Neil Thanedar (Labdoor, YCW15) - When to take VC, the newest types of businesses, and 0 to 1 accelerators

08/23/23 • 45 min

Today’s guest is Neil Thanedar from Labdoor (YC W15), a marketplace where consumers research, find, and buy the best supplements.

Neil’s previous companies include Avomeen (acq. 2016) and Air to All (501(c)3 nonprofit). He is currently the founder and solo GP at Utopic Ventures (pre-seed VC fund backing biotech startups led by scientist CEOs)

Labdoor is a marketplace where consumers research, find, and buy the best supplements.

To verify the purity and potency of these products, Labdoor first buys and tests actual dietary supplement samples:
• We send each product to an FDA-registered laboratory for a detailed chemical analysis.
• Our scientists then collect the laboratory results and use internal algorithms to translate this data into simple grades and rankings for consumers.
• Find a product you love? Click "buy it now" to activate in-app purchases.

Listen on to learn more about Neil Thanedar’s YC application and journey!

Prefer to curl up and read the transcript? Read our newsletter at https://ycfounderstories.substack.com/

Episode Timestamps:

1:35: What is your startup idea?
4:45: When did you get into YC?
5:01: What are the key elements to focus on when applying to YC?
5:48: Share your YC interview experience in 1-2 sentences.
6:57: Did you pivot your idea during or after YC?
8:49: How did YC help you go from 0 to 1 to N?
10:24: Share a “do things that don’t scale” story in your startup journey.
12:52: How did you get your first 1000 users?
14:57: Share 3 tips for founders who are trying to get into YC.
17:31: In the last 8 years since you left YC, what are your observations on how YC picks founders?
19:08: How are you building a 0 to 1 incubator at Utopic?
22:45: You mentioned that YC dinners are very special. What makes them so unique?
26:02: What was the hardest experience you had while building Labdoor?
28:06: Who was your support system during this time?
30:18: I know you have some exciting news at Labdoor. Mind sharing it with us?
32:47: Do you think founders need to go through venture capital or is indie hacking or bootstrapping a better way to go?
37:35: For founders who are just getting started, does VC or bootstrapping help you scale better?
39:28: How did you make sure Labdoor was scalable as a company and how did you pitch it to investors?
42:05: What are the signals that a founder should pivot?
44:21: Any last few thoughts that you wanna share before we wrap up?

👉🏼 About the Host:

Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generates $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 21,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is the Head of Community at Threado and hosts another podcast called The Undefeated Underdogs.

👉🏼 Where to find Neil Thanedar:

Book: http://worldsbiggestproblems.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NeilThanedar
Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/thanedar

👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harath
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harath
Website: https://5harath.com/
Newsletter: https://ycfounderstories.substack.com/
The Undefeated Underdogs Podcast: https://undefeatedunderdogs.com/

Today’s guest is Neil Thanedar from Labdoor (YC W15), a marketplace where consumers research, find, and buy the best supplements.

Labdoor is a marketplace where consumers research, find, and buy the best supplements.

Listen on to learn more about Neil Thanedar’s YC application and journey!

Prefer to curl up and read the transcript? Read our newsletter at https://ycfounderstories.substack.com/

Episode Timestamps:

1:35: What is your startup idea?
4:45: When did you get into YC?
5:01: What are the key elements to focus on when applying to YC?
5:48: Share your YC interview experience in 1-2 sentences.
6:57: Did you pivot your idea during or after YC?
8:49: How did YC help you go from 0 to 1 to N?
10:24: Share a “do things that don’t scale” story in your startup journey.
12:52: How did you get your first 1000 users?
14:57: Share 3 tips for founders who are trying to get into YC.
17:31: In the last 8 years since you left YC, what are your observations on how YC picks founders?
19:08: How are you building a 0 to 1 incubator at Utopic?
22:45: You mentioned that YC dinners are very special. What makes them so unique?
26:02: What was the hardest experience you had while building Labdoor?
28:06: Who was your support system during this time?
30:18: I know you have some exciting news at Labdoor. Mind sharing it with us?
32:47: Do you think founders need to go through venture capital or is indie hacking or bootstrapping a better way to go?
37:35: For founders who are just getting started, does VC or bootstrapping help you scale better?
39:28: How did you make sure Labdoor was scalable as a company and how did you pitch it to investors?
42:05: What are the signals that a founder should pivot?
44:21: Any last few thoughts that you wanna share before we wrap up?

👉🏼 Where to find Neil Thanedar:

Book: http://worldsbiggestproblems.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NeilThanedar
Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/thanedar

👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harath
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harath
Website: https://5harath.com/
Newsletter: https://ycfounderstories.substack.com/
The Undefeated Underdogs Podcast: https://undefeatedunderdogs.com/

Previous Episode

Chris Frantz (Loops W22) - Unscalable marketing, unique outreach, fun onboarding: How Loops succeeded within Y Combinator!

