I got rejected from YC (4x)…. now my side hustle is worth $1.16B

Replit origin story (0s)

• The speaker's company, Repet, is an AI agent that allows non-programmers to create software, with some apps built on Repet requiring $100,000 of developer time but can be built for $25 using the platform (10s).
• The company's growth is unprecedented, with the potential to reach $10 million in 3 to 4 months ARR, which is unusually fast for an AI company (37s).
• The speaker's journey to success was not straightforward, having been rejected from Y Combinator (YC) four times before eventually being accepted (1m47s).
• The speaker initially started Repet as a side project while working at Facebook, but eventually left to focus on the company full-time, using their Facebook stock and savings to fund it (2m6s).
• The original product of Repet was an editor and console that allowed users to type and run code, switching between languages as needed (3m16s).
• The speaker's experience with YC was not immediate, having applied and been rejected multiple times before being accepted, with the first rejection not even resulting in a call or feedback (2m42s).
• The speaker's story is an inspiration to many, having gone from coding in an internet cafe in Jordan to raising hundreds of millions of dollars and achieving a billion-dollar valuation (1m22s).
• The speaker's company, Repet, has the potential to make people billionaires, with its AI-powered software creation capabilities (50s).
• The speaker's tweets have showcased the capabilities of Repet, including a story about a doctor who wanted to track sleep patterns and was able to create an application using Repet (3m32s).
• The individual had difficulty learning to code due to the complexity of setting up the environment, including downloading programs, editors, and packages, which was overwhelming for a beginner (4m28s).
• Repet solved this problem by providing an online editor and environment, making it easy to learn to code, and the individual was able to complete 100 days of learning to code (4m46s).
• The idea for Repet came from the founder's personal experience of trying to learn to code in an internet cafe in Jordan, where they had to set up the environment every time, and the desire to create a hosted online environment where users could easily write and run code (5m27s).
• The founder was surprised that nobody had solved this problem before, despite the growing use of client-side JavaScript applications and online services like Google Docs and Gmail (5m55s).
• The technical challenge of making the online editor and environment work in a browser was not obvious, and the hardship of learning to code in an internet cafe made the problem unavoidable for the founder (6m35s).
• The founder's experience as an outsider to the programming world helped them identify a problem that others may have overlooked, and they were able to create a successful solution (6m20s).
• The problem of running different programming languages in a browser was deeply felt, and solving it required writing interpreters and compilers to run on JavaScript, which took a couple of years to develop a rough prototype (7m17s).
• The breakthrough came in 2011 when the first compilation of Python, Ruby, and other languages to JavaScript was achieved, allowing them to run straight in the browser, which went viral after being open-sourced and shared on Hacker News (7m46s).
• The breakthrough was not a fundamental invention like solving the double-spend problem but rather a result of persistence, grit, and obsession, solving hundreds of smaller problems to achieve the goal of running languages in the browser that it wasn't designed to run (8m39s).
• The project was initially worked on as a side project for several years, with the goal of solving a deeply felt problem, and it eventually gained traction and attention from others (9m23s).
• Paul Graham's idea that the best startups solve the founder's own problems resonated with the experience of working on this project, as the problem was deeply felt and driven the development of a solution (7m5s).

Replit's 10-year overnight success (9m27s)

• Replit's success can be described as a 10-year overnight success, with the original idea dating back to 2009 and a breakthrough in 2011 that went viral on Hacker News and the internet (9m55s).
• The breakthrough led to recognition, including tweets from notable figures such as Brendan Eich, the inventor of JavaScript, and articles about the project in conferences (10m17s).
• This recognition served as evidence for obtaining an O1 visa to come to the United States, allowing the individual to work in the country (10m38s).
• The individual has been working on Replit since they were 21 years old, and it has incrementally improved their life over time (10m59s).
• The open-source work done on Replit was used by companies in the US, including Codecademy, and led to job offers and new opportunities (11m21s).
• The success of Replit allowed the individual to have choices and decide to move to New York (11m47s).
• Many people listen to the show for advice on starting or growing a business, particularly those with full-time jobs who want to start a side hustle (11m53s).
• The Hustle has compiled a list of 100 side hustle ideas, called the Side Hustle Idea Database, which may be helpful for those looking to start something on the side (12m16s).

