The Biggest Mistakes First-Time Founders Make - Michael Seibel

Y Combinator CEO and Partner Michael Seibel on the biggest mistakes first-time founders make.
/ mwseibel
Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year.
Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: www.ycombinator.com/apply/
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Chapters (Powered by bit.ly/chapterme-yc) -
00:00 - Introduction
00:10 - Solving a problem you don't care about
01:01 - Helping users you don't care about
01:47 - Choosing co-founders you don't know well
02:22 - Not having transparent conversations with your co-founders
03:20 - Not launching
04:45 - Not using analytics
05:02 - Not knowing where your first users will come from
05:47 - Poor prioritization

[@ycombinator]

Topics 00:10 - Solving a problem you don't care about 1:00 - Helping users you don't care about 1:40 - Choosing cofounders you don't know well 2:20 - Not having transparent conversations with your cofounder 3:20 - Not launching 4:45 - Not using analytics 5:02 - Not knowing where your first users will come from 5:45 - Poor prioritization

[@sagarjaid]

Hi YC, how do you select between 2 ideas?

[@fletchertwumasi6037]

Urside yikes

[@fletchertwumasi6037]

How ioouo

[@fletchertwumasi6037]

Iiiiuuuu

[@agusteysingh]

​ by creating MVP for both and running ads.

[@amywang5034]

So love Michael's simple, clear and yet the MOST important points EVERYTIME! 🙌🙏

[@trolley3541]

So good👍

[@BiancaAguglia]

3:45 "Do you remember the day snapchat, instagram, whatsapp, uber, or lyft launched? Most likely you don't. It turns out that launching is nowhere near a significant event to your users as it is to you." 😁 That's a great reminder.

[@nicocastro6164]

I'm happy that the first two mentions on this list are lack of passion for the problem you are solving and the customers you are helping. These are usually discovered by reflecting on topics/problems you are genuinely interested in. These are crucial mistakes that come way before the mistakes you make in actually running the business (launching too late, not talking to your users, disputes within the team, etc.). May I also add the mistake of starting a startup for the wrong reasons (e.g. a way to get rich quickly) or lack of self-awareness (there are people whose personality and beliefs make it impossible for them to succeed in building a startup.).

[@kingdomcitizenship5613]

I love to listen to Mike break down this issue. No wasted words, straight to the point!

[@julientomezach2160]

I love how concise it is. They really value the time of the people watching (and their own I guess).

[@mosialive]

Over 80% of these mistakes I’ve recently made. They’re terrible and I learned a lot. Thank you for this!

[@ozzyfromspace]

This isn’t knowledge, it’s wisdom 👏🏽

[@shivandana]

We need more videos from Michael Seibel. There hasn't been any for a while, and I thirst for his knowledge.

[@_beekay]

Wow! The simplicity with which this is delivered is noteworthy!

[@joshn2342323]

As always, he is exactly right.

[@habibmkhan]

5 months later, I'm here. Great content entrepreneurs all over the world can benefit from (though im in the bay area lol). Thank you and please keep going. This KZbin Channel is high impact and has reach/scale.

[@noterecorder8037]

Thank you Michael, as always your advices are worth taking. I think the reason why most startups have hard time to find first users, just because they think about a solution/invention out of a dream or an pink idea, without taking time to analyse the problem. in Google they have the concept of project killing winner, the employees are encouraged to kill a project in the first stage, which means if a project can be killed early so it does not worth it and they put their time in another most valuable project.

[@benoitlabbe9327]

Michael Seibel is the best so far, clear, direct and precise

[@iitbombaycse4346]

But Google rejected idea of chrome.

[@georgebeier3550]

Well I just came across your videos and seem to have made all the mistakes! Took me forever to get the product (mortgage originator software) ready. So many details! Learned a lot in just a few minutes. TY.

[@sanchitsharma5228]

Useful content. Really enjoy watching the videos in this channel. For a startup founder this is educational as well as entertaining.

[@susanmcvea]

Great video Michael! Your way of explaining is so simple and easy to understand.

[@NanduKrishnanNKSanandu]

michael siebel's short videos are so valuable!

[@PieterSadie]

His advice is Gold! Love it!

[@nivlakhera9]

I am listening to all his videos and it’s ammmmmmazing , can’t thank him enough

[@benmezianetarik53]

What a wonderful video Michael! Completeness Concreteness Courtesy Correctness Clarity Consideration Conciseness Thanks for sharing 👍

[@MohitChaprana]

Thanks 👍

[@FromFame]

Thanks Micheal, I've shared this with a workspace here in Denmark. I appreciate your tips.

[@bdinh14]

Love ya Michael!

[@nicolasp7043]

Really great advices for early stage startup! Thanks a lot.

[@yellowsnh]

Thank you. That’s a real help!

[@marioacosta1842]

Thank you for this videos. High Schools and colleges need to add an startup class in their curriculum.

[@martinstine]

Thanks so much Michael. I am learning a lot from you guys. Much appreciated. 🙌🙌🙌 YC

[@datdang2492]

Beside the content, I like how the mantra got framed and stands behind him :D

[@Aishuesp]

You rock! You just so generously share your knowledge….God bless you!

[@YoannBuzenet]

Great content.Thanks

[@georgemochalov550]

Your videos are very helpful, thank you for sharing

[@80Vikram]

Thanks for sharing this very helpful video.

[@japhetkineze4597]

You are making it to simple for me and it's cool.

[@Misanti888]

Love the content, sir. More power!

[@cristinaalexandraneagu5670]

Unbelievably accurate

[@Seanonyoutube]

Solid advice. Thanks man.

[@hasnainahmadtanim1190]

Very useful! I can relate many of them!

[@letsgosean]

You the best big Mike!!

[@amanbasanti866]

Great video, really helpful - thanks for sharing

[@Ezequiel_Anibal]

Every single thing he said I have been through in my first Startup; Michael, when are you writing a Book?

[@StartUpK]

Awesome precisely 👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@DevsLikeUs]

Such great info here!

[@flywheel-rsvp]

Excellent video Michael & Team amen. Terribly awesome information. Appreciate humble truths for sure. Maybe we'll see each other one day! Thanks for sharing, James, Rescue Kitty😺 & Snowvan!

[@sikhswim]

This is awesome. It's funny though, that Michael has to caveat everything so people don't rain down in the comments. These are directional suggestions, not gospel, and there's an exception to every rule. :)

[@ecomarinebd]

His every word matched, listening to him is like a 7 minutes MBA!

[@vlogmoinc5597]

this guy climb on the shoulders of some great co founders . thats step one

[@rubencanodiaz]

great tips, a made almost all those mistakes

[@nevillecreativitymentor]

Very sane and sober advice

[@AkshayAradhya]

Yup, you can see the sprite bottle on the left. This man is 100% sober.

[@prathameshbhat9816]

From bjp to y incubator amit Shah is best 😂

[@Tatpunjiya]

Bhai 😂😂😂

[@majnu564]

Lol

[@vedantdighe4278]

chronology samajh yar 😂😂

[@chan90s]

Lol

[@parasberi9559]

O bhai😂😂😂

[@Devprogram]

I respect and agree Michael on almost the points he laid out. But this thing is I guess each startup should be cautious about it. It is better to launch *to the public when you think you at least have a product market fit. Nowadays it is hard to just launch half baked products because the market is getting more saturated and competition is more intense.

[@kevenbooth2198]

ooh mike, please make more videos

[@h2energynow]

startups that we encounter it's actually possible to get some form of MVP built and launched in less than a month . Must be applications only, Not Hardware.

[@0xandrei]

So good.

[@lancequek5203]

Hey Michael, so true! Don't you think startups should be obsessed about customer satisfaction and wowing customers at every turn and turn them into your brand ambassadors?

[@feeling4929]

This is gold

[@VishalRaoOnYouTube]

4:23: another example is health related products like therapeutic devices or drugs. The MVP better be polished. :)

[@SonAyoD]

Great video

[@avinashdwivedi2015]

Plzz write a book with all your knowledge

[@olakunleajila3697]

Insightful

[@ethancodes]

How do you balance #1 /w pivoting towards product market fit?

[@rishib3097]

Very Impressive for solopreneur

[@AlejandroAguilar-zx2tz]

I'm applying for the accelerator for 2020 but noticed they ask for founders. In this case I'm a solo founder so can I still apply?

