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Meet Kirsty Nathoo, Y Combinator’s Secret Financial And Operational Weapon
- leahculver 14y agoKirsty is the best. She's helped so much with the worst part of startups - the paperwork.
- pg 14y agoSecret weapon is the perfect phrase to describe Kirsty. She handles everything to do with money and investors at YC, and the situations she has to unravel, dealing with early stage startups, are often appallingly complicated. Considering the number of startups we fund, I bet there is no one in the world who understands more about the intricacies of early stage startup finances.
- sillysaurus 14y agoI bet there is no one in the world who understands more about the intricacies of early stage startup finances. She should write a book.
- windsurfer 14y agoWhy?
- alan_cx 14y agoI thought people valued information sharing?
- djt 14y agoProbably not as much as Y Combinator enjoys making millions off of her knowledge. It's a competitive edge so i doubt that it will come out until after everyone else figures it out.
- pg 14y agoDo you really think we are so ruthlessly mercenary? Actually I thought it was a good idea.
- diziet 14y agoI don't think YC is in only to 'make millions'. I also don't think pg would be writing essays or fostering a community like HN just for commercial interest, startups are a way to make the world better.
- clicks 14y agoWhile I don't disagree with the point that pg is not out to just make loads of money -- he's obviously a really smart guy who has richer pleasures to enjoy than what money can provide, I do disagree with the stated premise that pg does not have a commercial interest in fostering a community like HN. Whether intended or not, it's probably a profoundly important component to yc's branding. Not to mention, it is an absolute goldmine for attracting developers for the startups yc funds (it's not a stretch to see jobs posts as ads of sorts -- the higher the quality of HN's userbase, the higher the quality of potential candidates). It is also an avenue for the startups it funds to gain recognition (e.g., Priceonomics recently started a blog that arguably caters to a very HN-minded audience, indeed starting a blog is an extraordinarily compelling method of advertising the existence of something). Not that I have a problem with any of that of course -- so long as there's interesting content for me to read I'll stick around. :)
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- kmthompson 14y agoShe sounds phenomenal. Doesn't YC have 3 female partners? They are not all listed on the about pages (http://ycombinator.com/people.html http://ycombinator.com/people.html).
- rdl 14y agoJessica, obviously. Kirsty. And Carolynn Levy (legal), who is the most recent addition.
- kmthompson 14y agoThank you!
- cwilson 14y agoWhile not partners, Renee Robinson and Audrey Kim are also a big part of what keeps YC running. The two of them still help us out quite often and kick-ass at what they do.
- pg 14y agoArgh, yes. Updating that page is near the top of my todo list.
- nealmydataorg 14y agoWe provide online data organizer software to organize, manage and share data for team collaboration. I will contact Kirsty to find out more about how we can help. Thanks, Neal (MyDataOrganizer.com)
- dmix 14y agoThe key to self-promotion of your startups on HN is by providing useful content... not just pure self-promotion.
- nealmydataorg 14y agoAgreed Will not happen again ! Thanks, Neal
- eduardordm 14y agoAnd she still has time to break our heart with that rejection email.
- SurfScore 14y agoIronic, someone known as being so helpful within YC is known as the Doombringer outside of it
- eduardordm 14y ago(I was just kidding/being sarcastic, I hope you are too, Kirsty is great, never thought of her as a 'doombringer')
- monsterix 14y agoA few months back I was sort of afraid to write to PG/YC directly. We were putting in our first submission on HN (our web app) when we found that the domain name we held was somehow in HN's blocked-list. After some hesitation I wrote a short mail (with etiquette of writing to busy people) on YC's email address and within seconds Kirsty replied to me. It made me feel good when she told us that "if it is blocked, avoid posting it again on HN. Have patience, PG will unblock it in a few minutes." After sometime I received an email nod from PG too. From that point I just fell in love with Hacker News.
- borski 14y agoSorry, why exactly would you be afraid of emailing PG/YC? Is it the 'fame' thing? It's a common misconception, in my experience, that people who are considered 'important' hate to be contacted by people like you and me. Not to mention that the importance of YC/PG is certainly community-based - not to take anything away from them, but my mother has no idea who PG is. :)
- monsterix 14y agoI guess this has something to do with being self-critical. Especially, when you're a stranger introducing yourself to someone accomplished with a 'problem' that you're currently facing. I didn't inadvertently want to cross the line in excitement or fear, but right as you said my fears were almost certainly unwarranted.
- breck 14y ago> Nathoo tells us that the last of the Sequoia money was used in the Summer 2012 class. Now Y Combinator is completely self funded through the money the incubator has made through its investments in startups (i.e. exits) This sounds like an amazing accomplishment! Was this seen as a big milestone for YC?
- pg 14y agoSort of, except we started out self-funded too. So it's really like going back to the way things used to be.
- seeingfurther 14y agoIf I'm not mistaken the difference is now you're funding with profits and in the past it came out of your own pockets. That's a cool milestone!
- hzay 14y agoWay before I read the last line of the article I was convinced that she had one of the best jobs in the world - she's surrounded by [presumably] really smart and passionate people, solves problems of varying nature and challenge, and has immediate impact. It's weird because I always thought of accounting as an uninspiring and crushingly boring field, but obviously I've been wrong.
- kposehn 14y agoKirsty rocks, for the record. What surprised me is the claim "Y Combinator and most investors will only invest in companies that have been in incorporated in Delaware, and many founders don’t know this." This was quite surprising. PG: is this actually a criteria instead of a just preference? Or did TC get it wrong?
- pg 14y agoAllow me to give you an illustration of how things work within YC: How would I know? Ask Kirsty.
