 YC had funded Dropbox, Airbnb, Reddit, and so everything they touched was just gold. But I remember we applied to YC for popular pays about a year in or whatever, or less than a year in, and we didn't really hear back. And then we applied in that little growth spurt when we first launched PaidGigs, and we got an interview, and it was just a mad, even the interview was magical. How was your experience going through? What was your experience going through YC and how it was for you guys? So people listening, YC is like an accelerator program in Mountain View, California. A lot of big companies, Airbnb, you mentioned them Dropbox, and there's a ton of other ones. Stripe. Yeah. For me, it was really cool, man. It was like you're meeting these legends, right? Yeah. These like Justin Kahn, who started Twitch. Paul, I can't pronounce the last name, but the founder of Gmail. The founder of Boochette, yeah. And so you're meeting all these like legends, and you realize there's two things, right? They're just people. It's almost like meeting a celebrity. So you're like, oh, this person is just a human. Yeah. And you realize their gifts aren't, and this is not to be disrespectful. It wasn't intellect. It was persistence. It was like they just had a vision or were super passionate and were very persistent to the point of not quitting. And then you get to ask them for advice. And Michael Siebel, who's now the CEO, he also like co-founder of Twitch. I just loved him because he'll spend 10 seconds with you and tell you like, your idea is shit. He'll just like candidly say like, you're fucked. Like he'll draw you a curve like, this is where you think you are. And then he's like a cliff. And he's like, this is where you're actually. So the best advice is always the ones where it's like a gut punch. Yeah. Yeah. And so the way I think about Y Combinator is like, these guys are guardrails, or I used to use the reference, they're bumpers when you're bowling, right? And they're just there to make sure you don't fall into the gutter. It's good metaphor. But it's wonderful. And it's also so empowering because you realize they're just like you, right? They're super like you. I remember talking to Justin Khan. It was Alexis from Reddit that called us to say that we're in. And that's a whole other story. Like the interview getting in, it was just like... Alexis. Serena Williams is his partner for those wondering. Yeah. So that's a name drop. Oh, yeah. And so when he called me, I was like fanboying, fangirling, you know, because I'm such a huge Reddit user alone, like let alone that, but it's him. And I try to negotiate with him on the percentage and he's like, he's like clear jet spam. And I'll get to that. They actually helped us tremendously later in that area of like, because we had raised a little bit of money at that point. We actually got to like 750k before YC with that growth spurt in terms of money raised. So we were trying to negotiate that, but he had quickly had to leave and go back into Reddit temporarily. And then Gary from delicious cat, the chief of staff for Alexis at Reddit, and then Justin Khan were our main partners. But I always remember like interacting with Justin, for example, it was like interacting with like an older, smarter, more accomplished brother where like, yeah, he's really driven, very clever, but it didn't seem like with talking with them, they just kind of reminded of the basics, like talk to your users and they'd make you better by reminding you what to think about and checking your assumptions. It was also encouraging because they showed you how to do it. It wasn't just like, they're just, if you're in trouble, they'll probably just like tell you an answer to save you time, but they're always kind of walking through it. So it made it approachable. I do remember that sometimes, I think I went to Sam Alvin one time and he just, we could never get on Sam's counter. It was like, Sam just like email me, just like a parent would like, you know, we'll walk you through, but I think we were short on time for something. He's like, okay, here's your answer. And he just, that wasn't the answer. He gave us the answer. And so sometimes he definitely really impressed me with that. I remember we were, unfortunately it was Paul's, Paul Graham's last years. So he had just left and Sam took over. Yeah, Sam's extremely ambitious, but some of the stuff I've learned from Sam is just like the ambition and stuff alone. Because yeah, he's a human like all of us, but he has these philosophies like make every new project you do ambitious enough to where it makes your last one look like a footnote. And like that's inspiring. That's really inspiring. I was just going to say when we, we had a meeting with Paul. So Paul had retired kind of somewhere, right? And he like opens his office hours, office hours is just a time for you to schedule time to sit down with Paul. And Paul hadn't been around for most of the batch yet. And so he does it. And what happens naturally is like, it just fills up, the schedule fills up. So we get like a four o'clock slot and we're there. We get there like at three, we're waiting. He's talking all the startups and he's talking to you before he's talking to us. I can't wait to tell you about how that went. And I was like, who the hell is he talking to? Because it's like 430. And he's still talking to Corby. And I'm like, what is happening? What are they talking about? I'm like, this camp, why is it an hour? We're an hour in. So, you know, I was like, so excited for this conversation. And I go to meet Paul Graham because he's almost like, it's almost like some startup guy just ascended and he's so aloof because he just doesn't care anymore. He's wearing sand. You're the stories about how like someone will try to mess with one of the YC startups and he just like walks into the company's like lobby with his like Birkenstocks and he's like, hey, you're going to stop what you were doing. And they're like, okay, Paul, he's like, yeah, otherwise, we're not going to have you go to any of YC demos anymore. And they're like, okay, we'll stop. And he just walks away. Totally. But he was, he came in for the ops interviews. And I was so excited. I was like, Hey, Paul, do you mind if I record this conversation just so I can pay attention? I can reference it later. And he's like, do you realize your shoes entirely match the carpet? And I was so not ready for that to be the first thing he said. And I looked down and it's kind of crazy. My shoes blended in completely with the carpet. And I was like, wow, you're, you're right. And that's how the combo kicked off. But he gave, you know, tremendous advice. But he almost was like, if you talk to Sam, he was almost like laser focused helping you in the problem. But Paul almost like ascended to this point where he would ask me these questions, but he's like, but I mean, you know, what's, what are you really trying to solve here for? Like what's the, what are you really going for? Like the point of life is to be happy, right? Like, and he'd almost bring it too far above like the realm of what we're focusing on. But he gave some really amazing thoughts on how to position things. Yeah, maybe when you thought he was going to cancel our meeting, that was my concern. I was like, Oh, he's running over. I really loved, I mean, I loved every minute YC. I remember later, like a few weeks later, I was in the cafeteria for some reason. And Paul and Sam were there. And Paul's like, you're, um, you're Caruso drummer, right? And I'm like, that's close enough, Paul. Corby drumming, you know, you call me many things, but yeah. So my teammate Pete, he, people call me many things like, you know, Corby, whatever. But he's the only one that calls me Caruso still. Hey, everyone. Thanks for checking out that clip. If you enjoyed it, be sure to hit the like button down below. And if you're interested in hearing the full episode, it's out right now on our YouTube channel. We've had a lot of great guests come on this show before and we've got a lot of great guests coming up in the future. So hit subscribe so that you don't miss a single episode. And one final note, we're always looking for new ideas and new companies feature on the show. So if you know of someone or know of a company, write us a comment down below letting us know who they are and what they do and be happy to have them on the show. Until then, I'll just be here waiting for your comments. So see you later.