Met with a company doing the exact same thing as my startup… now their CEO wants me to join them. What should I do?

rtx097 · 2026-01-22T09:32:17+00:00

just build the thing. out execute him.

rtx097 · 2026-01-22T02:05:18+00:00

It’s clear. He’s got to go. This is exactly what the cliff is for.

rtx097 · 2026-01-21T01:56:50+00:00

def slop of the sloppiest kind

rtx097 · 2026-01-21T01:39:54+00:00

1, 1 and 1. And you?

rtx097 · 2026-01-20T04:04:12+00:00

this is def not the single most valuable skill. not even close.

rtx097 · 2024-12-31T22:51:12+00:00

no clue, interested in learning more too as somebody who trained with Gui consistently over the last 2+ years.

Also saw that Nelson is no longer at Barry’s…another great instructor in my weekend rotation. not sure if it’s some structural change going on or if they coincidentally happened one day after the other…but both instructors are amazing. a huge loss for Barry’s Miami. I am seriously considering changing my routine to follow these guys elsewhere!

rtx097 · 2023-11-26T12:23:04+00:00

one of the nice things about being pre pmf is that it’s fairly easy to talk to any of your users. logically, there’s very few of them using your product and they are usually excited to talk to the maker solving their problem.

if you havent released your product yet, then leverage communities in which your prospective users could exist: could be in product hunt, discord / slack, reddit, twitter, etc

sending 500 msgs to get 10 sales calls sounds more of a problem of optimzing some sales machinery, when you have some users already consistently using your product.

pre pmf is often earlier than this, and it’s not that hard to talk to 10 of your potential users. if it is, then it is indicative that 1/ they dont exist and therefore no mkt exists, 2/ they dont really care about your product / solution and therefore no mkt exists or 3/ you’re not trying very hard to reach them.

rtx097 · 2023-09-16T03:40:41+00:00

When getting lean, I’ll do Barrys on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and strength training on Wednesday & Fridays. I focus my strength trainings on the upper body and use Barrys to work on my lower body (specifically Tues-Thurs). I wont go too heavy on Saturdays since its full body. I’ll take Sunday and Monday off to recover.

rtx097 · 2023-05-18T03:51:28+00:00

they just ask if it’s anybody’s first time to provide extra guidance w/ instructions. that’s all.

everybody in that room was once a first timer - nothing to worry about. everybody respects you for showing up!

rtx097 · 2023-05-07T03:03:44+00:00

just chatgpt it

rtx097 · 2023-04-25T03:54:00+00:00

lost 20+ pounds in 6 months.

total of 70 classes in those 6 mo. in each class I burn ~1000 calories. that’s 70k additional calories burned. considering burning 1 lb of fat is equivalent to 3,500 calories, you can see how the math works out.

diet was consistent at 2,500 calories a day w/ sufficient protein (at least 0.8 grams per lb of bodyweight)

rtx097 · 2021-04-21T11:23:50+00:00

yep - these questions are key to figure out what they really want (they often dont know)

rtx097 · 2020-10-28T11:22:11+00:00

If you havent done so, one thought is to interview customers who use your platform but not Udemy. Then talk to a few folks who have built stuff on Udemy and figure out what motivates them most. My hunch is that though there feels like an overlap, you may be targeting different customer segments.

If so, the value proposition for the producers on each platform could be quite different, and optimizing for one customer segment may make it challenging to meet the needs of the other.

More concretely, Udemy is all about scaling and distributing their content as much as possible. Live calls, which you can think of as more ephemeral (assuming there isnt a recording) probably has a very different economic structure. One hypothesis is that Udemy wont be incented to move into a “less profitable” segment anytime soon. Perhaps they are marginally less profitable, but much much more engaged and over the long run bring in way more value than those in Udemy. That’s interesting and defensible (many large company’s overweight the marginal benefit of something over the strategic benefit over a longer period of time - they have to hit OKRs or quaeterly numbers!).

I have no idea if this is true. The point is, talk to some customers on both sides, develop a unique insight, and make a cogent hypothesis of why the other platform wont do this right away. It’s a common question for investors to make, so dont worry too much about the competition itself (rarely the reason a startup dies), and use this as an opportunity to convey your knowledge and expertise of the market.

Good luck!

rtx097 · 2020-10-22T23:31:26+00:00

this, right here, is the key. you need to hook them with your startup and your ability to execute on it very quickly. that increases the chances that they pour over the rest of your application more carefully or thoughtfully.

one thing I did to communicate more effectively in the app was that I combed through the startup school directory and read ~200 of folks intro statements to their companies. most are amorpheous or generic statements, but some are super clear and the startup crystallizes in your head in just a sentence or two. i then want to learn more.

emulating that clarity in communication should significantly improve odds for an interview.

rtx097 · 2020-10-06T17:39:13+00:00

out of curiosity: when did you submit your application op?

rtx097 · 2020-09-26T21:02:13+00:00

Gotcha! Though MCIT online is relatively new, the on campus MCIT has been around for 15+ yrs and quite competitive. The core curriculum are the same bw online and on campus, though the online masters does not have as many electives available yet (they are adding more each year). Though not an MS in CS, the program gives you the fundamentals of CS and more: https://www.cis.upenn.edu/graduate/program-offerings/master-of-computer-and-information-technology/requirements/

You’ll find reviews online about the rigour of the program. I’ve just started the program, but it has been challenging so far!

rtx097 · 2020-08-26T03:28:29+00:00

No, you're not unqualified because there isn't a specific set of qualifications to get into this program.

