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Geoff Ralston taking over as President of YC
- lucasgs 7y agoWe were lucky to have Geoff as a group partner and advisor. I can't imagine a better name to keep pushing YC forward. Congratz Geoff and YC!
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- titojankowski 7y agoGo, Geoff! My interaction with him was through YC Startup School, and he and Adora did a terrific job running the program and navigating uncertainty. Excited for this next phase, and what's next for Sam!
- bvssatish 7y agoSecond this.
- indogooner 7y agoFor a moment I thought why is YC endorsing a US presidential candidate. I should read less politics. Congratulations Geoff.
- kcorbitt 7y agoI worked closely with Geoff on last year's Startup School. I can heartily endorse everything Sam wrote in the announcement – he sees the whole picture, and is a pleasure to work with! I'm very excited to see where he takes YC!
- geoff 7y agoHey everyone, thanks for the comments. I'll be around to answer questions as best I can.
- zild3d 7y agoCongrats Geoff, YC Startup School has been an incredible program I'm a bit confused if Michael Seibel is still CEO?
- mwseibel 7y agoYes I am continuing my role as CEO of the accelerator. We've got a great batch coming up this summer.
- rococode 7y agoI'm curious because this seems to vary greatly between companies - what is the difference at YC between the roles of CEO and President?
- notatoad 7y agoFrom the intitial announcement of Michael becoming CEO: * Michael Seibel will be the new CEO of YC Core, which we are now just going to call “YC”. * I’m going to be the President of YC Group, which includes YC, YC Continuity, YC Research, and our new online class. We’ll add more organizational units over time. https://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-changes/ https://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-changes/
- throwaway13000 7y agoFor the uninitiated, what is the difference between President, Partner and CEO?
- snowmaker 7y agoGood question - it is not obvious. Y Combinator has one president, Geoff Ralston, who is the president of YC Group, the parent organization. It has two CEO's: Michael Seibel, who is the CEO of YC Core, the twice-a-year program YC started with, and Ali Rowghani, who is the CEO of YC Continuity, the fund that makes large investments in YC companies when they are at a growth stage. There are 18 full-time partners, who primarily select and then work with the companies we fund.
- mwseibel 7y agoJust wanted to take a second to thank Sam for all that he has done over the past 5 years for YC. Also, I am very excited to work even more closely with Geoff as he takes on this new role.
- geoff 7y agoWell said, Michael. It has been my good luck to work with Sam for years. He has an incredible combination of big ideas and the ability to get them done. Sam's power of intellect and his ability to communicate his thoughts clearly and concisely make him a great leader. Sam has done so much for YC and I know is doing and will do amazing things with OpenAI. I will continue to lean on him for his insight and advice.
- cdiamand 7y agoHi Geoff! What excites you most about YC and the direction it's headed?
- geoff 7y agoI love the fact that we are finding ways to work with more and more founders around the world, both in our core accelerator and with programs like Startup School. I believe the more entrepreneurship becomes a viable career option the more exciting the world gets.
- brianliou91 7y agoWhen I was a 21 year old with a fledgling startup, Geoff kept a promise to me several years later that he definitely didn't need to and had barely any incentive to. He did it because he is a man of his word and I owe much of the opportunity I have in my career because of his integrity and that choice to keep it. Congrats Geoff! And THANKS!!!
- ukulele 7y agoWhat was it?
- mkagenius 7y agoThat he will keep his promise. Duh!
- acjohnson55 7y agoTo raise his son as his own and never reveal his true parentage.
- shafyy 7y agoIf this were Reddit, I would've awarded you Gold.
- confiscate 7y agoFirst of his name. Protector of the realm (of the valley) :) Congrats Geoff! Much deserved. Looking forward to seeing great things at YC
- gatsby 7y agoWe were fortunate to have Geoff as one of our YC group partners in S2015 and he asked tough questions and kept us focused more so than almost any other early investor we had. Looking back, Geoff really helped us maximize our full potential - all the way from day 1 through selling our company. Congrats, Geoff!
- markkat 7y agoCongratulations, Geoff! I haven't had higher-impact educational/professional experience than having Geoff as a group partner. He's a natural. Optimistic about the future of YC.
- jakegold 7y agoCongrats to Geoff. He, along with others, has done a great job with Startup School. I would suggest that the YC core program could learn a lot from the Startup School program. For an example of why: my startup was initially rejected from Startup School, then accidentally accepted, and then we kicked butt and won the YC Startup School Grant out of 10,000+ startups. Then we got a YC interview and were rejected for what (I think objectively) was a pretty random reason. And I understand that the stated reason isn't necessarily the full reason. It was still a very enjoyable and super helpful experience overall. The advice, $10k cash, and cloud credits have helped tremendously and it's still helping a lot. I just wish I could have competed against other startups for acceptance into the core YC program, rather than have a few people attempt to judge how much of an "animal" I am in 10 minutes as they groggily try to wake themselves up with coffee. Not a knock against them at all (still a very long-term PB fan!), just the process. Because I know I'm much better at competing with hard sustained effort over the long-term than I am at seeming super impressive on first impression. Anyway, that's my suggestion. We will hopefully be ramen profitable soon, and may not try for YC again because it is mentally exhausting. But whatever we do, Startup School was a huge boost for us and YC asked nothing in return, so thank you very, very much.
