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OV

Olga Vidisheva

02/24/15

@ Y Combinator

I moved to the United States at 17, speaking no English, and graduated from Wellesley College and Harvard Business School.

Video

YC

Olga Vidisheva Speaks at Female Founders Conference 2015

@ Y Combinator

Olga Vidisheva Speaks at Female Founders Conference 2015

02/24/15

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Pejman Nozad

03/09/18

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I arrived in the U.S. in 1992 with only $700, didn't speak English, and spent all my money calling a girl in Iran, leading to my first job at a car wash.

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Bill Gates

02/21/25

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I dropped out of Harvard to pursue my passion for computing, inspired by the exponential improvements in technology and the potential for personal computers.

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Vlad Tenev

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When I first arrived in the U.S., I didn't speak English and struggled to adapt to a new school environment, which made me feel isolated and shy.

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Ryan Petersen

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I graduated from business school with $140,000 in debt, which made me determined to find a way to succeed as an entrepreneur without being constrained by that debt.

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Ryan Petersen

08/30/18

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I lived in China for two years running a supply chain business, which helped me gain international experience and led me to business school.

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Diego Saez Gil

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I started my first company in New York City while I was broke, didn't speak good English, and had no idea how to start a startup.

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Peter Thompson

03/28/25

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A friend encouraged me to join the Sloan Fellowship program at Stanford, which led me to start my entrepreneurial journey at 48 years old.

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Guillermo Rauch

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I dropped out of high school to begin my journey as a software engineer after being offered a job at a startup in Switzerland.

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Tikhon Bernstam

09/09/17

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I applied to Y Combinator on a long shot, not expecting to get in, but after interviewing in Palo Alto, I was accepted and dropped out of graduate school to pursue my startup.