4 ms·

Michael Seibel is leaving Y Combinator

73 points by khaledg 2y ago

light_triad 2y ago
Big fan of Michael's content over the years - will miss his videos with Dalton. One incredible thing about Michael is behind every sentence you can hear the amount of pain he had to endure to succeed. He's not just giving you startup advice, he's a lone survivor who's come back to tell the tale. The whole startup game is about extreme outliers and he's always been very real about this fact. Was re-reading his post on How to Pitch Your Company from 2016 (The Seven Questions), it's a great read: https://www.michaelseibel.com/blog/how-to-pitch-your-company https://www.michaelseibel.com/blog/how-to-pitch-your-company
- neilv 2y ago
  > He's not just giving you startup advice, he's a lone survivor who's come back to tell the tale. Well put.
otterley 2y ago
> The next adventure I’m excited to pursue (after taking the summer to relax) is how I can help government better serve its citizens. Thank you to the countless friends who have been pushing me in this direction for years. Government was the passion of my youth and I’m excited to reengage. Uhhh... why now? Right now, (at least the Federal) government is currently on a self-destruction spree. AFAICT, they're not really interested in help to improve itself and serve citizens better. Maybe in 4 years--if there's anything left of it--it might be a good opportunity.
- tptacek 2y ago
  Most of the government that ordinary people interact with isn't federal.
  - otterley 2y ago
    He might also mean some other country's government, in which case, he might have better luck.
    - covercash 2y ago
      Or just local SF politics… the billionaire/VC obsession with SF politics is very odd and unhealthy from my outside perspective. It could also be related to the libertarian utopian startup cities VCs are funding.
      - tptacek 2y ago
        It's a deeply dysfunctional city with lots of low-hanging-fruit policy changes available, it's surprising there aren't more VC people involved.
        tmpz22 2y ago
        Which is why it won't be fixed with a Ruby on Rails app and $10m in venture capital funding in pursuit of a $5b evaluation.
        otterley 2y ago
        I'm not sure what special skills VCs have that would make their contributions more useful and valuable than those of other contributors. They have a certain perspective around improving the startup business climate, but cities aren't built and operated to serve them in particular.
        tptacek 2y ago
        I don't think they have any special skills, just that they're concentrated in one of the most dysfunctional cities in the country.
        cinntaile 2y ago
- laidoffamazon 2y ago
  He’s running (for something)
- nedwin 2y ago
  Now is the perfect time for this. For starters it takes years to sell into government any way. If he writes his first line of code today they might have a sellable product ready in a year. Then getting FEDRAMP accredited and going through procurement cycles probably another year or so. I think the current administration is likely open to technology-first solutions to reduce friction in government, and the next administration is likely going to have to take a similar approach too.
  - otterley 2y ago
    He didn't say whether he working on a technology solution. That's possible, but I was assuming he was heading towards a more philanthropic approach (which is the ideal end state for a wealthy person).
    - nedwin 2y ago
      Maybe! Still a great time though my attitude is pretty much "any time is a great time" for starting something.
  - malcolmgreaves 2y ago
    > I think the current administration is likely open to technology-first solutions to reduce friction The facts are they are actively working to introduce more friction, red tape, waste, and dysfunction into the government. Making the government more effective and efficient is the opposite of their goals stated in Project 2025.
  - 9283409232 2y ago
    Trump and Elon's entire plan is to make government more inefficient to convince people that giving large chunks of public funding to private business to run government is a good idea.
  - chneu 2y ago
    >think the current administration is likely open to technology-first solutions to reduce friction People really need to stop believing the lies they're using to "justify" their actions in public. More friction, mistakes, and inefficiencies are the point here. Lookup "Starve the Beast". They have very openly stated the purpose of this is to destroy government institutions to get back at "the deep state". The deep state = their enemies. It isn't about improving budget. It isn't about improving efficiency. This is just about destroying the government and harming the correct people. All this also has the added benefit of removing regulation/oversight which is gonna let certain people(Musk, Trump, etc) fleece the government of money/power.
- kittikitti 2y ago
  In his bio, "Before getting into tech, I spent 2006 as the finance director for a US Senate campaign in Maryland. In 2005, I graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in political science." The question can also be posed, why stay in big tech as it's also imploding?
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - 9283409232 2y ago
    Big tech is not imploding.
    - bayarearefugee 2y ago
      True. It is going to be more of an explosion than an implosion when the "AI" bubble (that big tech is desperately using a smokescreen to hide the fact that they have nothing interesting to offer these days) bursts.
      - 9283409232 2y ago
        Big tech is not exploding. I see a lot of wishful thinking when it comes to the bubble bursting but it is all just wishful thinking and not actually happening.
dmazin 2y ago
I remember going to some sort of BBQ YC hosted years ago. Michael went up on stage and talked, with exasperation, about their heroic efforts to keep Socialcam up as it skyrocketed. Seems like a good guy.
patrickhogan1 2y ago
Michael is one of the most positive founder champions around. His positivity is infectious.
heavymetalpoizn 2y ago
[dead]
fakedang 2y ago
Seems like there's been a recent exodus of YC partners all looking to pursue their own interests. I wonder if partner coverage in YC will be consistent as before, given that the ones who left are heavyweights: - Michael Seibel leaving for working on government - Eric Migi leaving to restart Pebble - Surbhi Sarna and Nate Smith leaving to start Collate
angoragoats 2y ago
He seems like a genuinely good guy. I wish he’d stop using twitter, though.
acyou 2y ago
I saw the Domu Technology posting the other day and I was thinking, is this a joke? And then I saw that Michael was leaving, and I realized it's not a joke, it definitely checks out.

