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Y Combinator COO Qasar Younis Discusses Entrepreneurship

Techwire contributing writer Rich Foreman share insights from his conversation with Qasar Younis, COO of T Combinator.

I recently interviewed Qasar Younis at Startup Grind Sacramento, where he shared how he has climbed the ranks of the entrepreneurial ladder. Younis is the COO 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, which was originally backed by YC before being acquired by Google 10 months later. He then became Google's product lead for business facing products and has assisted dozens of entrepreneurs turn their ideas into a reality via YC.

Growing up in the rural environment of Pakistan and migrating to Michigan in the 1980s, Younis' initial background was in the automobile industry and virtually everything engineering-related. After leaving the auto industry in the early 2000s, he gained skills in software and mechanical engineering — ultimately attaining an MBA from Harvard. With a new focus, he launched a startup called Camisa with a group of friends in Chicago. The business model was nearly identical to Teespring, where users can sell and submit T-shirt designs via crowdfunding. Unfortunately, Camisa never reached the desired level of success and Younis learned a lot from this failure.

"The Market Doesn't Care about Your Vision."

Younis felt that his team at Camisa was not well balanced, and he was trying to play a role that didn't match his skill set. In addition, not being in Silicon Valley severely hindered the startup’s exposure. Camisa's vision was not timed properly to be successful in the marketplace; this point is key because, as entrepreneurs, it's really easy to get wrapped up in our vision.

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 is zero to none. After Camisa went down, Younis and his business partner moved to Silicon Valley and zoned in on 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 for TalkBin to put together a team, create a product and find funding. This led to entering the YC startup incubator, where he received many hours of mentoring and investment prospects. Although funding was an important element to the equation, it was the insight from YC supporters that he contributed most to his success. Less than a year later, Google spotted TalkBin on the radar, recognized that his vision aligned with theirs and immediately acquired the company.

You can view the full interview with Younis here.

Rich Foreman is a contributing writer for Techwire. He is the CEO of Apptology, a Sacramento-based mobile application development and mobile marketing company. He also is the Sacramento director of Startup Grind.