Today’s guest is Chris Frantz of Loops, a simple and beautiful email-sending platform for SaaS companies. Chris’s previous companies include the recently sold Snazzy AI and he previously led marketing at Biteable and strategy at Curiosity.

Loops is a simple and beautiful email-sending platform for SaaS companies. It includes a Notion-style block editor for email creation, a beautiful code editor based on VS Code, and pre-built loops for SaaS companies to snap in to increase their revenue and user engagement.

Listen on to learn more about Chris Frantz’s YC application and journey!

Prefer to curl up and read the transcript? Read our newsletter at https://ycfounderstories.substack.com/

Episode Timestamps:

1:02: What is your startup idea?
1:47: How did you come up with the idea?
2:43: When did you get into YC?
3:56: What are the key elements to focus on when applying to YC?
5:20: Share your YC interview experience in 1-2 sentences.
7:20: Did you pivot your idea during or after YC?
7:57: How did YC help you go from 0 to 1 to N?
9:03: Share a “do things that don’t scale” story in your startup journey.
10:27: How did you get your first 1000 users?
12:07: Share 3 tips for founders who are trying to get into YC.
13:10: What is YC's take on competition?
15:24: Does YC encourage founders to rely on no-code or do they prefer code?
16:53: Why did you apply to YC?
18:04: What is your inspiration behind your unconventional marketing?
20:01: What is the trend along which YC picks its founders?
21:57: Any cautionary things founders should think about before applying for YC?
24:28: How was your personal YC experience?
26:37: How did you and your cofounder plan for Demo Day?
28:09: How did YC help you raise post and pre-Demo Day?
29:42: For folks with kids and family, what advice do you give them for YC?
31:22: What was the transition from Unbounce like and how do you make that choice to start another company?
32:27: What is something that you want to convey to founders who are trying to apply to YC?

👉🏼 Where to find Chris Frantz:

Loops: https://loops.so/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/frantzfries
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ctfrantz/

👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harath
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harath
Website: https://5harath.com/
Newsletter: https://ycfounderstories.substack.com/
The Undefeated Underdogs Podcast: https://undefeatedunderdogs.com/

Next Episode

Gonzalo Espinoza Graham (Double, YC W23) - Building robots, seeing the future, and leveraging AI

Today’s guest is Gonzalo Espinoza Graham from Double (YC W23), a tool that makes it easy for sales teams to answer very specific questions about their prospects, the kind that ZoomInfo can't answer.

Gonzalo’s previous companies include Ninja Delivery (acq. 2022) and Watfly. He is currently the co-founder of Double.

Double makes it easy for sales teams to answer very specific questions about their prospects, the kind that ZoomInfo can't answer. We do this by searching the web and using LLMs to compile verifiable answers with citations. We can answer questions like: - Is this a remote-first company? - Do they offer customer support via Slack? - Is their primary product an API? - Is this a law firm that specializes in personal injury? - And anything else you can think of

Listen on to learn more about Gonzalo Espinoza Graham’s YC application and journey!

Prefer to curl up and read the transcript? Read our newsletter at https://ycfounderstories.substack.com/

Episode Timestamps:

1:13: What is your startup idea?
2:23: How did you come up with the idea?
4:41: When did you get into YC?
5:18: What are the key elements to focus on when applying to YC?
6:05: Share your YC interview experience in 1-2 sentences.
6:51: Did you pivot your idea during or after YC?
7:45: How did YC help you go from 0 to 1 to N?
8:56: Share a “do things that don’t scale” story in your startup journey.
9:45: How did you get your first 1000 users?
11:16: Share 3 tips for founders who are trying to get into YC.
13:13: How was Demo Day?
14:08: How did you go from a non-linear career in robotics, delivery, etc. to Double?
18:23: What insights do you want to give founders on timing the market and understanding market cap?
20:13: You said you've been rejected three times by YC, and this is the fourth time you got in. Talk to me about the whole experience.
26:19: What is the status of Watfly and Ninja Delivery now?
27:15: What was the process of building the prototype for Watfly and did you look into selling it versus shutting it down?
30:18: What inspires you? Who do you look up to these days or even in the past?
32:22: What are the big differences you're seeing in the whole process of building software vs hardware?
34:57: In terms of Double or other technologies, what are you passionate about right now?
36:47: Do you see a future of autonomous robots roaming around in the streets and delivering food and doing things for us?
39:06: When you go through the lows, how did you build that conviction to know you were on the right path?
41:56: Any last few thoughts that you wanna share before we wrap up?