#147 - Startup School Week 6 Recap - Tim Brady on Culture and Dalton Caldwell on Pivoting

We've cut down the sixth week of lectures to be even shorter and combined them into one podcast.First a lecture from Tim Brady. Tim’s a partner at YC. His lecture covers the importance of building a good culture early and shares six things that you can do now to help create a solid foundation for your startup.Then a lecture from Dalton Caldwell. Dalton is a partner at YC and he’s also the head of admissions. His lecture covers pivoting and his advice on how founders should think about it.Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/***Topics00:00 - Intro00:38 - Tim Brady on Building Culture1:13 - Culture is behavior and the right behaviors support a good business 4:38 - Six things new startups can do now5:00 - 1. Be proud of the problem you are solving7:31 - 2. Create a long term vision that others will follow9:36 - 3. List your values then model the behavior12:34 - 4. Align your culture with your customer14:49 - 5. Discuss the importance of diversity to your company16:43 - 6. Put a hiring process into practice. Plan to evolve it.18:24 - Dalton Caldwell on Pivoting18:53 - The term "pivot"20:20 - Why pivot?21:33 - Good reasons to pivot22:35 - Good reasons not to pivot23:13 - Why people take too long to pivot26:01 - Anecdotes27:22 - Product market fit28:34 - How to find a better idea30:40 - It's ok to not work on an idea that requires venture capital31:34 - Venture vs. non-venture scale ideas 32:52 - When is the best time to pivot33:48 - More pivoting thoughts 35:07 - Idea quality scores37:11 - Brex39:51 - Retool 41:37 - Magic43:22 - Segment45:16 - Dalton's summary