Rejected 4x by YC (12m27s)

• The side hustle idea database is a resource that provides information on how to start and grow side hustles, and it can be found in the description below (12m37s).
• Naval Ravikant has a quote about networking, stating that his only tip is to do something great and watch as your network appears overnight, as people will be drawn to you because of your achievements (12m51s).
• The importance of doing something great is highlighted, as it can lead to opportunities and connections, such as Brendan Eich, the creator of JavaScript and Mozilla browser, reaching out to someone who has built something cool (13m2s).
• The story of getting rejected from Y Combinator (YC) four times is shared, with the first rejection occurring after quitting a job at Facebook and applying to YC with a startup (13m21s).
• The rejections from YC and venture capitalists (VCs) are attributed to not matching the typical patterns of successful startups, such as having a Stanford background or being part of a trend, and not having a fancy college or co-founder relationship (14m56s).
• Despite the rejections, the startup continued to develop and eventually started making money, with some people paying for their service, and had an API that educators and people learning to code paid for (15m19s).
• The revenue at the time of getting into YC was around $10,000 per month, which was enough to sustain the business at that point (15m30s).
• Roy Bahadur was the first person to invest in the startup before YC (15m42s).
• The founder had a meeting with Bloomberg Beta, who they knew from their Code Academy days, and found the meeting refreshing due to the straight-forward and honest feedback provided, which included thoughts on the idea, category, and valuation (15m54s).
• The meeting with Bloomberg Beta led to an investment of $500,000 on a $6 million valuation, which was the first check the founder received (16m17s).
• The founder started writing articles about the problems they were solving, which gained traction on Hacker News, a platform that Sam Altman, the head of YC, regularly reads (16m40s).
• In December 2017, the founder received a direct message from Sam Altman, expressing interest in their work and inviting them to meet (17m1s).
• The meeting with Sam Altman took place at the OpenAI office in the Mission, where they discussed the founder's work, and it was not at the YC address, which initially caused some confusion (17m18s).

Personal essays from Paul Graham (17m28s)

• Paul Graham, the founder of Y Combinator (YC), emailed Sam about a company he thought was very important, and Sam gave the email sender Paul's email address to discuss potential collaboration and a way to get into YC (17m30s).
• The email sender started an email relationship with Paul Graham, discussing topics such as Repad, setting up environments, and hosting applications, and found Paul to be a great writer (17m47s).
• After selling ViaWeb, Paul Graham started working on a project similar to Repad, an editor that used the Lisp programming language, which he liked (18m2s).
• At the time, Paul Graham was starting to retire from YC, and Sam was running the company (18m18s).
• The email sender was intimidated by receiving emails from Paul Graham, spending hours crafting replies and trying to be a good writer (18m37s).
• Despite being intimidated, the email sender was not nervous about meeting famous and established people, which helped them be themselves and communicate at the same level (18m51s).
• The email sender attributed their confidence to feeling like their life was on a positive trajectory, and they had a goal-oriented mindset when meeting people, which put them in a different mindset than being a fanboy (19m14s).
• The email sender's goal-oriented mindset allowed them to focus on impressing people and achieving their goals, rather than being overly excited or intimidated by the meeting (19m48s).
• The email sender's approach to life was compared to a quote from British director Richie, who wanted to be the director of his own life and live it like a movie (20m0s).

i hacked into my university to change my grades (20m17s)

