What I've Learned from Users

September 2022 I recently told applicants to Y Combinator that the best advice I could give for getting in, per word, was Explain what you've learned from users.

2022 年 9 月 我最近告诉 Y Combinator 的申请者，对于进入 Y Combinator，我能给的最好建议是解释你从用户那里学到了什么。

That tests a lot of things: whether you're paying attention to users, how well you understand them, and even how much they need what you're making.

这测试了很多事情：你是否关注用户，你对他们的了解程度，甚至他们对你所制作的产品的需要程度。

Afterward I asked myself the same question.

后来我也问了自己同样的问题。

What have I learned from YC's users, the startups we've funded?

我从 YC 的用户和我们资助的初创公司那里学到了什么？

The first thing that came to mind was that most startups have the same problems.

我首先想到的是大多数初创公司都面临着同样的问题。

No two have exactly the same problems, but it's surprising how much the problems remain the same, regardless of what they're making.

没有两个人会遇到完全相同的问题，但令人惊讶的是，无论他们制造什么，问题仍然如此。

Once you've advised 100 startups all doing different things, you rarely encounter problems you haven't seen before.

一旦你为 100 家初创公司提供了建议，他们都在做不同的事情，你就很少会遇到以前没有遇到过的问题。

This fact is one of the things that makes YC work.

这一事实是 YC 发挥作用的原因之一。

But I didn't know it when we started YC.

但当我们开始 YC 时我并不知道这一点。

I only had a few data points: our own

我只有几个数据点：我们自己的

startup, and those started by friends.

初创公司，以及由朋友发起的公司。

It was a surprise to me how often the same problems recur in different forms.

令我惊讶的是，同样的问题经常以不同的形式重复出现。

Many later stage investors might never realize this, because later stage investors might not advise 100 startups in their whole career, but a YC partner will get this much experience in the first year or two.

许多后期投资者可能永远不会意识到这一点，因为后期投资者可能不会在其整个职业生涯中为 100 家初创公司提供建议，但 YC 合伙人将在头一两年获得这么多经验。

That's one advantage of funding large numbers of early stage companies rather than smaller numbers of later-stage ones.

这是为大量早期阶段公司而不是少数后期阶段公司提供资金的优势之一。

You get a lot of

你会得到很多

data.

数据。

Not just because you're looking at more companies, but also because more goes wrong.

不仅因为你正在寻找更多的公司，还因为更多的公司出了问题。

But knowing (nearly) all the problems startups can encounter doesn't mean that advising them can be automated, or reduced to a formula.

但了解（几乎）初创公司可能遇到的所有问题并不意味着向他们提供建议可以自动化，或简化为公式。

There's no substitute for individual office hours with a YC partner.

与 YC 合作伙伴的单独办公时间是无可替代的。

Each startup is unique, which means they have to be advised by specific partners who know them well.

每家初创公司都是独一无二的，这意味着它们必须得到熟悉它们的特定合作伙伴的建议。

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We learned that the hard way, in the notorious "batch that broke YC" in the summer of 2012.

我们在 2012 年夏天臭名昭著的“破坏 YC 的批次”中惨痛地认识到了这一点。

Up till that point we treated the partners as a pool.

在那之前，我们将合作伙伴视为一个群体。

When a startup requested office hours, they got the next available slot posted by any partner.

当初创公司请求办公时间时，他们会得到任何合作伙伴发布的下一个可用时间段。

That meant every partner had to know every startup.

这意味着每个合作伙伴都必须了解每个初创公司。

This worked fine up to 60 startups, but when the batch grew to 80, everything broke.

这对于 60 家初创公司来说效果很好，但当批次增加到 80 家时，一切都崩溃了。

The founders probably didn't

创始人可能没有

realize anything was wrong, but the partners were confused and unhappy because halfway through the batch they still didn't know all the companies yet.

意识到出了什么问题，但合伙人感到困惑和不满，因为批次进行到一半时，他们仍然不了解所有公司。

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