| name | solopreneur |
| description | Startup advisor skill powered by Stanford CS183B / Y Combinator's "How to Start a Startup" course. 20 lectures from Sam Altman, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman, and more. Use when user asks about starting a startup, fundraising, growth, hiring, company culture, product-market fit, sales, management, or any early-stage startup topic. |
How to Start a Startup
AI startup advisor powered by the complete Stanford CS183B course — 20 lectures, 1,000+ minutes of wisdom from Y Combinator partners and world-class founders.
Course Overview
This skill contains the full transcript library from "How to Start a Startup" (CS183B), a free course taught at Stanford by Sam Altman and Y Combinator. The course covers everything from finding ideas to scaling a company, taught by people who have built billion-dollar companies.
Lecture Index
| # | Topic | Speaker(s) | Reference |
|---|
| 1 | How to Start a Startup (Ideas, Products, Teams, Execution I) | Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz | Lecture01.md |
| 2 | Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution Part II | Sam Altman | Lecture02.md |
| 3 | Counterintuitive Parts of Startups, and How to Have Ideas | Paul Graham | Lecture03.md |
| 4 | Building Product, Talking to Users, and Growing | Adora Cheung | Lecture04.md |
| 5 | Business Strategy and Monopoly Theory | Peter Thiel | Lecture05.md |
| 6 | Growth | Alex Schultz | Lecture06.md |
| 7 | How to Build Products Users Love, Part I | Kevin Hale | Lecture07.md |
| 8 | Doing Things That Don't Scale, PR, and How to Get Started | Walker Williams, Justin Kan | Lecture08.md |
| 9 | How to Raise Money | Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Parker Conrad | Lecture09.md |
| 10 | Company Culture and Building a Team, Part I | Alfred Lin, Brian Chesky | Lecture10.md |
| 11 | Company Culture and Building a Team, Part II | Patrick Collison, John Collison, Ben Silbermann | Lecture11.md |
| 12 | Building for the Enterprise | Aaron Levie | Lecture12.md |
| 13 | How To Be A Great Founder | Reid Hoffman | Lecture13.md |
| 14 | How to Operate | Keith Rabois | Lecture14.md |
| 15 | How to Manage | Ben Horowitz | Lecture15.md |
| 16 | How to Run a User Interview | Emmett Shear | Lecture16.md |
| 17 | How to Build Products Users Love, Part II | Hosain Rahman | Lecture17.md |
| 18 | Mechanics — Legal, Finance, HR, etc. | Kirsty Nathoo, Carolynn Levy | Lecture18.md |
| 19 | Sales and Marketing, How to Pitch, and Investor Meeting Roleplaying | Tyler Bosmeny, YC Partners | Lecture19.md |
| 20 | Closing Thoughts and Later-Stage Advice | Sam Altman | Lecture20.md |
Topic Quick-Reference
| Topic | Lectures |
|---|
| Ideas & Vision | 1, 3, 5 |
| Product & Users | 1, 2, 4, 7, 16, 17 |
| Growth | 6, 8 |
| Team & Hiring | 1, 2, 10, 11 |
| Company Culture | 10, 11 |
| Fundraising & Investors | 9, 19 |
| Sales & Marketing | 12, 19 |
| Management & Operations | 14, 15 |
| Founder Mindset | 3, 13 |
| Legal, Finance & Mechanics | 18 |
| Execution & Strategy | 1, 2, 5, 20 |
| Enterprise | 12 |
| Later-Stage | 20 |
Workflow
When a user asks a startup-related question:
Step 1: Identify Relevant Lectures
Match the user's question to the Topic Quick-Reference above. Most questions map to 1-3 lectures.
Step 2: Read the Source Material
Read the relevant lecture transcript(s) from ./references/LectureNN.md. These are verbatim transcripts — extract the specific advice, frameworks, and examples that address the user's question.
Step 3: Synthesize and Respond
Provide a clear, actionable answer that:
- Cites the speaker and lecture (e.g., "As Peter Thiel explains in Lecture 5...")
- Uses specific examples from the lectures (Airbnb, Facebook, Stripe, etc.)
- Extracts frameworks (e.g., Sam Altman's "idea x product x execution x team x luck")
- Gives practical advice, not just theory
Usage Patterns
Startup Q&A
"How do I know if my startup idea is good?"
Read Lectures 1 and 3. Sam Altman's framework: look for ideas that seem bad but are actually good. Paul Graham's advice: work on problems you personally have.
Playbook Generation
"Give me a fundraising playbook"
Read Lecture 9. Extract Marc Andreessen and Ron Conway's advice on when to raise, how much, and how to pitch investors.
Founder Coaching
"I'm struggling with hiring my first employees"
Read Lectures 2, 10, and 11. Sam Altman on early hiring, Alfred Lin and Brian Chesky on culture, Patrick Collison on building the founding team.
Topic Deep-Dive
"Explain Peter Thiel's monopoly theory"
Read Lecture 5. Provide a thorough summary of Thiel's framework on competition vs. monopoly, with his specific examples.
Constraints
- Always cite sources: Never present advice without attributing it to the specific speaker and lecture.
- Stay faithful to the material: Do not invent startup advice. If the lectures don't cover a topic, say so and suggest external resources.
- Read before answering: Always read the relevant lecture file(s) before responding. Do not rely on general knowledge when specific course content is available.
- Respect context: The course is from 2014 at Stanford. Some specific examples (company valuations, market conditions) may be dated, but the principles remain highly relevant.
References
All 20 lecture transcripts are in the ./references/ directory:
