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Michael Seibel

@mwseibel306k followers

Partner Emeritus at YC - Retired.

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Posts 98 posts
#DatePost↓ OutlierViewsLikesRepostsBookmarks
1Sep 14, '24Too many startups/investors are exploring the b2b opportunities with LLMs and not enough are exploring the consumer opportunities. This is the moment consumer founders have been wa26.6×1.5M4.3k3521.6k
2Jul 25, '24Asking founders you invested in to tweet positive testimonials on your behalf when your past comes back to haunt you... does this work?26.1×1.5M1.4k45124
3Oct 23, '25lol - almost 19 years after we started - we finally got Bieber :)24.1×1.4M5.1k132359
4Jun 29, '23Communicating honest feedback is very hard. I now give very blunt advice because I realized all of the most impactful advice I’ve gotten in my career has been blunt. Blunt friends/19.5×1.1M4.1k432333
5Jun 10, '24What’s happening to the @theallinpod? They used to talk about what’s interesting in Tech. Now feels like politics and conspiracy theory debunking have permanent segments each week.19.1×1.1M2.6k69419
6Mar 20, '25Today after 12+ years at Y Combinator I’ll be transitioning to a Partner Emeritus position. This role allows me to continue to do office hours with the 1000+ companies I’ve worked 17.4×1M6.8k205534
7Apr 27, '23Too many startup founders are not choosing to consume the advantages of living /working in the Bay Area because they fall victim to arguments about lifestyle, crime, and costs.14.9×864k1.2k102285
8Oct 3, '24The investing world is convinced that Palantir is an unscalable consulting company. For over a decade very few competitors were funded as a resulted. Now that Palantir is a Fortune14×810k2.9k1751.2k
9May 7, '24I find it funny when people complain about “difficult people”. I feel like my whole life has been focused on how to work best with “difficult people”. It’s my professional moat. In13.8×798k2.7k251576
10Apr 11, '23Thank you to all the investors who are investing in the YC w23 batch. After working with over 800 YC companies over the past 10 years I also wanted to offer 1 piece of advice.13.7×795k2.1k372995
11Oct 13, '23Time to change your life. All you need is a friend, an idea, and a YC application.13.6×786k1.9k163156
12Dec 29, '22One thing that seems pretty common across Bay Area tech is a general 10 day shutdown/vacation around Christmas and New Years. It’s the only widespread annual shutdown I see in our 10.8×622k2.5k97129
13Aug 29, '24I’ve realized that the person with the ideas often has more power than the person taking action. The person taking action is the gun. The person with ideas is the one pointing the 10.3×597k1.9k164677
14Jan 2, '22A recent small medical issue has highlighted how much someone needs to disrupt Google Search. Google is no longer producing high quality search results in a significant number of i7.8×06.4k1k877
15Oct 18, '20I encourage everyone in the startup community to learn about and support anti-police brutality efforts in Nigeria. We are one global startup community and we support one another.7.1×04k3.1k37
16Sep 11, '25The MBAification of CS majors has reached new heights. Founders who want a clear formula for garanteed success and have no passion other than being better than the next guy. What h6.9×399k2.7k173765
17Jul 8, '23What you focus on is what you improve. Most founders don’t build great products because they focus on things that aren’t important like investors, hiring, pitch decks, tweeting, pr6.6×380k2.3k412786
18Feb 15, '19When I was young I thought management was about distribution/delegation of responsibilities. I now realize it is truly about the maintenance of morale and motivation. Morale and mo5.9×04.9k1.4k424
19Oct 12, '22The folks who are shitting on Zuck re Oculus should shut up. He is trying to invent something new. Just give him some time to try. Why tear down someone who is actually trying hard5.8×05.1k319179
20Mar 4, '25Can I get a vibe check - how is America doing right now?5.8×335k1.3k15131
21Jun 25, '23The median startup fails. If you copy the median startup - you will fail. Copying the median smart person "works" in high school, college, and big companies. It doesn't work in sta5.0×291k1.8k232289
22Mar 15, '24Some news on my next 10 years at YC:5.0×291k1.1k52159
23Nov 23, '23I understand when retired founders are trolls on Twitter. Active founders on the other hand… I don’t get it. Perhaps this is a self soothing mechanism cause startups are so hard. I5.0×290k1.1k46102
24Sep 9, '25The moment we started referring to companies who’ve raised at a billion dollar valuation as “billion dollar companies” we helped to shift the focus of startup founders from their c5.0×286k3.3k364452
25Jan 11, '23In my experience, founders often trigger their own bad moods by not taking the time to appreciate the positives in their lives. It’s too easy to not see any positives when you are 4.6×264k1.5k172195
26Nov 14, '23My default feed on Twitter is filled with too much snark, fear porn, and negativity. Is that a reflection of me, all of you, or a business trying to make ever increasing amounts of4.3×250k1k52121
27Feb 3, '23As an investor, my hindsight insights are amazing. I’m savant at explaining trends that have already happened. I can sound smart in any conversation about the past. But what will h4.1×240k1.4k120113
28Jun 14, '23The single biggest mistake I see young founders make is not taking the time to understand why companies in the recent past failed to execute on the same idea they’ve decided to wor4.1×239k1.4k229337
29Oct 1, '24Life is all about learning by doing.4.1×238k3.6k552468
30Feb 24, '22Honest question, if US technology companies worked together right now - what could they do to deter Putin's invasion?3.6×03.3k300167
31Sep 11, '24My startup has a problem - no product market fit. And there is only one solution - raise more money…3.1×180k1.4k63167
32Feb 8, '24Turns out no amount of fundraising, press, buzz, amazing employees, and/or cool tech guarantees you product market fit.3.1×177k1.9k233271
33Jun 14, '19I really hate when early stage startups talk about CAC / LTV. In the early stage it's almost impossible to know either. What I've realized is that way too much later stage advice i3.0×02.6k488265
34Apr 17, '22Focus is such a rare commodity in the startup world. Working hard and making progress on the same problem for years is what separates the scenesters from the founders that change t3.0×02.8k447346
35Nov 2, '22Seems like getting off your ass and getting shit done is about to be back in style.3.0×03.3k320141
36Aug 6, '20Announcing the YC Startup Library 2.0 - An amazing collection of the startup advice - freely available to all founders around the world.3.0×02k571570
37Aug 24, '19Be careful not to become what you hate in others.3.0×02.5k86080
38Oct 4, '25The amount of money your company can make is directly related to the amount of incremental revenue your customers believe you help them make. Revenue your customers believe you hel3.0×172k1.7k1731.1k
39Jul 15, '21Some morning thoughts on startups:2.9×01.9k390752
41Apr 18, '24I hate that the startup world puts investors on a pedestal. As a startup founder, it distracted me from serving my users. As an investor, it distracts my companies from serving the2.9×166k1.7k177192
42May 28, '25Everyone needs at least one person in their life to tell them they just aren’t that special. Successful people could use more than one.2.6×152k1.2k67203
43Jul 17, '218 out of the 9 top stories on NYTimes are negative right now. Google News even worse…. I know there are serious problems in the world but I wonder if it’s healthy for the billion+ 2.6×02.9k28295
44Feb 14, '18Founders are always surprised that I answer their emails and that my email address is in my twitter profile. Helping each other is a core value in the tech startup world. Everyone 2.6×02.6k4985
45Sep 18, '19I’ve learned a lot about giving advice over the past 5 years at YC (still more to learn). When I started I had a very formulaic / tactical view of how startups succeed. Over time a2.6×01.8k444425
46Jun 1, '24One thing I’ve had to learn to deal with in my life: sometimes your heroes lie. Turns out heroes are humans too.2.4×141k1.1k115166
47Jan 17, '21Too many founders want to outsource the discovery of product market fit to their employees. This is a mistake. You don’t outsource the most important goal of your company.2.4×02.4k319161
48Jul 17, '24People in the business world are not used to dealing with pathological liars at the highest levels. Remember, when you do business with someone you know is a liar, they will eventu2.3×134k1.3k99259
49Nov 25, '19Almost all startup founders should stop using the term AI (reading late applications to YC)2.3×02.4k32469
50Oct 28, '25It would be such a flex if startups replaced posting fundraising videos with posting revenue milestones.2.3×131k2.1k166196
51Sep 14, '22My biggest wish for recent YC grads is to be more obsessed about their users than their competitors or peers. Playing the startup status game (employee count, famous investors, coo2.3×02.2k273243
52Jun 22, '19I’ve noticed that many people compete in games they don’t understand because they are modeling the behavior of people around them. Most common is the competition for wealth as a pr2.2×01.8k434226
53Mar 28, '25The piece of b2b startup advice I find myself giving over and over again recently is figure out how your product can make a *significant* difference in the success of your customer2.2×128k1.5k1251k
54Jan 10, '22We have a little news to share:2.2×02k261162
55Jul 31, '18Something I see every day that is rarely discussed: founders/former founders/experienced founders helping new founders when they have no economic incentive to do so. This is part o2.2×02k47631
56Jul 21, '19Caution to founders: don’t hero worship startup investors. They are just normal people with gifts, faults, and personal motivations. Also, please don’t seek an investor who will te2.1×01.9k42462
57Jul 20, '20A lot of startups ask me for feedback on their startup idea. Most of the time I am not an expert in their field nor a potential user.2.0×01.6k303322
58Sep 9, '24Relationships strengthen with direct communication. Relationships weaken when either party fears direct communication. This is a lesson I see many founders struggle with -- especia2.0×115k1.2k153440
59Mar 21, '24Big day today:2.0×114k1.4k6830
60Aug 7, '21Spend less time recruiting influential investors for your seed/angel round and more time building a product that your customers will love.1.9×02.1k25698
61Jul 6, '21Y Combinator Launches Co-Founder Matching Platform1.9×01.6k293251
62Feb 8, '25Effective people can be scary. Controlling your fear is a super power. Restraint can be harder than action. The truly scalable superpower is the ability to motivate others - not th1.9×110k1.5k135699
63Dec 3, '24I love being the first check in a new startup.1.9×110k1.3k3290
64May 22, '22It's surprising how often startups will copy their competitor's features rather than talk to their users. The best startups understand they cannot outsource one of the most importa1.9×01.8k290168
65May 22, '25I'm at my worst when I pretend I'm a victim. I'm at my best when I embrace my agency.1.8×106k2.1k171435
66Jun 30, '21You’re a nobody until FB copies you…1.8×02.3k12531
67Oct 8, '19If you are actively monetizing a human addiction you really have to think hard about whether you are making the world a better or worse place. Humans regularly become addicted to p1.8×01.6k33783
68Oct 9, '22In my experience, smart founders are always hunting for advantages in the early stage because they understand how hard it is to find product market fit. They want to figure out how1.7×01.4k169365
69May 12, '19Organizing and motivating teams of people over a long period of time is one of the few things that separates good founders from great founders.1.6×01.5k305111
70Jun 4, '24Sometimes someone does you a solid and you never find out. The process that goes into a major decision is almost never transparent. To everyone who has helped me and never taken an1.6×91k1.3k191118
71Sep 8, '17Why do people want to meet instead of just asking for what they want? I love being helpful - I hate having to attend an hour meeting.1.6×01.4k3812
72Aug 23, '1950% of my email replies tell people to check out the startup school library: . If you are a founder who is looking for a 1 stop place for startup advice - click the link.1.6×01.1k227342
73Apr 12, '25Five lessons I’ve learned from almost 20 years in startups: 1. When important people tell you something that is not true - you don’t have to believe them. 2. Being successful doesn1.6×90k1.5k159655
74Mar 22, '19Honest question for early stage investors (angels/funds). Why would you ask an early stage company (just launched and certainly pre-product market fit) for a detailed business plan1.6×01.2k276112
75Apr 6, '18Reading YC apps I'm seeing too many founders who have raised some seed capital and who outsource engineering to cut costs. This is a common error that is a huge red flag for future1.5×01.4k32333
76Sep 1, '18New weak investor move. I’ll commit now but won’t wire until the entire round is raised. If you have conviction: invest and help the founder finish their round with good intros to 1.5×01.5k31016
77Mar 19, '20Too many investors are turning their backs on young, low burn, technical, early stage, high margin software companies. These are the types of teams that more easily survive an econ1.5×01.6k21084
78May 22, '25The more rich/famous/powerful you are, the harder it is to have a true understanding of yourself or the world around you. Few are incentivized to tell you the truth and many are in1.5×87k1.2k118369
79Sep 25, '23When you join YC - these folks have your back:1.5×86k1.1k6028
80May 31, '21I disagree with the idea that a professional athlete should be required to speak to the press before or after a game. I love watching sports - I don’t need or enjoy pre/post game g1.5×01.9k9522
81May 31, '18I started part time at YC over 5 years ago and have now seen about 1000 YC companies. The thing that never ceases to amaze me is the success that comes from the companies that figu1.5×01.4k29938
82Mar 7, '22Life advice for young smart people:1.5×01.4k156188
83Sep 17, '24In my non-work life there are so many examples of how planning ahead delivers so much of a better experience than doing things last minute.1.5×84k1.1k65218
84Dec 2, '19Many startup founders consider lying as a way to get ahead. The vast majority quickly realize that whatever short term gain they might get from lying will be erased by the long ter1.4×01.3k23960
86Nov 2, '22It’s fun to watch @elonmusk work1.3×01.7k6519
87Apr 25, '20Random evening thought. I really like working at YC. It’s the most fulfilling work I’ll ever do and the best team I’ll ever work with. If any of you find a job that you would do fo1.3×01.6k9633
88Feb 24, '22These actions by Putin cannot be tolerated. The free people of the world must take a stand.1.2×01.6k7719
89Oct 17, '22Good leaders are loved and respected. Good leaders build teams full of smart people, who respect one another, have clear goals, and consistently accomplish those goals. Good leader1.2×01k139216
90Nov 16, '22As I was crafting my hot take of the day on FTX and Elon - I realized I should just get back to work :)1.1×01.4k8318
91Sep 19, '22A week of in-depth user interviews doesn’t replace continuously talking to your users. We spoke to a bunch of users a year ago is BS. The best founders figure out how to schedule u1.1×01.1k114153
92Nov 15, '22What’s funny about this startup game is just when people think they’ve figured things out, the game changes. The winners of the past just want everything to stay the same but that’1.1×01.1k146111
93Nov 10, '22Its when people think they are the smartest in the room that they make the dumbest mistakes. Stay humble (advice for myself as well).1.1×01.1k16150
94May 31, '20America is no longer listening to Donald Trump. In some fundamental way he is no longer the President of the United States. It is time for @BarackObama to stand up the retake moral1.0×01.1k9323
95Dec 29, '19One thing I love about the holidays is that it affords me the time to think more strategically about work and life. I can unplug from meetings and email to brainstorm how things sh1.0×01.1k13529
96Oct 15, '24I really enjoy when Elon talks about space.1.0×58k1.1k2427
97Jun 5, '20Every day and night the police are beating the shit out of unarmed Americans peacefully protesting. If this doesn’t stop something very bad is going to happen.1.0×01.1k12323
98Jul 29, '25Recording some new episodes of Dalton + Michael today 🔥1.0×56k1.5k2750
99Feb 15, '21Watching old YC videos on YouTube. It’s so rewarding to be a small part of an institution that will thrive for 100+ years. Certainly the most important thing I’ll do in my lifetime0.9×01.1k4951
100Mar 22, '25All of the kind words and friendly notes over the past couple days have been so inspiring. I hope to have the same level of impact in my next role. YC founders - you have changed m0.7×43k1.1k1732

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