Jessica Livingston

Who they are

Jessica Livingston is a co-founder of Y Combinator — wrote 'Founders at Work' (2007), launched the Female Founders Conference in 2013, and co-hosts The Social Radars podcast with Carolynn Levy.

Person

Jessica Livingston co-founded Y Combinator in 2005 from scratch — the first batch-model seed accelerator, built alongside Paul Graham, Robert Morris, and Trevor Blackwell. Before that, her career moved through editorial work at Food & Wine magazine, customer service, investor relations, and VP of Marketing at Adams Harkness Financial Group, with a stint at Fidelity Investments — not the typical VC pedigree, which turned out to be the point. She graduated from Bucknell University with a BA in English in 1993, and went back to deliver the school's 175th commencement address. The through-line is a consistent focus on founders as people: she documented early startup culture in 'Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days' (2007), launched the Female Founders Conference in 2013 to get more women building companies, and in March 2023 launched The Social Radars podcast with fellow YC partner Carolynn Levy, interviewing founders of billion-dollar startups. She writes at foundersatwork.posthaven.com on early-stage company building and founder advice, has spoken at Business of Software, YC Startup School, and the YC 'How To Build The Future' series, and was featured in Lenny's Newsletter as 'YC's social radar' — the person who read people, not spreadsheets. Sam Altman has credited her with transforming YC into a startup ecosystem.

Network

Her closest named relationships are Paul Graham — YC co-founder and husband, a constant collaborator across the institution's entire history — and Carolynn Levy, YC partner and co-host of The Social Radars. Garry Tan, who became YC CEO in January 2023, is a current colleague. YC was also an early financial backer of OpenAI.

Paul Graham· Co-founder, Y Combinator
Carolynn Levy· Partner, Y Combinator; co-host, The Social Radars
Garry Tan· CEO, Y Combinator (as of January 2023)

How they likely show up

Co-founded YC in 2005 and has remained for two decades → thinks in institutional time-horizons, not short cycles.
Pre-YC career spanned editorial, customer service, investor relations, and marketing → brings a generalist's read on people and communication, not a finance or engineering lens.
Known internally as YC's 'social radar' — the person who assessed founders on character and integrity → pattern-matches on interpersonal signals fast, likely notices what's unsaid.
Launched the Female Founders Conference in 2013 and The Social Radars podcast in 2023 → takes on institution-building projects independently, doesn't wait for permission.
Author of 'Founders at Work' — a book built entirely from interviewing founders — and now a podcast in the same vein → learns and communicates through conversation, not decks.

Conversation tips

→ Come with a specific founder story or early-days anecdote — her entire public body of work is built around those conversations, and she'll engage immediately.
→ Reference The Social Radars by name and ask about a specific episode or guest — she co-created it and will notice if you've actually listened.
→ Don't treat her as a proxy for Paul Graham or YC's investment thesis — her distinct contribution is the human and cultural layer of YC, not the deal mechanics.
→ If you've read 'Founders at Work,' mention which interview stuck with you — it's a concrete signal you engaged with her work on its own terms.
→ Ask about the Female Founders Conference origin story — she launched it in 2013 with a specific goal and it's a part of her identity separate from the YC brand.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on The Social Radars — she launched the podcast in March 2023 with Carolynn Levy specifically to interview founders of billion-dollar startups, a different format from 'Founders at Work' and worth asking what she's learning that a book couldn't capture.
Reference the Lenny's Newsletter feature that called her 'YC's social radar' — it names her specific skill (reading people, not pitches) and is a natural entry point into what that judgment actually looks like in practice.
Mention the Bucknell commencement address — she went back to her BA-in-English alma mater to deliver the 175th address, a full-circle moment that says something about how she thinks about the arc of a career.

Discovery questions

The 'Founders at Work' book came out in 2007 and The Social Radars launched in 2023 — what does the podcast format let you get to that the book couldn't?
You're described as YC's 'social radar' — the person assessing founders on character rather than metrics. How has your read on what makes a trustworthy founder changed since 2005?
You launched the Female Founders Conference in 2013. What's actually shifted for women founders in the decade-plus since, and what hasn't?

Avoid

Don't reduce her role to 'Paul Graham's co-founder' or treat YC's story as primarily his — her distinct contribution, as documented in Paul Graham's own essay about her and Sam Altman's public comments, was the human and cultural infrastructure of the institution.

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