STARTUP

SCHOOL
2018
Moderator
Training
 Group Office Hours
Think of Group Office Hours as two things:
• Weekly check-in to keep founders accountable.
• Group therapy session where founders can air out their week, ask for help, and get
feedback from their peers.
Your role in Group Office Hours:
• Facilitate discussions - constantly ask the group for their input and guide the
conversations.
• Go around the room and have each company introduce themselves, talk about what
they’re working on/goals they have for the week and anything they need help with.
60 - 90 Minute
Sessions
 Getting Started
• Introduce yourself to the group.
• Outline how group office hours will be structured.
• Poll your companies for best blocks of time to hold office hours,
e.g. using Doodle
• Encourage them to use the Forum to ask questions and hold
discussions.
 Moderation
• Call meeting to order
• Questions / comments on recent lecture
• Facilitate round-table discussion
• Request one-liner description
• Hit goal for last week? Why or why not?
• Biggest current problem(s) with which you need help
Group Communications
• Use the YC Startup School Forum as the main tool to
communicate with the companies in your group.
• Each group has its own, private group for internal group
communications.
Moderator Software

• Admin portal with scheduler for meetings

• Private group channel (with moderator privileges)
• Group moderator channel
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Moderation Responsibilities
• Manage scheduling of weekly group meetings.
• At least one per week of about an hour in length
• Encourage everyone to submit weekly updates (these are
required for course completion!)
• Conduct a round-robin update during each group session,
ensuring that every company gives their status update and
brings up issues to discuss.
• Keep to a moderately strict time limit for each update so the
meeting does not run too long
Secrets of Moderation Excellence
• Ensure that meetings happen and start on time.
• Keep pretty close to the timing of updates.
• Foster an environment of open communications.
• Encourage feedback from other founders in the group
• At end of every meeting ensure everyone knows when the next
meeting will take place
• Ensure that every company in your group identifies one main
spokesperson for the company
• Report any bad behavior to YC (link in help)
 FAQ
What sort of time commitment is involved with being a moderator?
• We think very little extra time, merely to schedule and make sure you organize
/ attend every group - which you should do anyway.

What if I don’t want to be a moderator any more?

• Work with your group to select a replacement and let us know

What happens if a particular person is disruptive in my group?

• Notify YC via the harassment link in help

What’s the best way to get a company that’s giving a long an update to stop?
• Be gentle, but let them know time is up and that every company needs the
opportunity to talk, but they should post in the forum for further discussion.
 FAQ
Is it a good thing that I volunteered for this?
• Yes!

What if the video chat doesn’t work well?

• Consider switching to any other video group chat that is stable where you live.

When will I get access to the moderator software?

• By Monday afternoon (Pacific time)
 Advice
• Stay calm and neutral
• Be on time, be consistent
• Be courteous but firm
• You are a facilitator - don’t dominate the conversation
• Likewise, don’t let others overly dominate
• Do not get on a power trip - you are there to help
• If discussions ever get out of hand, end the group chat and let us
know what happened
• If a discussion seems like it’s going down a rabbit hole, tell the
participants to move it to the forum.
 Thanks!
Questions?