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Jessica Livingston

Jessica Livingston25 posts

Jessica Livingston is a venture capitalist and author from Boston. She is a founding partner of Y Combinator. In 2007, she published Founders At Work, a collection of interviews about startup companies. She previously worked at Adams Harkness Financial Group as the company’s VP of marketing. She has a BA in English from Bucknell University. She is married to Paul Graham, and they have two children.

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16 Nov, 2015

Graham praises YC role

Paul GrahamWrites Article0 Comments

Graham writes an article about Livingston’s’ role in Y Combinator, saying she should have more credit.

So although Jessica more than anyone made YC unique, the very qualities that enabled her to do it mean she tends to get written out of YC’s history. Everyone buys this story that PG started YC and his wife just kind of helped. Even YC’s haters buy it. A couple years ago when people were attacking us for not funding more female founders (than exist), they all treated YC as identical with PG. It would have spoiled the narrative to acknowledge Jessica’s central role at YC…Jessica knows more about the qualities of startup founders than anyone else ever has. Her immense data set and x-ray vision are the perfect storm in that respect. The qualities of the founders are the best predictor of how a startup will do. And startups are in turn the most important source of growth in mature economies.

2003

Graham, Livingston dating

Paul GrahamRomance0 Comments

Graham and Livingston start dating. Livingston:

We met at a party in Cambridge Massachusetts randomly. It’s kind of a funny story. I actually went, he was co-hosting the party with a friend of his, I was with a guy I was taking a class at Harvard Extension School with. I wasn’t gonna go, it was a Saturday night and I didn’t have a friend to go with me so I wasn’t gonna go but I went anyway. I arrived on the doorstep, and I said “ Oh, I’m Jessica, I’m friends with Murat and I’m here for the party” and he said “Murat? Didn’t you hear? He moved to Arkansas last week to join the Wes Clark campaign. He’s not here tonight.” So, I said, “Oh my God, I’m not gonna know anyone.” I did not know one person at this party and I went in and had a great time and met, you know Paul, and Trevor, our other co-founder and just hit it off. And then Paul and I started dating and I started meeting more people who are involved in start-ups.

5 Feb, 1971

Jessica Livingston born

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jessica-livingston-bornJessica Livingston is born in Massachusetts. She grows up outside Boston with her mother and father, who works for Gillette.

I grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts. My family has lived there for generations.