It was an honor to meet so many awesome founders in the W26 batch. As the adrenaline subsides, here is my read on what to focus on now that the batch is done: growth, runway, hiring, cofounders, peers, and your own sustainability.
Don't get mesmerized by Silicon Valley
The buzz around YC is addictive, and part of that is the lure of Silicon Valley popularity. Chasing superficial measures of success is a complete waste of time. It doesn't matter how much you raised, if you got written up in TechCrunch, if you have a cool office or big team. Warning signs that you're focused on the wrong stuff: you keep talking to VCs after your Seed round is wrapped, you're networking a lot with people that aren't potential customers, you spend a lot of time on branding and PR, etc. Silicon Valley is very fickle. If you're not growing, the hype machine will lose interest very quickly—so focus on what actually matters.
Chase growth, even if it's messy
Startups are defined by their growth, and realizing consistent growth almost always means developing deep customer obsession and equal obsession with willingness to pay. It's okay to be highly experimental with growth channels, pricing models, and customer segments. It doesn't need to be a perfect commercial model off the bat (as long as it's not a services business), it just needs to be growing.
Persist but prepare to pivot
It's a very subjective and personal decision to say the current path isn't working and it's time to try something radically different. Have grit and exhaust your options, but have a running list of contingency ideas. Remember that market fit is just a point in time, and all good companies are constantly pivoting to regain or maintain market fit and dominance. There's no shame in pivoting.
Don't overhire
When you add more people, you're bound to get people problems. Great hires can be force multipliers for your startup, but bad (or even average) hires slow progress down and drain energy. Hire one at a time, set clear performance expectations, and if a new hire isn't wowing you within the first 2 weeks: part ways. There's a lot of value in the generic adage "hire slow, fire fast." Also, several million can feel like a lot of money, but it can go very quickly. More people, more burn, less runway, less optionality.
Be intentional with your cofounder relationships
Invest in your working relationship and friendship with your business partners. Make it safe to disagree; diversity of thought and healthy conflict is often productive. Air out any tension between cofounders; don't let resentment build. Be good to each other, and accept that no one is perfect. Make every effort to keep the team together, but if it's not working: find a way to move on amicably, and in a way that doesn't hurt the cap table. Talk to your YC partners about it if there are any issues.
Find peer mentors and motivators
Establish a meeting cadence with 2 other startup founders at a similar stage that are crushing it. This should create a good source of peer mentorship and natural competitiveness. Meet for lunch or dinner every 2–3 months. Get jealous when they're doing better than you. Ask them what they attribute their success to, and get their perspective on your business challenges and opportunities.
Watch your runway heading toward the Series A
Heads up: Series A can be the hardest round. Seed is all about potential and narrative. Series B can be quite formulaic around metrics. Series A is somewhere in between, and it can really go either way as to whether VCs find your company interesting. While there's always opportunity for fast-growing startups, there is a big drop-off for startups between Seed and Series A. The Series A process can take several months end-to-end when your startup isn't hot. Plan for a worst-case scenario of a couple months raising and a couple months in due diligence. Ideally, you never dip below 12 months of runway during this time because that can reduce your leverage in negotiations.
Make your startup personally sustainable
Working 996 is fine if that's your jam. That said: not sleeping, not eating healthy, and not getting some form of exercise a few times per week is a recipe for poor mental health. Make time for self care; it will make you a better founder. Also: pay yourselves. I've heard some founders say they're not paying themselves or paying themselves so little they're incurring personal burn. Don't pay yourself to the point where you're saving money, but don't create a situation where you're worrying about paying your bills: that distracts from solving the very hard problems facing your startup.
I hope some of this was useful. Congratulations on graduating the batch, and good luck out there!