Why Investors Can’t Fix Your Company - Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel

[@MichaelMillerGR]

I love this series. Keep them coming. This is my favorite content on this channel.

[@binggibanggabongo]

Me too!

[@AydianDowling]

agreed!

[@brian_akhtar]

Same

[@leemackey1979]

Thanks d

[@ssobba3319]

Agree, From Egypt

[@tristaosaulo]

As YC founder even after the batch, Michael and Dalton keep teaching me and reminding me what really matters!

[@markmotarker]

I just finished a venture capital analyst internship. And I have to say…. Thank you YC. Everything they talk about is as transparent as it could be. You guys are awesome.

[@sahilbakoru]

Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel talk like they are childhood friends , and they have a lot of similar experiences. Great video 👍.keep it coming.

[@inkmanworkshop]

This point made so much sense: "More often than not in this pre-product market phase fit, the mistake is that there's the wrong person in the company not there aren't enough people" Thank you for sharing.

[@jaredbeckwith]

Money isn’t always the answer for early stage startups. Bootstrap and get first 10 loyal customers with your founding team.

[@b.3845]

One thing about Dalton and Michael, they’re gonna drop so much knowledge, all while laughing throughout the entire video🤣 good good vibes!

[@toofy7253]

Amazing; people who were in the 0 to 1 phase of a startup are much more rare to find, and the knowledge that they have must be harder to find. I'm glad you all are spreading the knowledge so that the common entrepreneurs and business people can be more aware

[@jameskeener2043]

This is REAL TALK ! I appreciate the candor !

[@rohankamath88]

One of the most interesting points in today's conversation was the apprehensions against investors who haven't been founders themselves. In the last couple of years, there are literally thousands of "Angel Investors" and "VCs", especially in India and the US, who either got lucky rich on a crypto boom, or, decided to pursue these "careers" straight out of college with no industry, startup or founding experience themselves. It becomes so challenging for new and young founders in such situations. On the one hand, they badly need the runway and will sometimes be willing to shake hands with the less than ideal investor when it's a matter of survival. On the other hand, once they've made a deal with the devil, they are stuck bending to their whims and fancies that more often than not come from a position of ego, not experience. What is your advice for first time founders seeking investors without access to a strong network, especially those who are outside of Silicon Valley?

[@sonictailsandsally]

In Lehi, Utah, there is a course called Startup Ignition, which is taught by John Richards, a successful startup entrepreneur and angel investor. Students who take this class are able to make some of those connections outside of SV.

[@Wj3399]

These are great, thanks Dalton and Michael. Keep them coming! I think during desperate times when the founder can’t seem to figure it out themselves, the instinctual thing to do is to look to their partners/investors for advise. It’s like, when the customer doesn’t use the product, the customer might not have the answer to the problem of why they are not using. And maybe investors are only as good as customers highlighting that a problem exists but don’t have the solution.

[@FahmiEshaq]

Valuable content as usual. YC gives out best start up clips and Michael is a cherry on top.

[@Eltonlin1998]

"What failure usually looks like is getting zero real customers"

[@hjufdvbjihde]

thank you guys so much for providing content like this on a consistent basis, never fails to set my head straight

[@kevinbensmith]

Amazing series! So valuable :) Could you release it also as a podcast? Would love to listen to it on the Snipd podcast app to highlight my key takeaways which I want to come back to in the future and share with other founders.

[@temjenkrazy]

This are free golden materials you will find rarely. Thank you Ycombinator.

[@christopherarmstrong2710]

5:15 Late stage employees are about scaling a process or scaling up hiring. They take for granted that getting any customers / users in the first place is really hard. 5:40 What failures look like for a lot of Y-C batch companies is that they get zero real customers. 6:20 More often than not in pre-product market fit phase, the mistake isn't haven't enough people, it's having the wrong person in the company. You've got an engineer that no one wants to work with, or no one's measuring any of the marketing results. Those are the mistakes, not that you don't have a department or an executive to run it. 6:45 When a company is scaling and growing post product market fit, hiring more people is essential. 7:45 There's lots of folks who have lots of experience scaling products, but you don't meet as many that did a zero-to-one. 9:40 Industries are different, investors try to run things how they know.

[@LordNases]

This video made me love Michael and Dalton.

[@harrys392]

Please keep these vids going these are great!

[@waxcomb]

What's the name of the startup that's making Michael appear to be aging backwards?

[@prathameshk6335]

This make me wonder of there is any mental model to find out who is a good investor just on his/her feedback after the pitch?

[@008loloy]

Love it when Michael said “you alone can solve your problems”.

[@maayanridel7965]

This series is great, I think it would be even better if you would make a video about the psychology of founders. In sense of how to keep yourself and your co-founders motivated.

[@Daveboymagic]

Do you guys have ways to tell when the 'YC-advice' makes sense and when other strategies might make more sense? Any indicators? Great videos buy the way!

[@arik_dev]

21:22 This really hits home right now. Especially being a technical founder, it's so easy to get lost in the details and lose your grip on what customers are experiencing when they use your product. You can get stuck in a mode of always believing your product needs just a few more features before it's useful enough for them. I was lucky to have a few die-hard early adopters that badgered me to release, who thought I was crazy for not having done so months before.

[@adama9032]

Best honest info a potential founder can get is on this channel

[@Baddy67110]

Thanks a lot guys. I've been watching all your videos. Great advices

[@sydrifai1473]

This series is dope

[@alihaidersoni7586]

LOVE THIS!

[@kyle7382]

customers are your best investors.

[@myvoiceismysword5484]

Is there any angel investors that could meet me In. Los angeles for a software innovation investment?

[@igormarinelli9641]

Nailed it

[@CaliforniaRussianRiverBees]

Great information 🛋 true put sometimes the cost of business.

[@yasinnabi]

IF you cannot fix your Business and how come other people fix it?

[@hommhommhomm]

The silver bullet is to realize that silver bullets do not exist.

[@SwayampravoDasgupta]

Like how OpenSea got hacked? Again?

[@IggySpolsky]

❤

[@romanerrandonea7791]

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[@vlogmoinc5597]

I know a vulture when I c one

[@nikanand1203]

No offence guys, but this is BS in the post-softbank world. Given enough money, you can achieve anything, including multiple IPOs for companies losing billions.

[@romeo72899]

First

[@Cool74448]

The only way I know Dalton made a valid point is when I hear Michael’s creepy laugh.

[@nuruhusseinmohammed4140]

Much love and respect!