Opening
Lenny Rachitsky (00:00:00): I want to start with a quote by someone you may know, Paul Graham, "Much of what's novel about YC is due to Jessica Livingston. If you don't know her, you don't understand YC." Jessica Livingston (00:00:10): My three co-founders were deeply technical, but I would look at other things about founders. All these little social cues. Lenny Rachitsky (00:00:17): Your nickname was the Social Radar....
The opener starts with biography before advice. That order makes the guest legible as a person before the listener extracts tactics.
Low-ego framing
title: "The social radar: Y Combinator’s secret weapon | Jessica Livingston (co-founder of Y Combinator, author, podcast host)" date: "2024-06-27" type: "podcast"...
Uses we/us, uncertainty, or learner framing instead of performing authority.
Accept praise cleanly
Jessica Livingston (01:08:54): Thank you. Can I ask you a question about podcasting really quickly? Lenny Rachitsky (01:08:58): Sure, let's do it....
Accepts praise without shrinking from it or turning it into a performance.
Carry memory
Lenny Rachitsky (00:34:43): Awesome. A couple other things you mentioned earlier, just to unpack a little bit. So being committed, something you look for, and co-founders getting along. In terms of...
Returns to something said earlier, proving the conversation has memory.
Low-ego framing
funding 10, 20, 30 startups a batch, sometimes I have been known to say, "I don't know if I can have dinner with them every week." It was that point. And I don't think we've ever regretted any of those....
Uses we/us, uncertainty, or learner framing instead of performing authority.
Accept praise cleanly
4:21): I was just going to add that, I'm glad you threw that in there. Jessica, thank you so much for being here. Jessica Livingston (01:24:25): Thank you so much, Lenny. It was a lot of fun. Lenny...
Accepts praise without shrinking from it or turning it into a performance.