Whatās your ultimate Vision with Yac, and how do you think about the space differently than your competitors?
Yac is going to be the way that you collaborate and get work done. Yac does not make you feel obligated to respond to somebody immediately or take up and monopolize your time like a Zoom or phone call.Ā
A lot of our competitors emphasize synchronous real-time audio and video. Thatās fine for social, but for work, nobody operates that way. People realize that Zoom and Clubhouse fatigue are real, and theyāre tired of it.Ā
Yac will be how people get work done because itās on their own time. Itās incredibly inclusive of remote and global teams all over the world. Asynchronous is going to win long term because itās the natural progression for what people actually want.
Longer-term, our vision for the company is actually fascinating. We love to talk about how AirPods have sold more than some countriesā populations. In 5 to 10 years, weāll be collaborating in a way that doesnāt require us to have a physical interface in front of us. You may not even have a physical phone or computer. It will all be taking place either in AR or in your ears. Thatās the future weāre building towards.
What has your journey so far looked like, and what are you focusing on for the next six months?
Our story is actually nuts. We submitted the initial version of Yac to Producthuntās Makers Festival and ended up accruing a massive waitlist. We got our initial investment because Aidan Wolf of Doodle Lense, a Yac user at the time, mentioned Adam Draper on Twitter. We got on a call, and he immediately said, āHey, I want to fund this thing.ā
For the next six months, we are heads down on growth, sales, and marketing. Everybody whoās on Yac today loves the platform. Weāre trying to replicate that for everybody across the world and remove pointless meetings from their life.
One great piece of advice for community building is to be super authentic and genuine when talking to people. Donāt try to over-optimize human relationships. Those should be kept pure and genuine.
What something youāve learned that you wish you knew starting Yac?
The one thing that I wish I learned is understanding that fundraising really is hard. Youāre inherently going to get more āno"s to "yes"s when fundraising. That doesnāt mean your product sucks, but getting "no"s is a part of the game.Ā
The other thing that I wish I knew is just how critical the non-glamorous stuff is. Making sure taxes, finances, data rooms, and stuff is lined up before getting any funding. Thatās just as important as the stuff that everybody likes to talk about.
Who is someone you looked up to growing up, and who inspires you now?
Someone that I look up to as the founder is Jack Dorsey. I really love how transparent and honest he is. Heās so down to earth, and I really appreciate that. I am really excited about 1v1Me, a gaming company, Fluent, a language learning company, Hype, a social marketplace, and OKO.
My buddy Garrett at Pipedream Labs is basically building the Boring Company for small parcels. Right now, if you need paper towels at your house, we order them on Prime and get them the next day. What heās trying to do is make 30 second or 30 minute delivery. Itās a moonshot, but heās actually pulling it off.
I am also very excited about one of my friends, KP, who has a venture fund called Bloom VP. Really stoked about what theyāre doing