Jessica Livingston

Co-founder at Y Combinator

Co-founder of Y Combinator which has funded over 5,000 companies including 200+ unicorns like Airbnb, Stripe, and DoorDash, author of the bestselling Founders at Work, known as the Social Radar for her extraordinary ability to read people and evaluate founding teams through social cues rather than technical credentials.

The Org Builder The Craftsperson

Dimension Profile

Strategic Vision 50%

Execution & Craft 35%

Data & Experimentation 20%

Growth & Distribution 30%

Team & Leadership 70%

User Empathy & Research 75%

Key Themes

social radar skill for evaluating founders reading co-founder dynamics defensiveness as a red flag in founders hustle and desperation as founder traits being erased from founding narratives non-technical signals in startup evaluation

Episode Summary

Jessica Livingston reveals the Social Radar superpower that made her an essential but often overlooked co-founder of Y Combinator, explaining how she evaluated founding teams through social cues — co-founder dynamics, defensiveness, commitment, and hustle — rather than technical credentials. She shares the iconic Airbnb interview story where the cereal boxes told her everything about the founders' determination, and opens up about being repeatedly erased from the YC founding narrative despite her pivotal role.

Leadership Principles

→ Look beyond technical credentials — do the co-founders get along? Are they committed? If a founder gets defensive, that was always a bad sign
→ The social cues matter enormously — reading people's emotions and dynamics tells you more about a startup's chances than their pitch deck
→ You need desperation in founders — you have to burn the boat, and signs of being hustlers matter more than the initial idea

Notable Quotes

"My three co-founders were deeply technical, but I would look at other things about founders. All these little social cues. Do the co-founders get along? Are these people committed? If a founder would get defensive, that was always a bad sign."
— On how she evaluated startups differently from her technical co-founders

"Joe brought out the cereal boxes, the Obama O's and Cap'n McCain's, and I just thought, oh my God, they're going to work hard to do whatever they can to make this company succeed."
— On the moment she knew the Airbnb founders were special

"Do you sort of need that desperation. You have to burn the boat."
— On the quality she looks for most in founders

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