Qasar Younis was interviewed at Startup Grind Sacramento and shared how he has climbed the entrepreneurial ladder. He is the CEO of Y Combinator (YC), an organization that provides seed funding for startups while linking them with potential investors and acquirers. Younis reached success through Talkbin that was originally backed by YC before being acquired by Google, ten months later. He then became Google's product lead for business-facing product and has assisted dozens of entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into a reality via YC.
Growing up in the rural environment of Pakistan and migrating to Michigan in the 80's, Younis' initial background was in the automobile industry and virtually everything engineering-related. After leaving automotive in the early 2000's, he gained skills in software and mechanical engineering ultimately attaining an MBA from Harvard. With a new focus, he launched a startup with a group of friends called Camisa in Chicago, Illinois. The business model was nearly identical to TeeSpring where users could sell and submit T-shirt designs via crowdfunding. Unfortunately, Camisa never reached the desired level of success. Younis learned much from this failure and has spent a lot of time helping other entrepreneurs so that they won't make the same mistakes.
"The Market Doesn't Care about Your Vision."
Younis felt that his team was not well-balanced and he was trying to play a role that didn't match his skillsets. In addition, not being in Silicon Valley severely hindered their degree of exposure. Camisa's vision was not timed properly for the market to be attracted to what they were offering. This 3rd point is key because as entrepreneurs, it's vastly easy to get wrapped up in the vision of our business. However, Younis believes that building a successful business is based on supply and demand. If what you're supplying isn't demanded by the marketplace, the chances of success are zero to none. Once Camisa went down, he and his partner moved to Silicon Valley and tuned in to working toward their soon-to-be success, Talkbin.
"If You're Serious About your Brand, You Can't do it Part-time."
Younis mapped out that he had exactly a year to put together a team, create a product and find funding. This led to entering the YC startup incubator where he received countless hours of mentoring and investment prospects. Although funding was an important element to the equation, it was the insight from YC supporters that contributed most to his success. Less than a year later, Google randomly spotted the two partners on their radar and recognized that his vision aligned with theirs -- and the business was immediately acquired.