[@BadGatewayMusic]

6:10 that is some solid drug dealing advice

[@chazzman4553]

Sometimes startup fails just because you are after really small money or very small margins just like in logistics are. Or money from customers are just dripping in very slowly.

[@nosaiyare2151]

Micheal was born a 'startup whisperer'

[@bradhouston4734]

Thanks for the tips. I think I have made a bunch of these on other , but so far not this time 😀🙃😏

[@george_davituri]

⭐️

[@timothyblazer1749]

1. Giving VC too big a stake, and losing control of their company and ideas. This destroys their idea long term as it is ruthlessly altered to be a more attractive purchase for a large company. Then you get edged out of your own company, and if you aren't careful, you get diluted so badly you have no money either. 2. Not protecting yourself from the inevitable lawfare waged against you by those very VC, who have convinced a large group to sue you into oblivion so they can dissolve you, mop up your IP, and sell it anyway. 3. The rest is details

[@timothyblazer1749]

In other words..wake the hell up. VC are not your friends. You may need to deal with them, but always assume they are adversarial and want to eject you.

[@VVan595]

Thank you Amit shah

[@derciobene3458]

Not launching is imho the biggest mistake. Everything else can be rectified, but if you never launch, you'll never know what's wrong

[@keonseon5707]

I probably made all of these mistakes.

[@susanmcvea]

But did you learn from them?

[@bccoleman8678]

1:40 What are people’s thoughts on husband and wife founding teams? They know each other well.. But maybe too close.. 24 / 7.

[@slaveofallah6452]

Vending business like massage chair requires low investment. Anybody can own vending machine because it's easy to manage and can generate revenue quickly. It is very profitable and low entry costs and have the ability to scale over time.

[@theshark84724]

This is so stupid in my situation. Not ONE point is applicable to me. I LOVE my customer. I know how to develop software. I want to succeed. The analytics part is important tho

[@aliensonmars3662]

Sir why don't you write a book something like zero to one for startups. We hope you will make this happen

[@sazid948]

true

[@andyv6583]

I wonder what is the most mundane solution that has been funded by YC and has become a successful startup.

[@mmanuel6874]

👌🏾

[@flieronymus8024]

I love this advice, but I hate how most startup advice is geared toward apps or software startups that have no associated hardware.

[@aaronwhite3119]

These all sound like problems/mistakes 20 somethings make.

[@NishGurjara]

i think biggest mistake first time founder can make is that they decide to go like a first time

[@MatthewRiddett]

Can't even conceive of taking on all the risk and work and stress of a startup if you weren't in it primarily to solve a problem you care deeply about.

[@wronggg]

It's not too different than accepting a job you hate. Big money talks, bullshit walks.

[@0xandrei]

@@wronggg love the comparison

[@wronggg]

@@0xandrei thanks

[@MatthewRiddett]

@@wronggg true. Still crazy to do a job you hate tho, even if the money is good

[@wronggg]

@@MatthewRiddett how many people get a job because they want a job vs because they need money? I mean, come on.

[@chinocuboid9936]

Thanks amit shah

[@ajaysoni4919]

is it better to copy a business and build some cash flow instead of jumping into wild idea and risk losing your own savings

[@panagiotisgalinos1335]

"Better to build a crappier product and release it sooner" - Totally dont agree by this. Particularly in software business (Programs, games, etc) this is a disaster and an example to be avoided. I can name 50 products in the software business but I will quote only one, the most well-known and recent: Wolcen. The guys took a marvelous, next gen arpg with so much potential and they release the product very-very early so it was a disaster. I will not go into technical details so as not to go into too much detail but the numbers says all: For the first week they had average 60k players - yes 60k- only on steam. Now they have average 500. Realy. From 60k player base droped to 500. So totally disagree with this.

[@willwill3755]

Agreed, especially in gaming.

[@noelgaikwad4660]

😂🤣🤣, he looks like amit shah, but he is one of the founder of Twitch. 🤣😂

[@valdisgerasymiak1403]

When you don't have a co-founder, you can avoid half of those mistakes :)

[@alexandersudeykin1657]

In other words, the things why u will be rejected by VC )))

[@hassanqayyum8954]

Just so you know, twitch is a cesspool of softcore porn now lol. They betrayed their base, and now will suffer for it

[@corporateauthentication]

Spoken like a true gate keeper.

[@JulienReszka]

What do you mean