Founder's Story
Y Combinator Alum: College Campus Inspiration to Conviction | Ep 212 with Brian Le Founder of Need
Mon, 5 May 2025
After engineering stints and an immigrant-family push toward a PhD, Brian Le accidentally fell into entrepreneurship, first by noticing Bird scooters on campus, then by solving students’ last-minute snack and supply crises with app-powered micro-convenience. A Y Combinator alum, Brian tells how COVID tested Need’s model, why blind ambition is a superpower in your twenties, and how he sees college (and AI) shaping the next generation of founders.Key Discussion PointsEngineering Roots → Accidental Startup: How Bird scooters at UCLA sparked a “Why not?” moment.YC Crash Course: The plunge from no-name founders into the world’s top accelerator—and why every twenty-something should consider it.Pandemic Pivot: When campus shutdowns zeroed out revenue, why doubling down on your mission becomes your strongest play.Pitching 101: The art of “selling” your startup: story-driven conviction and painting a vivid vision five-to-ten years out.College’s True Value: It isn’t just classes—it’s community, hands-on experiments, and leadership labs for budding founders.AI as a Tool, Not a Threat: Why aspiring entrepreneurs should harness AI to supercharge impact, not replace human ingenuity.Key TakeawaysIgnorance Is Bliss: Youthful “delulu” ambition fuels moonshot ventures that grizzled veterans second-guess.Sell the Vision: A great pitch isn’t a slide deck—it’s an emotional story backed by unwavering conviction.Embrace Crisis: A downturn isn’t a dead end—it’s a moment to build your foundation and outpace slow movers.College = Sandbox: Beyond tuition, campus life offers accelerators, orgs, and friendships that forge real-world entrepreneurs.Check them out https://wefunder.com/needClosing Thoughts Brian Le’s journey proves that true founders are often “accidental”—ignited by frustration, honed by trial, and scaled by audacious positivity. Whether you’re racing a scooter or racing a market, the college decade remains the ultimate launchpad for ventures that dare to deliver.Our Sponsors:* Check out Indeed: https://indeed.com/FOUNDERSSTORY* Check out Northwest Registered Agent and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: https://northwestregisteredagent.com* Check out Plus500: https://plus500.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.com
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Hey everyone, welcome back to Founder's Story. Today we have Brian Lay, Y Combinator alum. That's amazing, I gotta know about that. Founder and CEO of Need. We're gonna dive in all things about, is college even a thing anymore if you wanna be an entrepreneur? Is it useful? How about Y Combinator, is that even needed? We're gonna hear from Brian today.
But Need is a company dedicated to providing innovative convenience stores For college students, what a problem you are solving, Brian. So let's go back. Why did you even think this was a thing? And what was the spark that made you say you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
Yeah, definitely. So I've had an engineering background growing up. My family was all electrical engineers. So ever since I was growing up, I always thought I was going to go all the way through grad school, PhD, and go into a career in either like professorship or something deep in the technical field. That's what my immigrant family loves to do. push on all of us.
And I think that's a great thing. And I think that taught me how to solve problems, you know? And I think growing up, I felt very different from my family because I didn't really align with kind of following a path that was
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