Jessica Livingston
Jessica Livingston
Jessica Livingstonis an author and a founding partner of the seed stage venture firm Y Combinator. She also organizes Startup School. Previously, she was the VP of marketing at Adams Harkness Financial Group. She has a B.A. in English from Bucknell University...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinesswoman
CountryUnited States of America
sight errors people
Starting a startup is a process of trial and error. What guided the founders through this process was their empathy for the users. They never lost sight of making things that people would want.
successful media path
The media often glamorizes successful founders and makes their paths seem easier than they actually were.
ideas people innovation
People like the idea of innovation in the abstract, but when you present them with any specific innovation, they tend to reject it because it doesn't fit with what they already know.
innovation battle retrospect
Innovations seem inevitable in retrospect, but at the time it's an uphill battle.
skills apples knowing
My skills weren't that I knew how to design a floppy disk, I knew how to design a printer interface, I knew how to design a modem interface; it was that, when the time came and I had to get one done, I would design my own, fresh, without knowing how other people do it. That was another thing that made me very good. All the best things that I did at Apple came from (a) not having money, and (b) not having done it before, ever. Every single thing that we came out with that was really great, I'd never once done that thing in my life.
judging challenges together
Finding a programmer to work with if you don't already know one will be a challenge. Merely judging if a programmer is exceptional vs. competent will be very hard if you are not one yourself. When you do find someone, work together informally for a while to test your compatibility.
computer difficult english-major
Finding a technical cofounder would have been difficult for me. I was an English major and didn't know any computer programmers.
years enough projects
Pick a big enough project, something that's really hard, something that over the years you can work on.
moving steps want
You've got to say you are a step ahead of where you actually are to move to the step that you want to be at.
together endure
Cofounders will endure so much together that their relationship is often compared to a marriage.