TC50 Backstage: Why Paul Graham Was So Mean and Which of his Companies Will IPO

He calls me out on it in the video below so I might as well admit it: I’ve been a bit hard on Paul Graham and Y Combinator in the past. It’s not that I think he hasn’t been a great mentor to young entrepreneurs– he has. But that’s a lot of equity to give up and to date no Y Combinator company has really hit it huge. Graham says that’s going to change.

“Four or five of our companies could go public,” he says in the interview after the jump and names some names. (He also does the cutest face ever at minute marker 3:28. Jim Carrey meets one of Jason’s puppies?)

This is a longer video, but it’s one of my favorites I shot all day. Stay until the end where he tells start-ups how to market themselves to customers and investors in a downturn.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6584513&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

TC50 and Paul Graham from sarah lacy on Vimeo.