Jessica Livingston

Who they are

Jessica Livingston is Co-founder and Partner at Y Combinator — wrote 'Founders at Work' (2007), launched the Female Founders Conference in 2013, and co-hosts 'The Social Radars' podcast interviewing billion-dollar startup founders.

Person

Jessica co-founded Y Combinator in 2005 from scratch — she, Paul Graham, Robert Morris, and Trevor Blackwell invented the batch-model seed accelerator before the category existed. Before that, her career ran through editorial work at Food & Wine, customer service and investor relations at Fidelity Investments, and VP of Marketing at Adams Harkness Financial Group — an unusual pre-founder path that skipped engineering entirely and made her the person in the room reading people, not code. She graduated from Bucknell in 1993 with a BA in English, which tracks: her signature contribution to YC lore is what Graham publicly called being the 'social radar' — the one who could tell when a founder was bullshitting. In 2007 she published 'Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days,' a collection of founder interviews that became foundational reading for a generation of builders. She launched the Female Founders Conference in 2013 to push more women into company creation, and in March 2023 launched 'The Social Radars,' a podcast with YC partner Carolynn Levy interviewing founders of billion-dollar companies. She writes at foundersatwork.posthaven.com on early-stage company building and YC culture, and has spoken at Business of Software, YC Startup School, and delivered the Bucknell commencement address. The through-line: she spent two decades building the infrastructure for founders to be taken seriously — the firm, the book, the conference, the podcast.

Network

Jessica's closest professional relationship is Paul Graham — co-founder, frequent collaborator, and husband — who wrote a dedicated essay about her role at YC. Her active co-hosting partnership with YC partner Carolynn Levy on 'The Social Radars' is the most recent named collaboration. Sam Altman has publicly credited her with transforming YC into a startup ecosystem, and Garry Tan joined as YC CEO in January 2023, alongside whom she continues as partner.

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

How they likely show up

Long tenure at YC since founding in 2005 → thinks in decade-long arcs; not optimizing for quarterly wins.
Background is English/editorial and marketing, not engineering → her edge has always been reading people and communication, not product or code; she likely prizes clarity and narrative over technical depth.
Described publicly as YC's 'social radar' by Paul Graham → she notices what's unsaid; expect her to pick up on incongruence or evasiveness quickly.
Launched The Social Radars podcast in 2023 alongside a full partner role → still actively building new output, not coasting on legacy; high agency even in a later-career phase.
Founded the Female Founders Conference in 2013, separate from her YC role → runs her own initiatives in parallel, doesn't wait for institutional permission.
Published a book of founder interviews before starting her own blog → her instinct is to surface other people's stories first, then her own views; collaborative and platform-building by nature.

Conversation tips

→ Reference a specific episode or guest from 'The Social Radars' — she'll immediately know whether you've actually listened or are bluffing.
→ Ask about the early YC dinners and what she was actually looking for when screening founders — this is her origin story and she has well-formed views on it.
→ Don't try to impress her with technical claims; her filter is character and honesty, not credentials.
→ She responds to specifics about founders she's interviewed or invested in — name a company, not a theme.
→ The Female Founders Conference is a genuine commitment, not a PR move — if you work with underrepresented founders, that's worth a real mention.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on 'The Social Radars' launch in March 2023 — she co-created a new podcast specifically to interview billion-dollar founders, which means she's still actively shaping how founder stories get told, not just curating the YC archive.
Reference 'Founders at Work' (2007) and ask what she'd do differently if she were writing it now — the book predates the current AI wave and almost every company she funded since, so the gap between that edition and today is a rich seam.
Mention Paul Graham's essay about her as YC's social radar — it's a public document about how she operates, and opening on it signals you've gone deeper than the Wikipedia bio.

Discovery questions

When you were running the early YC batches, what signals told you a founder was worth betting on that you couldn't have articulated at the time but can now?
The Female Founders Conference started in 2013 — more than a decade in, what's actually moved and what's still stuck?
The Social Radars interviews founders of billion-dollar companies — what's the question you find yourself asking in every conversation, even if it's not on the script?

Avoid

Don't lead with questions about YC's current portfolio strategy or batch numbers — her identity is founder culture and storytelling, not fund mechanics, and she's likely heard every 'what's your hit rate' question a thousand times.

Make it yours