
Y Combinator's Essential Startup Advice – Michael Seibel [video] - simonebrunozzi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A35jCapHmug
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gnicholas
On interpreting feedback from investors:

 _" Believe the 'No', but don't believe the 'Why'...for the majority of
investors, it doesn't benefit them to give the reasons, and they're a little
bit afraid that if they give real feedback, the founder's going to think
they're an asshole"_

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onion2k
In my experience (which is very limited to be honest) I don't think you really
need to worry about believing the "No" because VCs don't like to say no. You
need to worry about believing the "Yes, _but not just yet_ " because it's not
really a yes.

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mgadams3
agreed, I never believe a yes until the money is in the bank.

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krm01
I’ve enjoyed the content Michael Seibel has been contributing to YC. He
presents things in a very down to earth and simple way. It’s something I’ve
missed since the departure of PG.

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bithavoc
16:58[0]: "Unfortunately a lot of the large tech companies have extremely
smart founders and they basically understand that new people like them are
going to be disrupting them and they're proactively working to make sure that
they can't be disrupted".

Wow.

[0] [https://youtu.be/A35jCapHmug?t=1018](https://youtu.be/A35jCapHmug?t=1018)

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keerthiko
IMO, the optimal self-serving but long-term-benevolent tech pioneer should go
the Bill Gates route -- after a significant disruption, invest in moats during
a medium length career(20-30 years), and then divest from the industry and
pursue philanthropy. Microsoft's moats have been opened up and now allow many
other players to disrupt in their former core industries, and Bill doesn't
care anymore

Today's tech are the dark ages of tech moats, because it's also the golden age
of internet and technology innovation -- but anyone building anything
promising gets gobbled up by the same 4-5 FAANG+ giants. I worry that these
tech moats will not go away even when their founders transition with billions
of dollars in the bank, leaving the next generation of creators to have to
expend half their energy filling these moats before they can disrupt anything.

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dclusin
> Microsoft's moats have been opened up and now allow many other players to
> disrupt in their former core industries

Microsoft seems to be adopting the cloud just fine. They've managed to keep
office modern and relevant. Xbox as a platform is still doing well. Windows is
still the default OS for desktops; less people are using desktops tho.
Microsoft is facing competition sure, and maybe their monopoly on desktops
isn't as valuable as it once was. But it seems to me they certainly aren't
headed for the mothball fleet anytime soon.

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gnicholas
Interesting summary about valuation caps for companies coming out of YC:
usually $6-12M, but with some hot companies (the top third-ish) getting caps
well above that.

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amelius
Since, as a startup owner, you are basically putting all your eggs in one
basket, would it make sense to do a mutual investment with another startup?

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desireco42
Of all the advisors from YC on Youtube, I like Michael Siebel best, I find his
advice very actionable and useful right away.

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jamewatson
We have the next salesforce, workday and Kabbage combined. We are about to
start a revolution. Good talk

