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- Do you have a sibling? (Doug Leone)
- How would you describe your sibling? (testing strengths/weaknesses)
- Tell me about the last mistake you made?
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The following are questions YC partners frequently ask during office-hours:
- What’s slowing you down or holding you back?
- Accountability: What did you learn over the last week?
- What’s the question behind the question?
- Founders often ask one question, hinting at something bigger
- (individual) What’s holding you back from moving faster?
- And the inverse: What’s slowing you down?
- (group) What were your goals over the last two weeks? Did you hit your goals? If not, why? What re your goals for the next two weeks?
- Often the founder doesn’t know the answers, but probing questions help surface the real issues and crystalizes priorities.
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→ When thinking about competition, framing matters:
- how will you win where others didn't?' is interesting
- 'what's stopping x from copying you?' is less interesting