Y Combinator Startup Podcast
00:28:43 · Paul Graham, Amjad Masad
[00:28:43] S1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So maybe you should figure this out yourself first. How do you identify people doing valuable things? [00:28:49] S0: Yes. And so you know, Replit is... As a customer zero, it's it's the lab. We're trying to figure out, like, that. So the the self driving company is sort of this idea of, like, the future of work, future of how firms are organized. And we think Replit is the platform for the transformation for Wow. The self driving companies. And so that... That's sort of the expanded vision of where Replit is is headed. Because, ultimately, the thing that I didn't really appreciate and realize is, I've always known that making software creation more accessible would have transformational impact. I didn't really appreciate that it would fundamentally change how people work. Like [00:29:30] S1: Because it seemed... We were programmers. It seems like what programmers write programs. Right? It's not like this... The core of the way companies work doesn't consist of programming. Yes. Maybe now it does. [00:29:40] S0: It it does. Yes. [00:29:41] S1: Wow. You know, by the way, incidentally, this is an instance of what happens with the very best startups. The very best startups, you come up with something and you think you're coming up with some idea, you suggested to them, they've already done it. You've already got this big new transformation planned. That's another thing about the best startups. The best startups, they're already big, and then they think of this new thing as if they were a brand new company, right? And they get 100x bigger.
00:29:41 · Paul Graham, Amjad Masad
[00:29:41] S1: Wow. You know, by the way, incidentally, this is an instance of what happens with the very best startups. The very best startups, you come up with something and you think you're coming up with some idea, you suggested to them, they've already done it. You've already got this big new transformation planned. That's another thing about the best startups. The best startups, they're already big, and then they think of this new thing as if they were a brand new company, right? And they get 100x bigger. [00:30:10] S0: Well, think it's now actually essential to do that because AI, like we talked about earlier, is a massive commoditization force. So I think where it used to be optional to have to reinvent yourself, it's now mandatory almost. [00:30:34] S1: And you're the way AI flows into companies. Yes. I mean, that's gigantic. [00:30:39] S0: Yeah. It's gigantic. [00:30:41] S1: You just have to make that be not vague, cause anybody can say that. Anybody listening to this, there's probably someone at IBM thinking, yeah, that sounds good. We'll see. We're the way AI flows into companies. Everything [00:30:56] S0: we've kind of popularized ended up being copied. Like, you would probably ask this idea of like idea to have fast. And it's like, probably every startup that does like five pudding is like, that's their thing. [00:31:08] S1: But they're copying the old version of you. Yes. You're a movie, and they're copying this frame Yes. From, like, six months ago. Right?
00:31:08 · Paul Graham, Amjad Masad
[00:31:08] S1: But they're copying the old version of you. Yes. You're a movie, and they're copying this frame Yes. From, like, six months ago. Right? [00:31:16] S0: Yeah. That's that's how that's how it needs to... Like, you need to be constantly doing that. [00:31:20] S1: But this means Replit's in every company. [00:31:23] S0: Mhmm. [00:31:24] S1: Every company that has competitors that can't afford to just sit. [00:31:28] S0: Yes, that's the goal. That's astounding. [00:31:32] S1: So how do you do this? I suppose gradually is the answer. [00:31:38] S0: Yeah, I think there's always this temptation for founders to come up with this big strategy, make a big news about it and then just like, oh, this is what we're doing now. It's like, no, let the customers tell the story. [00:31:50] S1: Right, it's more like you have this general goal of where you wanna end up. Yeah. But then you do it incrementally. Yes. And what are the increments? Individual things that come up with customers. But you know what you're looking for. Right. You know you're looking for a customer doing a certain sort of thing. Okay, let's help them out and then everybody will be able to do [00:32:07] S0: this. Exactly. [00:32:08] S1: And you're in. That's the great thing. This is what having done all that systems programming buys you. It gets you into the customers so you can see the increments of the new things you're doing.