- zild3d 7y ago> rather than have a few people attempt to judge ... as they groggily try to wake themselves up with coffee. This was our experience during the YC interview as well. Since we had an end of day slot, most of the partners were yawning as we walked in :/ Agree on Startup School - amazing resource for us that we keep revisiting
- bambax 7y agoThis is a well documented bias: jurys don't react the same depending on the time of day and how long ago they ate. One study was about parole boards and was extensively reported on: https://www.wired.com/2011/04/judges-mental-fatigue/ https://www.wired.com/2011/04/judges-mental-fatigue/ Does YC has stats about acceptance vs the time of the interview? That would be interesting.
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- rdl 7y agoNice! Geoff will do a great job running YC; it is interesting to see how long people have stayed involved, even compared to the VC industry baseline.
- pmohun 7y agoHi Geoff, congratulations on the new role. Do you have any thoughts you can share on YC's presence outside of SF? Any plans to move the core operations or setup hubs in alternate geographies?
- geoff 7y agoThanks! YC's core program will still be run out of Mountain View this summer. We'll all look hard at what that will look like in the future. No firm plans to discuss yet except, of course, YC China.
- chirau 7y agoCongrats Geoff! Where is Sam going?
- technological 7y agoCongratulations Geoff . Quick Question - Are there any immediate goals or plans which you have in mind ?
- geoff 7y agoThanks! My immediate goal is to ensure that the Summer 2019 batch is fantastic and I'll be working closely with Michael on that. Besides that I think it'll take some time to figure things out.
- sethbannon 7y agoCongrats, Geoff! In recent years YC has taken admirable steps to fund solutions to the world's biggest problems (the climate crisis, health, nutrition, etc). Would be curious to hear how you see those efforts evolving!
- Matetricks 7y agoCongrats Geoff! You helped us a lot when we were young, first-time founders and we learned a lot from you and Tim. Thanks again for all your advice—excited about the future for YC :)
- zt 7y agoAlthough I haven't spoken to Geoff in a number of years (We did YC S13), I remember him as a tough but effective advisor to us and many others. A lot of his lessons didn't sink in for a long time -- perhaps because I'm a little thickheaded -- but they were always spot on.
- griffinkelly 7y agoSeconded. Geoff always asked us the hard questions we should have been spending more time thinking about.
- nlowell 7y agoI was in last fall's Startup School which Geoff was very involved in. He seems like a great leader and you can tell the other YC partners get along well with him.
- ei8htyfi5e 7y agoGeoff was the partner I felt gave the best advice. It was well thought out, direct, and usually correct. I'm glad he's been promoted. I couldn't thinking of anybody better. Good luck!
- chriselles 7y agoGeoff was very generous with his time between and after sessions of the YC StartUp Investor School to answer course attendee questions. I think he was also on here helping manage the mea culpa from last year’s StartUp School email mistake. Both were good to see. I wish him luck in his new role.
- Fomite 7y agoCongrats. I'm pretty outside of anything YC will ever be interested in, but I've heard lots of positive things about Startup School.
- BryanBeshore 7y agoCongratulations Geoff and the YC team.
- neonate 7y agoA photo of that scene from the Stripe office: https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/1130540727341969408 https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/1130540727341969408
- garry 7y agoGeoff is a role model for me as an investor. He taught me you can be smart, pragmatic while also kind, patient, and thoughtful - he's the definition of growth mindset in startupland and I am over the moon that he is taking over. Really lucky to have worked with him back when I was a partner at YC. Amazing news!
- tylermenezes 7y agoCongrats, Geoff. We didn't talk much back in YC S12 but I've heard good things from everyone else!
- nshelly 7y agoCongrats Geoff! During a trek for Iraq and Afghan war veterans, Geoff made the time to meet with us and provide office hours on our hairbrained ideas. A few of us made it into YC and are super appreciative of his support and feedback over the years. YC is lucky to have Geoff lead the organization.
- kappi 7y agoDo you have plans to invest in real tech rather than toy stuffs like Peter Thiel tells?
- bryanh 7y agoGeoff is truly great -- congrats!
- sachin18590 7y agoCongrats Geoff! Your advice and the empathy associated with it has been very helpful as we evolved out of YC. Glad to know the future batches will continue to be in great hands :)