YC Founder Stories

Building a startup during COVID, selling a business, and marketing yourself: Ish Baid (Virtually, YC S20)


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Feb 06 2024 41 mins  
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Today’s guest is Ish Baid from Virtually (YC S20), which was the first ever "Student Relationship Manager" for online schools to bridge the gap between educators and students.

Ish previously worked at Facebook as a software engineer and is currently building Reflow AI, creating AI agents that build and run your HR tasks and workflows.

Virtually was the first ever "Student Relationship Manager" for online schools to bridge the gap between educators and students. With Virtually, you could track attendance on Zoom, send reminders, and more


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

Episode Timestamps:

  • 00:28: What was your startup idea when you entered YC?
  • 02:42: How did you come up with the idea?
  • 03:56: What are the key elements to focus on when applying to YC?
  • 06:10: Share your YC interview experience in 1-2 sentences.
  • 7:19: Share your YC interview experience in 1-2 sentences.
  • 08:10: Did you pivot your idea before or during YC?
  • 09:12: How did YC help you go from 0 to 1 to N?
  • 10:17: Share a “do things that don’t scale” story in your startup journey.
  • 12:17: How did you get your first 1000 users?
  • 13:41: Share 3 tips for founders who are trying to get into YC.
  • 16:00: What are some things that you learned from building and selling your business and moving on from it?
  • 19:21: What are a few things you want to do differently with your second venture?
  • 22:56: Why should founders consider raising funds?
  • 26:15: How do you communicate your market to VCs?
  • 30:01: Talk to me about your hiring process.
  • 30:55: What are some of the lows that you faced and how did you overcome them?
  • 33:54: Tell me about Reflow AI.
  • 37:01: What is an ambitious goal you are chasing?
  • 37:59: Any closing thoughts 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 generated $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 22,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is the Head of Community + Brand at Threado, building a side project called GuestLab, and runs a podcast called Undefeated Underdogs alongside hosting this podcast.

👉🏼 Where to find Ish:

  • Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ish-baid-11645b87
  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/IshBaid
  • Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1lHZCmRmGT21wtEtjpyJ8Q
  • Personal site: https://www.ishbaid.com/about/

👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:

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