• The idea of doing what makes the best story is a motivating factor in life, making it more exciting and helping with decision-making when there's no obvious answer (20m35s).
• This concept involves considering what would make one's life story interesting if it were a movie, and making choices based on that (21m10s).
• In college, the individual was coding all the time and not attending classes, resulting in failing grades due to being barred from exams (21m17s).
• The person decided to hack into the university's servers to change their grades, using a polyphasic sleep schedule to work on the task (21m36s).
• The hack was successful, but the servers crashed, revealing the anomaly, and the individual was called by an administrator to explain the discrepancy (22m41s).
• The person was faced with a decision to either lie and try to get away with it or come clean, and they chose to tell the truth, considering it the more interesting story (23m41s).
• The individual believes that some people, possibly those with ADHD, may be more inclined to find alternative solutions to problems, such as cheating or hacking, rather than doing the task the conventional way (22m26s).
• Elon Musk is mentioned as someone who talks about the idea of choosing the most entertaining outcome in life (20m58s).
• The individual was kicked out of school due to a hack, but managed to change the subject to technical aspects of the hack when discussing it with the Deans, impressing them with their knowledge and drawing on the Whiteboard to explain what they did (24m34s).
• The Deans were all from the computer science department, and the individual's interpretation of the situation at the time was that they were a loser who was failing everything and not attending classes, drawing a parallel to the movie Goodwill Hunting (24m50s).
• The individual was then told to speak with the university president, who would make the final decision on their case, and they explained their situation to him, stating that they felt their talent was undiscovered and that they had been treated unfairly (25m11s).
• The individual admitted to using the university as their "sandbox" and came clean about their actions, stating that they did not mean to do anything bad, and the president responded with the Spider-Man line "with great power comes great responsibility" (25m31s).
• The president's words had an impact on the individual, and they decided to work for the university for free over the summer to secure their databases and make amends (25m45s).
• The individual's efforts were successful, and they were allowed to stay at the university (25m52s).

Rickrolling into YC (25m55s)

• The conversation started with a story about a principal and a hack story, but then shifted to discussing Y Combinator (YC) and the experience of applying to it (26m33s).
• The application process for YC involves a one-page form with six or seven questions, followed by a two-to-three-minute video about the startup, and a 10-minute interview (27m18s).
• The interview is a rapid-fire session where applicants have to answer questions within a short time frame, making it a high-pressure experience (27m27s).
• The person applying had previously applied to YC multiple times and had a casual attitude towards the application process, which was perceived as arrogant by the YC partners (26m59s).
• During the interview, the applicant met with Jared, Adora, and other YC partners, including Michael, who was the CEO at the time, and felt intimidated by Michael's firm handshake (28m26s).
• The applicant's casual attitude and previous applications were met with anger and frustration by the YC partners, who felt that the applicant was not taking the process seriously (28m55s).
• The applicant realized too late that their attitude had come across as arrogant and regretted their approach to the application process (29m21s).
• The YC partners were surprised by the applicant's casual attitude, given that they had been recruited to apply to YC, and felt that the applicant was not taking the opportunity seriously (27m41s).
• The individual is an immigrant from Jordan who had to work hard to achieve their goals, but initially came across as entitled when trying to get into Y Combinator (YC) due to a lack of understanding of their background (29m32s).
• After being rejected from YC, the individual received a call from Adora, informing them that they had actually been accepted, and they were told to return to the office to sign paperwork and get started (30m7s).
• The individual was stunned by the news and attended the kickoff dinner, where they were introduced to the YC environment, which they described as feeling like a cult-like atmosphere (30m32s).
• The individual took the experience seriously and worked hard for three months, transforming their product from a simple editor to a platform where users could host applications and build real things (31m9s).
• During this time, the individual worked 12-13 hour days with a team of three people, including their first employee, who was a young programmer who had grown up in California and had become a programmer through a program called Hack Reactor (31m32s).
• The individual also brought in other team members, including their brother from Jordan, who they had taught programming, and a friend from Code Academy, to help with the workload (32m30s).
• The team of five people worked hard and made significant progress, with the individual noting that they were one of the top performers in their YC batch (32m48s).
• Replit, a collaborative coding editor, experienced rapid growth, particularly among developers, with a user growth graph resembling a hockey stick, despite initial slow growth in the early years (33m6s).
• The platform's ease of use and stickiness, especially among junior developers, contributed to its growth, with users often starting in college or high school and continuing to use it for many years (33m37s).
• Word of mouth and a viral component, where users could share URLs and collaborate in the same environment, also drove Replit's growth (33m51s).
• The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated adoption, as Replit was one of the few collaborative editor experiences available on the web at the time, making it an essential tool for remote work (34m10s).
• Despite the rapid growth, monetization was initially challenging, as developers were not accustomed to paying for tools, but the introduction of AI-powered features eventually provided a viable revenue stream (34m43s).
• The productivity benefits of AI-powered features made them attractive to users, who were willing to pay for the enhanced experience (35m20s).
• Replit's growth was so significant that it reached a valuation of $1.16 billion, despite the founder's initial struggles, including four rejections from Y Combinator (32m50s).

