I'm participating in the YC Future Founders course which started this week. I'm planning on sharing a quick update each week.

W1, there was an intro video by Geoff and we were asked to read two essays from PG: Why to Not Not Start a Startup and Before the Startup.

Then there was an exercise on 'Should I Start a Startup?'

The exercise referenced the 16 reasons in the essay and we were asked if there are any more reasons and which apply to us currently.

We then listed each reason and if we consider it a major or minor blocker and to write down what it would take to overcome the blocker.

For me:
US work visa was top of my list. I'm currently in the US on L1 visa which is tied to my employment and would have to leave the US if I left my job. I quite like it here so I don't want to leave in order to start a startup. However I'm very close to getting perm residency.

Finding the right cofounder is also a major blocker right now but something I'm actively working on.

Some minor blockers:
- Health Insurance in the US which for both my wife and I is linked to my job.
- If I'm ready for the commitment since I value my freedom and I know that will change dramatically when I start a startup.

- The pandemic is also making me wonder if timing is right but the more I think about it the more I think it could actually be an opportunity since the industry I'm thinking about is going through dramatic changes. Change = Opportunity.

Finally, I want to build a software business and I wanted to improve my programming. I started young but I'm self taught and wanted to go though a structured and intensive course, so in Sep 2019 I started Lambda School, part time, 3hrs a day, 5 days a week for 18 months.

I paid the $20k up-front so I don't have the ISA. It's going really well. You can read more about my motivations with Lambda School here: https://twitter.com/PeteDram/status/1170473240684183552?s=20

W2, focused on startup ideas. There was a video by Jared Friedman on “How to Get Startup Ideas” and the PG essay with the same title.

Then there was an exercise on generating startup ideas where we were asked to generate three potential startup ideas. For each idea, we completed the "idea quality score" rubric and why the idea might or might not be a good idea.

Here is the idea quality score formula from Dalton Caldwell:

Here are the seven recipes for thinking up Startup ideas (in order of best to worst):

1. Start with what your team is especially good at and think of ideas your team have an unfair advantage in executing. This is automatic founder/market fit. Go through work history and consider the unique skills you learned. What seemed broken? What did you develop in-house?

About 50% of the most successful companies YC has funded used this first method.

2. Think of things you wish someone else would build for you.

3. What would you be excited to work on for 10 years, even if it did not succeed, what things are you really passionate about? This one can lead founders astray where passionate but not a big business (e.g. stamp collecting).

4. Look for things which have changed in the world recently, think of ideas now possible because of the change e.g. new tech, new dev platform, new regulation, new problem in the world - what are waves that you could ride?

5. Find companies that have been successful recently and find new variants of them. This is a common way but usually not the best one e.g: Uber for X or Airbnb for Y - often solutions in search of problems. Be default skeptical of ideas generated this way.

6. Crowdsource coming up with ideas by asking what problems people want solved. Downside is people are often bad at startup ideas. Better to solve your own problems.

7. Look for industries that seem broken. Often good for disruption. Not good if you are not expert in the industry.