Dalton + Michael</a> we talk more about this, how to know when you should spend more time validating, and when to just commit. </p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ViqdR5E2wU?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"When Should You Trust Your Gut?\"></iframe></figure>","comment_id":"661ff59beba13d0001fb3198","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/04/TYG.png","featured":false,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-04-17T09:15:23.000-07:00","updated_at":"2024-04-17T10:54:03.000-07:00","published_at":"2024-04-17T09:16:00.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"We often see founders getting this one backwards.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. 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","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":"Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talking; behind them, a unicorn sits at an office desk","feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"648b397882594d000156ffc8","uuid":"804f8013-d217-478a-b8bb-6121ec648a67","title":"Design Review: Aaron Epstein and Garry Tan critique AI startup websites","slug":"design-review-watch-aaron-and-garry","html":"<p>What are you aiming to say with your startup’s website, and what’s actually coming through?<br><br>In this episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ-uHSnFig5PjnaLTBMsCcE7YPye6-xTX\%22>Design Review</a>, YC Group Partner Aaron Epstein is joined by YC President and CEO Garry Tan to take a closer look at what’s working (and what’s not) on the websites of five different AI startups.</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/uIYujpFmvo8?list=PLQ-uHSnFig5PjnaLTBMsCcE7YPye6-xTX\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen></iframe></figure><p>While their feedback is tailored for each company’s page, there’s a ton of advice in there that’d be useful to <em>anyone</em> building a site for their startup — like why being too clever with your copy can backfire, how to use call-to-actions and animation more effectively, and why you should be quick to get people to a live demo and “show off a feat of strength.”</p><p>This episode features four different Y Combinator companies — <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.rosebud.ai//">Rosebud AI</a>, <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.magicflow.ai//">Magicflow, <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://realitydefender.com//">Reality Defender</a>, and <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.pump.co//">Pump  — plus a guest appearance from <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.voiceflow.com//">Voiceflow, a company that volunteered after seeing a previous episode.</p><p>As for what these companies do: figuring that out is part of the fun! 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Is the person giving advice thinking about all the steps they followed in the early parts of their career, or just what’s possible for them today <em>because </em>of those steps?</p><p>For this episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/library/carousel/Dalton &amp; Michael/">Dalton + Michael</a>, Michael and I dig into why some advice givers might be tempted to say “Do as I say, not as I <em>did</em>” and how we try to avoid doing that within YC.  </p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/09mXPGVkfVA?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen title=\"Why You Shouldn&#39;t Copy Your Tech Idols\"></iframe></figure>","comment_id":"6501d59947c9f1000193a180","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/09/DM-tech-idols.jpeg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2023-09-13T08:30:33.000-07:00","updated_at":"2023-09-13T10:20:01.000-07:00","published_at":"2023-09-13T10:20:01.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"For this episode of Dalton + Michael, we dig into why some advice givers might be tempted to say “Do as I say, not as I DID.”","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. 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