- kposehn 14y agoHa! Will do :)
- kirsty 14y agoApplying to YC as a non-DE company does not reduce your chances of being interviewed or accepted. However for us to be able to invest in so many companies in such a short time frame, we do require you to convert to a DE C-Corp if we agree to fund you. I'll help you with that though, if the time comes!
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- seeingfurther 14y agoKirsty ~ Do you allow your startups to execute the formation/conversion documents with electronic signature services like HelloSign & Echosign or do you require actual hard signatures?
- kirsty 14y agoWe try to do everything through e-signatures - less chances of PDFs getting lost than bits of paper. And of course at all opportunities I tell founders to use Hellosign :-) The only document that is wet signed is the 83(b) election that is sent to the IRS since they not sure yet about e-signatures.
- danielpal 14y agoPeople often underestimate how important the "back office" things are and how much help you get from an incubator. Apart from Kirsty, we've gotten a great amount of help from Jon Levy (YC lawyer) on legal stuff and of course Kirsty who's always sending us e-mail reminding us of taxes etc.
- pbiggar 14y agoTotally deserved article, Kirsty is amazing. There's a story in the article about Kirsty meeting a founder with a wad of cash at SFO. She did exactly the same for me when I arrived: waiting at the airport with a check so I could pay rent my first day in MV. Except this was on New Year's day, and my flight was delayed two hours. Thanks Kirsty!
- bambax 14y agoWow. Cool anecdote! I briefly interacted with Kirsty during this year's Startup School: you really feel she WANTS to help you (which is an amazing experience!) Then we exchanged a couple of emails and she was more than courteous. Really, really nice person.
- rdl 14y agoKirsty is amazing. I was surprised to learn (when she became a partner) that she wasn't always a partner.
- codebaobab 14y ago"Another role Nathoo takes on with founders and startups is an accounting advisor. She’ll ensure that every company incorporates in the state of Delaware, and if they haven’t done this, she’ll help with that process. Y Combinator and most investors will only invest in companies that have been in incorporated in Delaware, and many founders don’t know this. Nathoo says that of the current class of 47 startups at Y Combinator, only one company’s incorporation documents were problem-free when joining the program." If Kirsty were willing to publicly share any part of her accumulated knowledge in this area, I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one to appreciate it.
- kirsty 14y agoWhen we agree to fund companies, they fall into one of three buckets: 1) not incorporated at all 2) Incorporated outside Delaware and / or as an LLC 3) Incorporated in Delaware already Those in 1) are by far the easiest to deal with - we have a standard process to get everyone set up so that going forward there won't be any problems. Those in 2) start to get a bit more complicated and we have to work with the founders to convert to a DE C-Corp. Sometimes that means just starting anew with a new company and sometimes, if there is too much corporate history, converting the companies. This takes up some time and depending on the original state can be costly and time-consuming. But it all works out in the end... Those in 3) are the ones that are often the hardest! There can be problems around only some of the paperwork being completed or signed, founders don't have vesting on their stock, uneven stock splits between founders (a strong indicator of future founder breakups), needlessly complicated cap tables, not enough stock authorised for us to buy our shares - the list goes on. All this can be fixed too! The founder that says to me "we're incorporated in Delaware so you can invest in us straightaway" is usually the one that becomes one of the most complicated companies for us to invest in. My advice would be that if you're applying to YC, then don't incorporate unless there is a specific reason to. It is much easier and cheaper for you in the long run to use our process.
- cperciva 14y agouneven stock splits between founders (a strong indicator of future founder breakups) I've heard lots of stories about this issue, but I think you're the first person to actually have a statistically significant amount of data to back up what you're saying. Can you elaborate on this point a bit? In particular, I'm wondering if it's the uneven stock split which is the problem, or if that and founder breakups are merely both symptoms of an underlying issue -- say, different levels of commitment from the founders, or unequal status levels. Or put another way: If a team applies to YC and says that they plan on a 67/33 equity split, would you convincing them to change to a 50/50 split improve their chances of success, or are they still at a disadvantage compared to teams which originally planned on a 50/50 split?
- tonyx 14y agoKirsty is one of the most amazing people I have met while at YC. Low profile, high impact.
- nowarninglabel 14y agoI like Kirsty's quote: "I was shocked at the amount of trust that was being placed on me at first." It reminds me of how when I started at my current job, our head of engineering gave me logins and passwords for every piece of software we had. In my first meeting with her and my manager, my manager says, "Woah, I don't even have access to half this stuff." It was really inspiring to know they trusted me enough with the keys to the kingdom, and it made life so much easier than the previous companies where I had to fill out a form for access to just about anything. More companies could do well to place more trust in their employees like this.
- argumentum 14y agoI advise anyone starting YC to listen to Kirsty, in fact to obey Kirsty. It will make your life so much easier.
- rdl 14y agoI wonder who the Kirsty character is at 500 Startups, Tech Stars, AngelPad, etc.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- Havoc 14y agoIt seems to me that every organisation has 2-3 people who keep all the balls in the air. The company I work at certain does. They don't rank highly job title / power wise...but if they get hit by a bus...heaven help us. e.g. We've got one person coordinating about 300 people's schedules.
- swampthing 14y agoAs my cofounder and I like to tell people, Kirsty is one of the world's foremost experts on startup formation / founder issues. It's hard to imagine finding someone who helps more startups with as wide a range of issues as she does. This article is definitely spot on and well-deserved!
- jasonwilk 14y agoWe had the pleasure of being in the first YC class when Kirsty started. She was very helpful throughout the entire process of the program. I think she even has her own office hours now! Congrats on such a praising article Kirsty.
- TheMakeA 14y agoI am constantly being surprised by YC. They are moving quickly and I love it. A few months ago pg talked about trying to fix some of the scaling woes and you can already catch a glimpse of some of that work in articles about YC.