I took a short Uber ride with two other passengers before arriving at the house. Ish met me with a bear hug and we spent an hour catching up until Arjun, who flew in a little earlier, woke up and we got some dinner.
The house, our HQ, seemed unchanged since the last time I was there.
It resided in San Franciso’s Little Hollywood — a fairly unknown neighbourhood that warranted a (relatively) affordable rent, a distant view of a park and close proximity to Caltrain station.
We made the garage our office with an array of sticky notes, company posters, a whiteboard and large table space that hosted laptops, spare monitors and a few home automation speakers. A few of my photographs (mostly mountains and trees) were hanging on the walls, but the piano was gone.
Next morning I got to meet Bhargav and Chandra in-person. They were both responsible for developing new features for our product throughout the past few months, though I’ve only spoken to them on the phone until now. It was all business as we were in the rush to prepare for the interview.
It took us about an hour in an old van to get to Mountain View. Our Uber driver did not seem to be in the rush; he drove at or below the speed limit the entire time. Which made me feel uneasy as I tend to speed whenever I’m on the road, though we had more than enough time.
Y Combinator building is a refurbished mini-warehouse that’s been furnished with nicely-painted walls, chairs and sofas. A small plaque, no larger than a mailbox stood in front of it, identifying it as the place we wanted to be at.
Met a few other founders in the parking lot. A horoscope app, a social tool for events, and women’s health cycle tracker. We stood in an awkward circle, wondering if we’d ever see each other again.
There were seven or eight people in the interview room. Naturally, only a few of us spoke as the decisionmakers were trying to determine whether we were the right choice for them. We were asked just a handful of typical “investor” questions. Everything went by uncomfortably quick, leaving only a hazy recollection that felt like a hallucination.
#Return #Flight #Entire #trip #lasted #days #Dmitri #Archie.AI
