The social radar: Y Combinator’s secret weapon | Jessica Livingston (co-founder of Y Combinator, author, podcast host)

Jessica Livingston is a co-founder of Y Combinator, the first and most successful startup accelerator. Y Combinator has funded over 5,000 companies, 200 of which are now unicorns, including Airbnb, Dropbox, DoorDash, Stripe, Coinbase, and Reddit. Jessica played a crucial role in YC’s early success, when she was nicknamed the “social radar” because of her uncanny ability to quickly evaluate people—an essential skill when investing in early-stage startups. She’s also the host of the popular podcast The Social Radars, where she interviews billion-dollar-startup founders, and the author of the acclaimed book Founders at Work, which captures the origin stories of some of today’s most interesting companies. In our conversation, we discuss: • How Jessica gained the affectionate title of the “social radar” • Why defensive founders are a red flag • How to develop your social radar • What she looks for in founders during YC interviews • How YC’s early inexperience in angel investing led to the batch model • Her favorite stories from interviews with Airbnb, Rippling, and more • Lessons learned from hosting her own podcast • Much more — Brought to you by: • Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth • Anvil—The fastest way to build software for documents • Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-social-radar-jessica-livingston — Where to find Jessica Livingston: • X: https://x.com/jesslivingston • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicalivingston1/ • Podcast: https://www.thesocialradars.com/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Jessica’s background (02:42) Thoughts on being under-recognized (07:52) Jessica’s superpower: the social radar (15:11) Evaluating founders: key traits and red flags (21:00) The Airbnb story: a lesson in hustle and determination (25:57) A YC success story (28:26) The importance of earnestness (32:45) Confidence vs. defensiveness (34:43) Commitment and co-founder disputes (37:46) Relentless resourcefulness (40:00) Jessica’s social radar: origins and insights (43:24) Honing her social radar skills (45:44) Conviction and scams: a Y Combinator story (46:50) The interview process: challenges and insights (48:20) Operationalizing founder evaluation (49:38) Advice for building social radar skills (52:08) The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” quiz (55:19) Jessica’s podcast: The Social Radars (01:00:34) Lessons from podcasting and interviewing (01:09:58) Lightning round — Referenced: • Paul Graham’s post about Jessica: https://paulgraham.com/jessica.html • Paul Graham on X: https://x.com/paulg • Robert Tappan Morris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Tappan_Morris • Trevor Blackwell on X: https://x.com/tlbtlbtlb • Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/ • “The Founders” examines the rise and legend of PayPal: https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/02/19/the-founders-examines-the-rise-and-legend-of-paypal • Patrick Collison on X: https://x.com/patrickc • John Collison on X: https://x.com/collision • Brian Chesky on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/ • Nate Blecharczyk on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blecharczyk/ • Joe Gebbia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgebbia/ • Airbnb’s CEO says a $40 cereal box changed the course of the multibillion-dollar company: https://fortune.com/2023/04/19/airbnb-ceo-cereal-box-investors-changed-everything-billion-dollar-company/ • Parker Conrad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parkerconrad/ • Zenefits: https://connect.trinet.com/hr-platform • Goat: https://www.goat.com/ • Eddy Lu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddylu/ • Drew Houston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston/ • Arash Ferdowsi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arashferdowsi/ • Lessons from 1,000+ YC startups: Resilience, tar pit ideas, pivoting, more | Dalton Caldwell (Y Combinator, Managing Director): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-1000-yc-startups •Bitcoin launderer pleads guilty, admits to massive Bitfinex hack: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/03/new-york-man-admits-being-original-bitfinex-hacker-during-guilty-plea-in-dc-to-bitcoin-money-laundering.html • Paul Graham’s tweet with the facial recognition test: https://x.com/paulg/status/1782875262855663691 • SmartLess podcast: https://www.smartless.com • Jason Bateman on X: https://x.com/batemanjason • Will Arnett on X: https://x.com/arnettwill • Sean Hayes on X: https://x.com/seanhayes • The Social Radars with Tony Xu, Co-Founder & CEO of DoorDash: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Ja-tony-xu-co-founder-ceo-of-doordash • The Social Radars with Brian Chesky: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/JW-brian-chesky-co-founder-ceo-of-airbnb • The Social Radars with Patrick and John Collison: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Kx-patrick-john-collison-co-founders-of-stripe • The Social Radars with Brian Armstrong: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/K3-brian-armstrong-co-founder-and-ceo-of-coinbase • The Social Radars with Emmett Shear: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/KM-emmett-shear-co-founder-of-twitch • The Social Radars with Paul Graham: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/JV-paul-graham-co-founder-of-y-combinator-and-viaweb • The Social Radars with Adora Cheung: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/L0-adora-cheung-co-founder-of-homejoy-instalab • Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days: https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Work-Stories-Startups-Early/dp/1430210788 • Startup School: https://www.startupschool.org/ • The Social Radars with Parker Conrad: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Ky-parker-conrad-founder-of-zenefits-rippling • Rippling: https://www.rippling.com/ • Carry on, Jeeves: https://www.amazon.com/Carry-Jeeves-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486848957 • Very Good, Jeeves: https://www.amazon.com/Very-Good-Jeeves-Wooster-Book-ebook/dp/B0051GST06 • Right Ho, Jeeves: https://www.amazon.com/Right-Ho-Jeeves-P-Wodehouse-ebook/dp/B083FFDNHN/ • Life: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Keith-Richards-ebook/dp/B003UBTX72/ • My Name Is Barbra: https://www.amazon.com/My-Name-Barbra-Streisand/dp/0525429522 • Clarkson’s Farm on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Clarksons-Farm-Season-1/dp/B095RHJ52R • Schitt’s Creek on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/schitts-creek-a2e7a946-9652-48a8-884b-3ea7ea4de273 • Yellowstone on Peacock: https://www.peacocktv.com/stream-tv/yellowstone • Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama • Justin Kan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinkan/ • Alexis Ohanian on X: https://x.com/alexisohanian • Steve Huffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shuffman56/ • Breaking News: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Reddit: https://techcrunch.com/2006/10/31/breaking-news-conde-nastwired-acquires-reddit/ • Charles River Venture: https://www.crv.com/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe