Link: Founder’s Guide to the Y Combinator Interview
Startups have two major growth stages: zero-to-one then one-to-many. Mastering each requires an understanding of the "small idea" and "big idea".
To get off the ground, you want to show that you understand how to dominate your core niche – a la Kevin Kelly’s 1000 True Fans concept.
A narrative that describes how you encountered the problem, built it for yourself, then talked to 100 other people like you is tried and true for a reason: it shows that you are an expert in this problem space, you’ve done your homework and are now building a product with feedback from real customers.
You should be able to convey the reasons why you’re going to attack — and dominate — a niche area with your product.
But we all know that the end goal isn’t to own a very small niche, but to use that as a platform to successfully enter a much bigger arena. You’ll get asked about this, and better yet, you can actively guide the conversation in that direction.
What is the biggest idea you can convey on how this niche product grows into something huge? Expansion can happen in many ways, often by expanding geography, product category, or target customer. The important part is that you make a bold claim (that you believe) about how you will grow into something much bigger once you dominate your core niche.