The key idea of the video is that persistence, radical transparency, and leveraging networks can lead to success for startups and nonprofits committed to doing good.

• 💡
  00:00

  A speaker shares the story of a startup that persisted for 990 days before success, inspired by Airbnb's presentation.

  • We are a non-profit crowdfunding platform, similar to Kickstarter, that provides low-cost high-impact medical care to patients around the world who cannot afford it.
  • Good presentations fall into two categories: informational and motivational, but the speaker couldn't give either one and instead procrastinated until remembering the best startup presentation ever given by Airbnb.
  • The speaker shares the story of Watt C, a startup that persisted for 990 days before anyone knew if they would be successful or not, after serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Central America.
• 💼
  03:24

  Speaker leaves uninspiring job to return to San Francisco and find a way to do well and do good.

  • The speaker was on a bouncy and uncomfortable flight back to the United States after attending his grandmother's funeral, carrying all his possessions in a black North Face duffel bag and burdened with student loan and credit card debt.
  • The speaker assumed his friends were unhappy working dead-end jobs in San Francisco, but was surprised to find they were happy building products and solving problems they cared about.
  • The speaker decided to leave a job that lacked energy and innovation and return to San Francisco to find a way to do well and do good.
  • Local passengers trust a woman asking for donations for her son's medical treatment because she had his medical record with her, highlighting the need for a crowdfunding website for healthcare.
• 📈
  07:21

  Nonprofits are complex and difficult to measure success due to the challenge of receiving feedback from various groups of people.

  • The speaker spent five months obsessing over the idea of Watse, playing a game where he thought of every possible issue and solution for the model.
  • Nonprofits are more complicated than for-profits because it's hard to measure success and get feedback from different groups of people.
• 🌍
  09:16

  Providing aid to isolated communities with language barriers and limited access to technology can have unintended consequences, such as flooding the market with free or heavily subsidized rice and putting local farmers out of business.

  • Providing aid to isolated communities with language barriers and limited access to technology can be challenging due to reluctance to give negative feedback and the potential for unintended consequences.
  • Haitian women are selling eggs, plantains, bananas, and rice with an American flag on the bags at the market.
  • Nonprofits and governments flood the Haitian market with free or heavily subsidized rice during humanitarian disasters, putting local Haitian rice farmers out of business.
• 🌟
  11:26

  Watse is a nonprofit committed to radical transparency, with a circular structure and minimal fundraising, that prioritizes patient and donor treatment.

  • A small team of volunteers created a nonprofit organization called Watse, with no funding, office, salaries, users, or revenue, but with a commitment to radical transparency.
  • Watse is a non-profit organization with a circular organizational structure, 100% model, and minimal fundraising.
  • Wattsy changed their trajectory by prioritizing patient and donor treatment, building a site for a year and a half, spending $3,000 to try and get in on profit, getting denied, and then figuring out a way to succeed.
• 🚀
  14:14

  Watchi, a startup for medical treatments, gained massive attention and funding after being featured on Hacker News, NBC, and TechCrunch.

  • In 2012, the speaker launched a project with no success in donations, but later decided to post it on Hacker News to see if it would get upvotes.
  • Watchi launched and received massive attention from Hacker News, NBC, and TechCrunch, resulting in thousands of unique visitors, funding for medical treatments, and hundreds of comments and social media posts.
  • They were excited to be featured on TechCrunch, but didn't realize they were going to be written about until they saw it.
  • The startup had a great idea and gained popularity on TechCrunch, but they were unprepared for the overwhelming response and quickly became overwhelmed.
  • Fundraising for Watsi was a complete disaster and being a non-profit means people will never tell you no but they also won't write you a check.
• 📧
  18:34

  💼💼🛬👥🌉: Received email from Paul Graham, left luggage on plane, Jesse flew down to help, Watsi's success due to YC network and stamp of approval.

  • Received an email from Paul Graham inviting to meet in the Bay Area, left all luggage on the airplane and Jesse flew down from Portland to help.
  • Watsi's success was due to their focus on one metric, the network provided by Y Combinator, and the stamp of approval from YC which helped overcome the risk-averse nature of philanthropists and foundations.
• 💰
  20:39

  Watse raised $1.2 million for global health by selling their vision of making the world smaller.

  • Fundraising for a non-profit organization is complicated and difficult because everyone gives money for a different reason, and reading books on nonprofit fundraising can be unhelpful.
  • The speaker tried to sell emotion and impact to donors but felt like a fraud and resorted to inventing numbers.
  • Watse's vision is to make the world smaller to make it better, and they sell this vision to raise funds for global health.
  • 138 meetings were held in 5 states over 3 months, resulting in $1.2 million raised with an average median donation of $25,000 and support from notable philanthropists and investors.
  • The company has 18 months of runway, an awesome team, donated office space, but is facing challenges such as credit card fraud and trademark infringement.
  • Find something to work on that you care about more than yourself and fund one more patient, one more human life, as that is all we ever have to do.