Shaan builds a food tracking app in 30 seconds (35m25s)

• Replit has over 35 million users and 2-3 million active users per month, with around 100,000 apps hosted on the platform, allowing users to build and deploy apps in one environment (35m38s).
• The platform has experienced exponential growth, especially this year, although exact revenue figures cannot be shared (36m0s).
• Replit has introduced an agent feature that allows users to create apps through a chat interface, similar to ChatGPT, without requiring coding knowledge (36m46s).
• The agent feature can generate code and build prototypes based on user prompts, with the ability to add features and make changes as needed (37m38s).
• The agent can also integrate with external services, such as Twilio for SMS messaging, to enable app functionality (37m58s).
• The app creation process using the agent feature is largely automated, with the user only needing to provide input and verify external services, such as phone numbers (38m10s).
• While the agent feature is powerful, it can be limited by external factors, such as verification requirements for services like Twilio (38m20s).
• The concept of Repet (referred to as "rep") allows users to build an app faster than they can Google the answer to a question, making it possible for non-programmers to create software. (38m44s)
• A screenshot demonstrates the agent's ability to verify and make style improvements to an app, with the user able to provide instant feedback and make changes without needing to pay someone to do it. (38m50s)
• The technology has been described as "mind-blowing" and comparable to experiences like using Uber for the first time or interacting with ChatGPT. (39m41s)
• The user is not a programmer or coder but can now create software using the AI agent, which is seen as a game-changer for people who can conceptualize ideas but lack the technical skills to bring them to life. (40m9s)
• The potential of Repet to enable users to become billionaires is discussed, with the idea that it can help people express themselves easily and bring their ideas to life without needing to rely on developers. (40m20s)
• Apps built on Repet's agent can save users around $100,000 in developer costs, making it a potentially lucrative opportunity for entrepreneurs and creators. (41m32s)
• The product has limitations and is not perfect, sometimes getting stuck with problems, but it can be coaxed to figure things out with the right prompting and skill. (41m48s)
• The product teaches users how to use it over time by explaining its actions as it edits code, allowing users to learn how code works and identify potential problem areas, such as database issues. (42m3s)
• The vision for the product is that it will eventually be all users need to build an entire startup, and progress is being made towards this goal every day. (42m27s)
• The product's development involves making incremental progress on solvable problems, leading to exponential progress over time, with the goal of achieving significant improvements within a year. (42m47s)
• The product's capabilities are also improving due to the advancement of foundation models, which can be plugged into the product to make it suddenly better, creating a combination of two exponential curves. (43m0s)
• The combination of the product's development and the improvement of underlying models and infrastructure is expected to lead to significant advancements in the near future, potentially resulting in a "mind-blowing" product within a year or two. (43m14s)

Magic School: An AI application for educators 4M users in 1 year (43m19s)

• Magic School is an AI application for educators that helps them use Foundation models and LLMs to do their work, create assignments for kids, and have an interactive AI experience, with a full suite of AI tools for educators (44m3s).
• The creator of Magic School was a teacher who took time to learn how to code during the COVID-19 pandemic and started using Repet to build the initial application, which immediately started growing and went viral (44m30s).
• Magic School's revenue ramp was one of the craziest, especially for an education application, which is known to be a challenging market to sell into due to overworked and underpaid teachers (44m57s).
• The application helps teachers save time by automating tasks such as grading papers, creating lesson plans, quizzes, and multiple-choice tests, which can be time-consuming and take up to four hours a night (45m14s).
• Magic School can generate lesson plans, quizzes, or interactive workbooks for students, allowing teachers to focus on teaching instead of creating materials (45m44s).
• The application has gained significant traction, with over four million educators and their students using it, and millions of monthly unique visitors, according to SimilarWeb (46m15s).
• Magic School raised $20 million in funding and launched in July 2023, putting it on a trajectory to reach significant revenue milestones quickly, with some comparing it to one of the fastest-growing companies of all time (46m31s).
• The creator of Repet invested in Magic School and acknowledges that the application's success highlights the challenges of value capture and monetization in the AI space (47m24s).