73 points by khaledg 2y ago

Big fan of Michael's content over the years - will miss his videos with Dalton. One incredible thing about Michael is behind every sentence you can hear the amount of pain he had to endure to succeed. He's not just giving you startup advice, he's a lone survivor who's come back to tell the tale. The whole startup game is about extreme outliers and he's always been very real about this fact. Was re-reading his post on How to Pitch Your Company from 2016 (The Seven Questions), it's a great read: https://www.michaelseibel.com/blog/how-to-pitch-your-company https://www.michaelseibel.com/blog/how-to-pitch-your-company

neilv 2y ago
> He's not just giving you startup advice, he's a lone survivor who's come back to tell the tale. Well put.

otterley 2y ago

> The next adventure I’m excited to pursue (after taking the summer to relax) is how I can help government better serve its citizens. Thank you to the countless friends who have been pushing me in this direction for years. Government was the passion of my youth and I’m excited to reengage. Uhhh... why now? Right now, (at least the Federal) government is currently on a self-destruction spree. AFAICT, they're not really interested in help to improve itself and serve citizens better. Maybe in 4 years--if there's anything left of it--it might be a good opportunity.

tptacek 2y ago
Most of the government that ordinary people interact with isn't federal.
- otterley 2y ago
  He might also mean some other country's government, in which case, he might have better luck.
  - covercash 2y ago
    Or just local SF politics… the billionaire/VC obsession with SF politics is very odd and unhealthy from my outside perspective. It could also be related to the libertarian utopian startup cities VCs are funding.
    - tptacek 2y ago
      It's a deeply dysfunctional city with lots of low-hanging-fruit policy changes available, it's surprising there aren't more VC people involved.
      - tmpz22 2y ago
        Which is why it won't be fixed with a Ruby on Rails app and $10m in venture capital funding in pursuit of a $5b evaluation.
      - otterley 2y ago
        I'm not sure what special skills VCs have that would make their contributions more useful and valuable than those of other contributors. They have a certain perspective around improving the startup business climate, but cities aren't built and operated to serve them in particular.
        tptacek 2y ago
        I don't think they have any special skills, just that they're concentrated in one of the most dysfunctional cities in the country.
        cinntaile 2y ago
laidoffamazon 2y ago
He’s running (for something)
nedwin 2y ago
Now is the perfect time for this. For starters it takes years to sell into government any way. If he writes his first line of code today they might have a sellable product ready in a year. Then getting FEDRAMP accredited and going through procurement cycles probably another year or so. I think the current administration is likely open to technology-first solutions to reduce friction in government, and the next administration is likely going to have to take a similar approach too.
- otterley 2y ago
  He didn't say whether he working on a technology solution. That's possible, but I was assuming he was heading towards a more philanthropic approach (which is the ideal end state for a wealthy person).
  - nedwin 2y ago
    Maybe! Still a great time though my attitude is pretty much "any time is a great time" for starting something.
- malcolmgreaves 2y ago
  > I think the current administration is likely open to technology-first solutions to reduce friction The facts are they are actively working to introduce more friction, red tape, waste, and dysfunction into the government. Making the government more effective and efficient is the opposite of their goals stated in Project 2025.
- 9283409232 2y ago
  Trump and Elon's entire plan is to make government more inefficient to convince people that giving large chunks of public funding to private business to run government is a good idea.
- chneu 2y ago
  >think the current administration is likely open to technology-first solutions to reduce friction People really need to stop believing the lies they're using to "justify" their actions in public. More friction, mistakes, and inefficiencies are the point here. Lookup "Starve the Beast". They have very openly stated the purpose of this is to destroy government institutions to get back at "the deep state". The deep state = their enemies. It isn't about improving budget. It isn't about improving efficiency. This is just about destroying the government and harming the correct people. All this also has the added benefit of removing regulation/oversight which is gonna let certain people(Musk, Trump, etc) fleece the government of money/power.
kittikitti 2y ago
In his bio, "Before getting into tech, I spent 2006 as the finance director for a US Senate campaign in Maryland. In 2005, I graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in political science." The question can also be posed, why stay in big tech as it's also imploding?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- 9283409232 2y ago
  Big tech is not imploding.
  - bayarearefugee 2y ago
    True. It is going to be more of an explosion than an implosion when the "AI" bubble (that big tech is desperately using a smokescreen to hide the fact that they have nothing interesting to offer these days) bursts.
    - 9283409232 2y ago
      Big tech is not exploding. I see a lot of wishful thinking when it comes to the bubble bursting but it is all just wishful thinking and not actually happening.

dmazin 2y ago

I remember going to some sort of BBQ YC hosted years ago. Michael went up on stage and talked, with exasperation, about their heroic efforts to keep Socialcam up as it skyrocketed. Seems like a good guy.

patrickhogan1 2y ago

Michael is one of the most positive founder champions around. His positivity is infectious.

heavymetalpoizn 2y ago

[dead]

fakedang 2y ago

Seems like there's been a recent exodus of YC partners all looking to pursue their own interests. I wonder if partner coverage in YC will be consistent as before, given that the ones who left are heavyweights: - Michael Seibel leaving for working on government - Eric Migi leaving to restart Pebble - Surbhi Sarna and Nate Smith leaving to start Collate

angoragoats 2y ago

He seems like a genuinely good guy. I wish he’d stop using twitter, though.

acyou 2y ago

I saw the Domu Technology posting the other day and I was thinking, is this a joke? And then I saw that Michael was leaving, and I realized it's not a joke, it definitely checks out.