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10 Habits PhDs Must Unlearn To Build a Startup | Startup School

Y Combinator 4. 11. 2026 15:00

Google, Anthropic, and Databricks were all started by founders with PhDs. But they’re the exceptions. Most academic founders fail, because the instincts that get you published are the ones that can get you killed in a startup. Francois Chaubard knows both sides. He’s a visiting partner at YC and a current PhD student, and before that he was a researcher in Fei-Fei Li’s lab and the founder and CEO of Focal. In this episode of Startup School, Francois breaks down the ten mindset shifts you have to make to go from researcher to formidable founder. He'll cover how to thrive without deadlines or gr

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