00:32:08 · Paul Graham, Amjad Masad
[00:32:08] S1: And you're in. That's the great thing. This is what having done all that systems programming buys you. It gets you into the customers so you can see the increments of the new things you're doing. [00:32:20] S0: Yes. And if... Like, similarly, like how agent... Replit agent for the outside world was this discontinuous moment for us internally was incremental in many ways. I think a lot of things that we're doing at some point, we were like, there's this is a continuous moment in in how companies [00:32:39] S1: It's so interesting. If you're the experts, if you're the insiders, things that seem like step functions Yes. For the rest of the world. You saw before the step [00:32:51] S0: Yeah. [00:32:51] S1: And you see after, so it's smoother for you. It's smoother. And I [00:32:54] S0: think that's... It's not all invention, but I think the history of invention, if you, you know, zoom in and kind of read the stories, like, you know, Steve Jobs tried to do an iPad in the eighties, you know? Yeah. [00:33:08] S1: Because he knew that something like that would be good. Yeah. The technology just wasn't there [00:33:11] S0: yet. Yeah. So when you read the story of Apple, it was like, oh, the iPhone was totally obvious, especially, you know, after it like [00:33:17] S1: Yeah. Yeah. If it was so obvious, how come nobody else did [00:33:20] S0: it? Right. Right? But but but, like, it was sort of incremental inside Apple, but for everyone in the world, well, that was, a totally transformational moment. But also, if
00:33:20 · Amjad Masad, Paul Graham
[00:33:20] S0: it? Right. Right? But but but, like, it was sort of incremental inside Apple, but for everyone in the world, well, that was, a totally transformational moment. But also, if [00:33:28] S1: you know the story of how the iPad... The the iPad happened or the iPhone, originally they were making this tablet and he already knew what he wanted. He'd been thinking about this. And so as soon as he saw it like, okay, this is it. Let's make this. And you too, whenever something happens whenever something happens within a company, it's gonna be something that you've been thinking about for ten years and be like, okay, this is the thing to build. More than other companies, though, I think you guys have been living in the future. Don't you think that's true? [00:34:02] S0: I think that's true. [00:34:03] S1: That's almost... If you had to say, what's the real DNA of Replit? [00:34:07] S0: It is living in the future, for sure. [00:34:10] S1: More even than AI specifically. [00:34:11] S0: It's often frustrating. Think that because stuff doesn't work. Well, stuff doesn't work, and people change so slowly. So for example, cloud development. Are people convinced about that now? [00:34:24] S1: Not yet. Still. Are they gonna use AI? [00:34:27] S0: It's crazy. Exactly. So our prediction internally is that you go from everyone using one agent to 10 agents to 100 agents to 10,000 agents at some point. You can't run 10,000 agents on your MacBook. There's no way you can do it. [00:34:42] S1: Yeah. Robert proved that back in the 1980s. Yes.
00:34:42 · Paul Graham, Amjad Masad
[00:34:42] S1: Yeah. Robert proved that back in the 1980s. Yes. [00:34:48] S0: Eventually, we're gonna get away from local work in general, but but but there's, like, the people still predominantly do work on their on their desktop. [00:34:58] S1: Maybe this is what will finally convince them. [00:35:00] S0: Yes. Right? [00:35:01] S1: That stuff has to live in the cloud. Yeah. [00:35:03] S0: Yeah. But it's also fun. Think it is working at Replit just ends up being a sort of a weird sort of existence. Like, you go into this company, you're like, my god, I'm sick. [00:35:16] S1: Well, the weird thing is you know what everyone's future is gonna be like. Because that was why you seemed like a Bond villain when you were demonstrating what later... And you... Plus that laugh. Yeah. Right? You you were demonstrating what later came to be called vibe coding. Yeah. And here I was sitting there looking at it with dismay, and you're like, yes, mister Bond. Is this is it now. Exactly. This is this is the future, mister [00:35:38] S0: Bond. I [00:35:40] S1: think you might even have been wearing a black turtleneck. [00:35:42] S0: I was. Not turtleneck. It was a black shirt. [00:35:44] S1: But Okay. Yeah. Black shirt, the bald Me sitting there like, oh, no. What's happened to my beloved programming? And you're like, I already knew. I've thought... I've been thinking about this for years, mister Bond.