Jessica Livingston at Female Founders Conference 2014

Livingston describes launching YC in 2005 while still working at an investment bank, then leaving after the first interview weekend. She says she had little startup experience but was deeply interested in helping founders and testing whether lower startup costs would encourage more people to start companies.

YC began by funding a group of startups over one summer, and Livingston says the batch format proved valuable because founders could learn from peers facing the same challenges. She also describes how YC grew through early adopters, including programmers who read Paul Graham’s essays, and says successful startups such as Airbnb grew from a small group of devoted users.

Livingston emphasizes determination, empathy for users, making something people want, living cheaply, and focus. She warns that founders face rejection and may run out of money before finding the right direction, and says limited time should go toward the most important task.

Drawing on her experience as a parent and a shy, behind-the-scenes co-founder, Livingston discusses the trade-offs of starting a company with children and of having a quieter public profile. She says nontechnical women may have a harder time finding technical co-founders, suggests learning to program or building relationships with programmers, and notes that 34.5% of YC startups with female founders had a founder who started with a significant other.

Livingston says YC had been funding more startups with female founders in recent years and reported that 25% of the current batch had female founders. She suggests 2014 could later be seen as a turning point and credits the women at the conference with the potential to drive that change.