startup (Y Combinator and Stanford CS183B)
- Course audio
- Course audio: English
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- 21 lessons · 16.6 hours
What you'll be able to do
- Judge whether an idea is worth building
- Understand growth, product and talking to users
- Know how early-stage fundraising works
- Learn how founders build culture and hire
About this course
The 2014 lecture course How to Start a Startup, taught at Stanford as CS183B and published on Y Combinator's YC Root Access channel: 20 lectures of about 45 to 50 minutes in order, roughly 16 hours. Sam Altman and Dustin Moskovitz open with ideas, product, team and execution; Paul Graham speaks on what to do before the startup; Adora Cheung on building product and talking to users; Peter Thiel on competition; Alex Schultz on growth; Kevin Hale on products users love; Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway and Parker Conrad on raising money; Brian Chesky and Alfred Lin on culture; the Collison brothers on hiring; plus sessions on operating, managing, legal and accounting basics, sales and later-stage advice.
Before you start: No prior knowledge needed
Syllabus
21 lessons · 16:33:32 in total
- 1Lecture 1 - How to Start a Startup (Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz)43:53
- 2Lecture 2 - Team and Execution (Sam Altman)46:19
- 3Lecture 3 - Before the Startup (Paul Graham)48:08
- 4Lecture 4 - Building Product, Talking to Users, and Growing (Adora Cheung)52:22
- 5Lecture 5 - Competition is for Losers (Peter Thiel)50:17
- 6Lecture 6 - Growth (Alex Schultz)47:28
- 7Lecture 7 - How to Build Products Users Love (Kevin Hale)48:02
- 8Lecture 8 - How to Get Started, Doing Things that Don't Scale, Press52:14
- 9Lecture 9 - How to Raise Money (Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Parker Conrad)50:11
- 10Lecture 10 - Culture (Brian Chesky, Alfred Lin)50:26
- 11Lecture 11 - Hiring and Culture, Part 2 (Patrick and John Collison, Ben Silbermann)50:37
- 12Lecture 12 - Building for the Enterprise (Aaron Levie)46:20
- 13Lecture 13 - How to be a Great Founder (Reid Hoffman)49:47
- 14Lecture 14 - How to Operate (Keith Rabois)46:39
- 15Lecture 15 - How to Manage (Ben Horowitz)49:43
- 16Lecture 16 - How to Run a User Interview (Emmett Shear)46:27
- 17Lecture 17 - How to Design Hardware Products (Hosain Rahman)47:16
- 18Lecture 18 - Legal and Accounting Basics for Startups (Kirsty Nathoo, Carolynn Levy)48:19
- 19Lecture 19 - Sales and Marketing; How to Talk to Investors (Tyler Bosmeny; YC Partners)48:51
- 20Lecture 20 - Later-stage Advice (Sam Altman)48:30
- 21YC Startup Talk for Students, 202221:43
What to take next
Videos by YC Root Access, played from their official YouTube channel. Subscribe on YouTube
Official upload by the teacher or institution on their own channel, shown with YouTube's embedded player.
Lessons listed from the official YouTube playlist. Full playlist on YouTube
Lessons last checked Oct 2026. Course summary and lesson structure by Sabaq.
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