Amjad on Agents (47m31s)

• Capturing a portion of the value created by monetizing apps through agents is possible, especially if the process is made simple and scalable, allowing for a potential cut of the revenue generated (47m33s).
• The idea is to make it easy for users to start monetizing their apps, and as the platform reaches scale, it becomes even easier, with millions of people paying for the service, and the option to buy more credits after the initial free credits are used up (47m47s).
• Other companies, such as Magic and Cool, are using AI, and there are likely more companies that are not well-known yet (48m11s).
• Agents are expected to be a significant trend, with this year being the year they are "born" and next year being the year they scale (48m32s).
• A company called 11x creates AI-powered sales development representatives (SDRs), allowing companies to boost their sales without hiring human SDRs, and has seen rapid revenue growth (48m39s).
• The revenue ramp of 11x has been impressive, with the company scaling faster than many others in the history of Silicon Valley, even compared to the Web 2.0 era (49m7s).
• A fast ramp for an AI company would be reaching $10 million in revenue in 3 to 4 months, which is an impressive and unprecedented growth rate (49m27s).
• An example of a company that has seen rapid growth is Jasper, a chat GPT wrapper company that allows users to generate content, such as blog posts and product descriptions, using AI (49m38s).

Building moats in a goldrush (49m53s)

• The writer saw a company's graph showing a scale of $50 million in annual recurring revenue in 10-11 months, which was unprecedented and broke their frame of what is possible (49m58s).
• This led to questions about the sustainability of such rapid growth and whether it is a one-time occurrence or a new norm (50m6s).
• The writer notes that the investor community is currently discussing the "Moes question," which started around the time GPT-3 came out, and it questions the long-term viability of companies that can be easily replicated (50m40s).
• The concern is that if many companies can create similar products, they will compete on price, and margins will decrease, making it difficult for companies to maintain profitability (51m1s).
• However, the writer believes that moats can develop over time through strategy and technical excellence, and some companies can maintain their advantage despite the competition (51m21s).
• The writer notes that technical advantage is not a long-term moat, but strategic decisions, such as high switching costs, can help companies maintain their advantage (52m9s).
• The writer also notes that the ability to build a website or web app is being democratized, making it easier for people to create companies, and those with an audience have a competitive advantage in getting users (52m35s).
• The writer suggests that people with an audience, like Shawn, should constantly launch companies using this technology, as their ability to get users is a significant advantage (52m47s).
• The writer believes that getting customers is now the hardest part, but it's easier for those who are popular, and being technical is no longer the only advantage (53m10s).
• The writer's playbook would involve going into inefficient markets and using the new technology to create companies (53m19s).
• Magic School is an example of a company that entered a highly inefficient industry, specifically schools and education, and achieved significant success by automating tasks with AI, allowing kids to learn faster and more effectively in front of an iPad (53m25s).
• Another product, Synthesis Tutor, is also going viral and has a rapid revenue ramp, with both Sean and the speaker investing in the company (53m37s).
• The key to success is finding an industry where you're familiar and building a product to automate some of the work, with the potential to create multiple products and have one take off (54m10s).
• The current era is described as the era of the "idea guy," where the limits of value creation are determined by understanding a problem well enough to apply powerful technology to make it more efficient (54m24s).
• Having a great idea is more important than ever, but it's still necessary to do the hard things, such as getting customers, making the business sustainable, and building a good team (54m48s).

