Sam Altman on Start-ups, Venture Capital, and the Y Combinator

EconTalk

Library of Economics and Liberty

Books, Interviews, Ethics, Social Sciences, Education, Science, History, Society & Culture, Philosophy, Courses, Economics, Business

4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2014

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sam Altman, president of startup accelerating firm Y Combinator, talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Y Combinator's innovative strategy for discovering, funding, and coaching groundbreaking startups, what the company looks for in a potential startup, and Silicon Valley's attitude toward entrenched firms. The two also discuss Altman's thoughts on sectors of the economy that are ripe for innovation and how new firms are revolutionizing operations in these industries.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:06.4	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:11.0	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find links
0:16.3	and other information related to today's conversation.
0:19.0	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:23.3	back to 2006.
0:25.4	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:27.9	We'd love to hear from you.
0:29.9	Today is July 17th, 2014, and my guest is Sam Altman, president of the Y Combinator,
0:37.8	Sam.
0:38.8	Welcome to Econ Talk.
0:39.8	Thank you for having me.
0:40.8	So tell us a little bit about your background and how you got involved in the Y Combinator.
0:45.1	We interviewed Paul Graham.
0:46.1	See the founder?
0:47.1	Yes.
0:48.1	Five years ago, which was about four years into the life of the Y Combinator.
0:52.5	It's now about how old?
0:53.8	Nine years.
0:55.6	So this is a, some sense, an update on the Y Combinator, but it's also our chance to
0:59.7	get to know you.
1:01.2	And so tell us actually first what the Y Combinator does and then how you got involved.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Library of Economics and Liberty, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Library of Economics and Liberty and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.