Gonzalo Espinoza Graham (Double, YC W23) - Building robots, seeing the future, and leveraging AI

Today’s guest is Gonzalo Espinoza Graham from Double (YC W23), a tool that makes it easy for sales teams to answer very specific questions about their prospects, the kind that ZoomInfo can't answer.Gonzalo’s previous companies include Ninja Delivery (acq. 2022) and Watfly. He is currently the co-founder of Double.Double makes it easy for sales teams to answer very specific questions about their prospects, the kind that ZoomInfo can't answer. We do this by searching the web and using LLMs to compile verifiable answers with citations. We can answer questions like: - Is this a remote-first company? - Do they offer customer support via Slack? - Is their primary product an API? - Is this a law firm that specializes in personal injury? - And anything else you can think ofListen on to learn more about Gonzalo Espinoza Graham’s YC application and journey!Prefer to curl up and read the transcript? Read our newsletter at https://ycfounderstories.substack.com/Episode Timestamps:1:13: What is your startup idea?2:23: How did you come up with the idea?4:41: When did you get into YC?5:18: What are the key elements to focus on when applying to YC?6:05: Share your YC interview experience in 1-2 sentences.6:51: Did you pivot your idea during or after YC?7:45: How did YC help you go from 0 to 1 to N?8:56: Share a “do things that don’t scale” story in your startup journey.9:45: How did you get your first 1000 users?11:16: Share 3 tips for founders who are trying to get into YC.13:13: How was Demo Day?14:08: How did you go from a non-linear career in robotics, delivery, etc. to Double?18:23: What insights do you want to give founders on timing the market and understanding market cap?20:13: You said you've been rejected three times by YC, and this is the fourth time you got in. Talk to me about the whole experience. 26:19: What is the status of Watfly and Ninja Delivery now?27:15: What was the process of building the prototype for Watfly and did you look into selling it versus shutting it down?30:18: What inspires you? Who do you look up to these days or even in the past?32:22: What are the big differences you're seeing in the whole process of building software vs hardware?34:57: In terms of Double or other technologies, what are you passionate about right now?36:47: Do you see a future of autonomous robots roaming around in the streets and delivering food and doing things for us?39:06: When you go through the lows, how did you build that conviction to know you were on the right path?41:56: Any last few thoughts that you wanna share before we wrap up? 👉🏼 About the Host:Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generates $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 21,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is the Head of Community at Threado and hosts another podcast called The Undefeated Underdogs.👉🏼 Where to find Gonzalo:Twitter: https://twitter.com/geepyteeLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gonzaloesp/👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harathYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harathWebsite: https://5harath.com/Newsletter: https://ycfounderstories.substack.com/The Undefeated Underdogs Podcast: https://undefeatedunderdogs.com/