Replit is Shopify for software creators (54m53s)

• The key to success lies in the fact that building has become easier, and this ease of building has been a major unlock for many entrepreneurs (54m56s).
• An investment was made in Repet because it seemed like a smart solution to a common problem, providing a one-stop place for developers to write and host code without needing to download additional software (55m2s).
• Repet is compared to Shopify, but for creating software, making it easier for people to create software without needing to be a programmer themselves (55m41s).
• A personal example is given of an e-commerce brand that reached $50 million in cumulative lifetime revenue, with half of that revenue coming from the current year (55m58s).
• Despite the success of the e-commerce brand, the creator admits to not knowing how to manufacture products or make websites, but was able to skip those steps and focus on the brand part using Alibaba and Shopify (56m31s).
• Repet is seen as a game-changer for the software space, allowing people to create software without needing to be a programmer, and potentially increasing the number of people who can create software from 200 million to 2 billion (57m10s).
• This shift is compared to the impact of Shopify and Alibaba on the number of people who can create and sell products, with Repet having the potential to 10x the number of people who can create software (57m40s).
• The initial seed deck for Repet had a master plan that involved building a platform, growing it, and eventually using AI to further enhance the platform (57m57s).
• The mission of the company was initially to make programming more accessible, which was later updated to create a billion programmers. (58m10s)
• In 2015, the company's master plan was to grow by building tools for teachers and students, and to create a simple network and AI-assisted interface that blurs the distinction between learning and building. (58m31s)
• The company's pitch deck from 2015 mentioned building a platform where people can learn, build, explore, and host applications, and also talked about AI. (58m40s)
• Codecademy was highly influential to the company, and its interface was similar to what the company was describing. (58m56s)
• The company initially required users to invest 100 days to learn how to code, but later changed its approach to make it more accessible, similar to chat GPT. (59m16s)
• The company's current focus is on creating new programmers, specifically targeting the "citizen developer," and making it possible for anyone with an idea to create something. (59m44s)
• The company aims to increase the number of developers in the world, which is currently estimated to be around 30 million, and to make ideas become wealth. (1h0m5s)
• The company believes that the future is about people who can identify gaps in markets and create AI applications to plug those gaps, and that this will lead to a more efficient use of resources. (1h0m47s)
• The company's employees are not worried about being replaced by AI, but rather see it as an opportunity to work more efficiently and focus on high-level tasks. (1h1m12s)
• The company's goal is to remain lean and efficient, and to avoid hiring too many people, in order to maintain its focus on innovation and growth. (1h1m30s)
• The automation of software engineering is expected to significantly increase productivity, with citizen developers going from zero to 10x and existing software engineers going from 10x to 100x, ultimately leading to an intelligence explosion and potentially the singularity (1h1m51s).
• This automation is seen as a crucial step in the future of technology, but its timeline is uncertain, with estimates ranging from 10 to 15 years (1h2m40s).
• The tech industry is home to many fascinating characters and stories, with individuals like Elon Musk and Sam Altman making headlines with their unique approaches to business and innovation (1h2m58s).
• A notable encounter was with Mark Andreessen, co-founder of a16z, who invited the speaker to breakfast and spent hours discussing politics, philosophy, and the world, showcasing his depth beyond technology (1h3m23s).
• Mark Andreessen's partnership with Ben Horowitz at a16z is seen as a powerful combination of a philosopher and an executor, with Ben's book "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" offering valuable insights into running a company (1h4m0s).
• The speaker also met Sam Altman, who made a strong impression with his effectiveness and ability to multitask, even typing on his computer during conversations (1h4m40s).

The most gangster story in Silicon Valley (1h5m11s)

• Sam Altman is known for his quick and effective email responses, which has inspired others to adopt a similar approach to communication, although it can be overwhelming for those who value quiet time to think about ideas and strategy (1h5m12s).
• The story of Steve Jobs buying Pixar for $5 million, investing $50 million, and operating at a loss for a decade before turning it around to a $7 billion exit is considered one of the most impressive stories in Silicon Valley (1h5m52s).
• Steve Jobs' time at Pixar and NeXT Computing, during which he invested heavily and kept the companies afloat despite their initial failures, is an example of perseverance and going the distance, a valuable trait for entrepreneurs (1h6m25s).
• NeXT Computing's operating system eventually became Mac OS, saving Apple from its problems with Intel and providing a competitive edge (1h7m50s).
• NeXT Computing also innovated in object-oriented programming, developing features such as Objective C, which was based on Unix but had unique features (1h8m3s).
• The story of Steve Jobs and Pixar serves as an example of the importance of perseverance and going the distance, even in the face of failure and adversity (1h6m56s).
• The guest can be followed on Twitter, where they are active and share updates, using the handle @Amad and @repet (1h8m42s).