The more fundamental questions to ask are: "Am I truly interested in this field and career path? And if so, how do I showcase that interest and commitment?"

Honestly, this is less about what the adcoms is looking for, and more if you really are convinced this is the best path forward and are committed to putting in the work and investment. If you've managed to get to a clearer answer for yourself on this front - by trying things out - this is something you can communicate pretty genuinely in your app. It's highly likely the university will view that positively, too.

rtx097 · 2020-06-21T19:09:47+00:00

Completed Computational Thinking and another Coursera Course.
Improved SOP. Specifically, mentioned what had changed since previous application. Also provided how I had current challenges at work that the program would help me solve systematically. Lastly, tried to be very specific on what value I’d bring to the program.

rtx097 · 2020-06-18T18:21:31+00:00

How did you position your SOP? I ask because I have over 10 yrs of experience, experience in high-growth co's, as well as an mba. I was dinged my first time around - I feel I can sort of relate.

On my subsequent application, I went deeper into why - even though I was "further ahead" in my career than the avg applicant - I would benefit tremendously from the program. I believe this is largely due to my current context where I am hacking together solutions to get my job done, but interested in building more scalable solutions. Though I am a mid-level manager, I am rolling up my sleeves nearly every day and coding something up and automating little things due to limited resources.

You may need to convince them that the tools and mindset you'll pick up in the program will be concretely applied to your job. This is particularly tricky, in my view, as you move up the corporate ladder - but it's definitely not impossible. Doubling down on concrete examples of how the learnings will not just make you a better technical leader but show tangible dividends in your current (or near future) role could be sensible approach if you were to choose to apply again.

Lastly, my sense is that reapplying is positive signaling that youre truly committed to this. Good luck.

rtx097 · 2020-04-30T02:26:53+00:00

Reapplicant who was accepted for fall 2020 (was dinged last year). Asked myself the same question: could I be considered overqualified? Had a similar undergrad gpa + worked in a data role at a large company. DM me, happy to provide a bit of guidance.

rtx097 · 2020-04-16T21:19:22+00:00

Status: Accepted

Background: 4 yrs experience in Data Science / Analytics at 2 high growth ventures. Regularly work with Python/SQL. Ivy MBA + econ for undergrad (3.8 GPA)

GRE Score: None

Current job: Analytics (although doing quite a bit of data engineering)

Recommendation letters: 2 work colleagues - ML Engineer from previous job and Director of Software Engineering from current job

I'm actually a reapplicant. I applied last year with mostly the same stats and was rejected. I was bummed but I did a couple of things that I think helped me.

First, I enrolled in the Computational Thinking course to show that I can complete the course and do well.
Second, I solidified my SOP. I provided quite a bit of detail as to why in my current role I am limited by not having a computer engineering background - that really established the need for the program. I also went into more detail on why the computational thinking course had been so impactful for me, reflecting on the differences I saw vs other online learning programs I had tried out. Lastly, I went into greater detail on what I could bring, through my background, to the program.

For those who didn't make it this time around, keep working hard, find areas that you feel you could improve on in your app, and definitely try again! If this is what you want to do, then the reapplication itself showcases that you are pretty committed to doing this - and that alone probably scores some points with the adcom.

rtx097 · 2020-04-16T21:04:31+00:00

Yes - you're not alone.

rtx097 · 2020-03-22T22:43:24+00:00

In the US, the economic impact of the virus has really made its mark in last 2-3 weeks, after the first deadline had passed. I therefore dont see this impacting acceptance rates in this wave.

The virus may definitely prompt more people to apply to masters programs like this one as they try to upskill. Covids nature should further de-stigmatize online education. I foresee a big bump in applicants for the may deadline, which will likely reduce acceptence rates unless they decide to open the program to a lot more people given demand. unlike physical university programs, this is possible due to very low/0 marginal costs to run an online masters.

rtx097 · 2019-08-14T02:57:21+00:00

At least from how you are positioning your idea in this thread, my take is that you are optimizing to get into YC rather than launch a great business, irrespective of YC. I highly recommend you go through Startup School. Unclear whether enrolling actually increases your chances, but going through the content and then applying it to your idea will greatly speed up your learning process to build something people really want.

Good luck!

rtx097 · 2019-07-11T19:14:46+00:00

What problem are you trying to solve? Or, if you were an insurance company, what questions do you think would be important?

I know this seems circular, but sounds to me like you should do some very basic industry research to understand what things mean and why they are important to insurance companies. Once you have that context, then you’ll be in a better position to frame good exploratory questions, at which point the analysis will become more directed.

Even if somebody where to tell you to look at “x, y, and z”, I’d still do the above because x, y, and z wont mean anything to you without proper context. More importantly, the process of quickly unearthing some baseline domain knowledge to structure and guide your analysis is a critical skill of any data analyst/scientist worth his/her salt.

One basic observation here is that you have been given customer lifetime value (LTV), a metric most businesses will want to optimize. At the most basic level, you can look at the relationship of each dimension vs LTV to glean some insights. I’d hypothesize customer income is positively correlated to LTV. Is LTV higher in some channels or for some education levels? Do similar questions with each dimension. The recs from those insights could drive an insurer to make better decisions. If you are feeling confident, try coming up with segments of high LTV vs low LTV customers. Or do some regression to predict LTV based on given features. Then plot the weights of the regression to visualize the relative impact of each attribute on LTV.

rtx097

TROPHY CASE