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: lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-soci… — Where to find Jessica Livingston: • X: x.com/jesslivingston • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessicalivingst… • Podcast: thesocialradars.com — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: lennysnewsletter.com • X: • LinkedIn: — In this episode, we cover: — Referenced: • Paul Graham’s post about Jessica: • Paul Graham on X: • Robert Tappan Morris: • Trevor Blackwell on X: • Y Combinator: • “The Founders” examines the rise and legend of PayPal: • Patrick Collison on X: • John Collison on X: • Brian Chesky on LinkedIn: • Nate Blecharczyk on LinkedIn: • Joe Gebbia on LinkedIn: • Airbnb’s CEO says a $40 cereal box changed the course of the multibillion-dollar company: • Parker Conrad on LinkedIn: • Zenefits: • Goat: • Eddy Lu on LinkedIn: • Drew Houston on LinkedIn: • Arash Ferdowsi on LinkedIn: • Lessons from 1,000+ YC startups: Resilience, tar pit ideas, pivoting, more | Dalton Caldwell (Y Combinator, Managing Director): •Bitcoin launderer pleads guilty, admits to massive Bitfinex hack: • Paul Graham’s tweet with the facial recognition test: • SmartLess podcast: • Jason Bateman on X: • Will Arnett on X: • Sean Hayes on X: • The Social Radars with Tony Xu, Co-Founder & CEO of DoorDash: • The Social Radars with Brian Chesky: • The Social Radars with Patrick and John Collison: • The Social Radars with Brian Armstrong: • The Social Radars with Emmett Shear: • The Social Radars with Paul Graham: • The Social Radars with Adora Cheung: • Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days: • Startup School: • The Social Radars with Parker Conrad: • Rippling: • Carry on, Jeeves: • Very Good, Jeeves: • Right Ho, Jeeves: • Life: • My Name Is Barbra: • Clarkson’s Farm on Prime: • Schitt’s Creek on Hulu: • Yellowstone on Peacock: • Sam Altman on X: • Justin Kan on LinkedIn: • Alexis Ohanian on X: • Steve Huffman on LinkedIn: • Breaking News: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Reddit: • Charles River Venture: — Production and marketing by . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.