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Atmrix

About

MZ

Mark Zuckerberg

10/25/13

@ Y Combinator

We raised money from Peter Thiel while explaining our plan, but he didn't believe we would actually go back to school after taking time off.

Video

YC

Mark Zuckerberg at Startup School 2012

@ Y Combinator

10/25/13

Related Takeaways

Lv

Luis von Ahn

05/10/25

@ Stanford Graduate School of Business

Our first investor didn't believe in the education business model, thinking it was a bad investment, but they were primarily interested because I had previously sold a company to Google.

RH

Reid Hoffman

10/15/14

@ Y Combinator

During our offsite when PayPal was burning cash, I pitched LinkedIn as my best startup idea, but I can't disclose Max and Peter's ideas from that session.

BS

Ben Silbermann

11/09/16

@ Y Combinator

Despite the difficulties in raising funds during the economic collapse of 2008, we managed to secure our first investment through a college business plan competition.

MZ

Mark Zuckerberg

10/26/13

@ Y Combinator

I was influenced by Peter Thiel and Sean Parker, who shaped my strategic thinking.

AC

Adora Cheung

07/31/14

@ Y Combinator

We took out a credit card and set up meetings with potential investors, knowing that if we didn't raise money, we would have to shut down the company.

RF

Reham Fagiri

12/15/18

@ Y Combinator

We communicated our startup plans to friends and family, who were initially skeptical but ultimately supportive of our decision to leave stable jobs.

TB

Tikhon Bernstam

09/09/17

@ Y Combinator

After Y Combinator, we struggled financially for about a year, living off savings and working out of a friend's living room, which was made possible by the generosity of his parents.

SH

Severin Hacker

05/19/25

@ 20VC with Harry Stebbings

The hardest part of raising our Series A was overcoming the perception that we were just two academics without a viable business model.

DG

Diane Greene

08/05/17

@ Y Combinator

We raised our initial funding through a friends-and-family round, ensuring that only those who understood our vision could invest.