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“Do you think that getting married young has made you less ambitious?” Welcome to the first episode of SOTA Wives with Sarah Chieng (Head of DevX at Cerebras, ⁠@MilksandMatcha⁠) x Vivian Midha Shen (General Partner at Y Combinator, ⁠@vivianmshen⁠). In episode 1: finding your person before getting rich, turning down startup funding to finish MIT, what a YC partner sees in founders, and how a birthday post became “psychological violence.” 4:08 Finding your husband before the exit 8:48 Did we marry away our ambition? 18:04 The internet called Sarah's birthday “psychological violence” 20:47 Does your YC partner secretly think you’re doomed? 23:47 Building a startup with your ex-boyfriend 28:54 SF cat parties

I’m joining @ycombinator as a General Partner. YC is a homecoming for every GP. All of us were previously YC founders, and lived the journey that we support founders through every day. Our alma mater taught us the lessons that we pass on. My founder path was infinitely harder than I thought it would be. We hit incredible highs and brutal lows. We came within a few months of zero runway. The YC mantras kept me going: make something people want, and don’t die. Over the course of my companies, we touched thousands of lives: employing people in almost every US state (Alaska still evades me!), and teaching STEM to students from every walk of life. Now, I’ve had the privilege of working with founders who are tackling some of the hardest problems today, including defense, space, energy, and manufacturing. We’re also entering an era of diffusing AI across businesses of all sizes, and founders are bringing these tools into their old workplaces and new customers to make work better. Finally, I’m particularly interested in our work at YC to partner closely with the government to make sure technology serves everyone. Our Startup Industrial Base conference yesterday was the start of this, with more to come. Founders are the backbone of American innovation and core to the future of our country and economy. Thank you to the YC partnership for believing in me, and the YC founders for trusting me. There’s never been a better time to make something people want.