mwseibel

8 ms·

31.
by mwseibel 8y ago
On one hand pre-money SAFEs diluting pre-money SAFEs is helpful to founders. On the other hand it makes it impossible to calculate dilution. As a result, a large number of companies are raising money without understanding their ownership.
32.
by mwseibel 8y ago
It would still be very easy to raise a bridge round on SAFEs at a higher cap (or the same cap). Not sure why there would be a push to equity round. Even better, you'll know your dilution after the bridge round which will better allow
33.
by mwseibel 8y ago
I talk about this specifically in my post... Having done YC in 2007, 2012, and helping to run it now. I think today YC founders are given many more tools and much more money to succeed.
34.
by mwseibel 8y ago
Seems like the founder should be the one who figures out how to best spend the money no?
35.
by mwseibel 8y ago
Unfortunately with over 8000 applicants each batch that is very very hard but I will talk to our admissions team to see if there is anything we can do to improve in this area. I apologize for how frustrating it is to get a YC rejection.
36.
by mwseibel 8y ago
http://www.ycombinator.com/documents/
37.
by mwseibel 8y ago
I'll be hanging out in the comments this morning if anyone would like to discuss.
38.
by mwseibel 8y ago
We did both for a relatively short period of time (about 1 year) when we were a profitable company. So... very special circumstance. Btw - its kinda cool that people even know the backstory to Twitch.
39.
by mwseibel 8y ago
I agree - not only should we have not made the error but we should have caught it and fixed it faster. My apologies.
40.
by mwseibel 8y ago
I just want to say we are really sorry for this error. This is not the standard we hold ourselves to at YC. I personally apologize to the companies that were both rejected and accepted. Trust that this provides us with even more motivati
41.
by mwseibel 8y ago
Once again I just wanted to say we are really sorry for this error. This is not the standard we hold ourselves to at YC. I personally apologize to the companies that were both rejected and accepted. Trust that this provides us with even
42.
by mwseibel 8y ago
We don’t have to make money on every investment. In fact we only make money on very few. Which is fine by us.
43.
by mwseibel 8y ago
Even more importantly... I would focus on writing code and talking to users.
44.
by mwseibel 8y ago
Honestly, if you are applying to YC and want someone to read your application and give you feedback (which is in no way required)... I recommend you reach out to YC alumni directly. You can find a list of YC companies here: http:/&#
45.
by mwseibel 8y ago
https://www.startupschool.org/library
46.
by mwseibel 8y ago
For many of the founders I talk to would say their startup "deserves" more money because of what they have accomplished. I'm simply trying to use the same language founder use with me.
47.
by mwseibel 8y ago
Perfect description of JTV
48.
by mwseibel 8y ago
Letting people go didn’t get us to profitable. Massively increasing the ad inventory did.
49.
by mwseibel 8y ago
I’m pretty sure Marc invented the phrase so he gets to define it: https://pmarchive.com/guide_to_startups_part4.html
50.
by mwseibel 8y ago
We didn’t deserve more money when things weren’t working. It’s the investors who decide who deserves more money and if you are setup to need their money you better learn their rules and figure out how to convince them to give it to you.
51.
by mwseibel 8y ago
I tried to help with this question in this blog post: https://blog.ycombinator.com/the-real-product-market-fit/
52.
by mwseibel 8y ago
I agree with this comment. I think it’s too easy for founders to say - that shitty company over there got money so why can’t we get any. I want to reframe the conversation.
53.
by mwseibel 8y ago
We were doing well enough to give them good severance and the tech market was good enough that it was easy for them to find jobs.
54.
by mwseibel 8y ago
I think there are certain companies with significant upfront capital requirements that first time founders will find it almost impossible to get funded. This is unfortunate and probably reducing overall innovation but I think the revolutio
55.
by mwseibel 8y ago
Happy to answer questions about the post here for the next couple of hours.
56.
by mwseibel 8y ago
I think the one thing that begs repeating is how much YC is helpful in this process. It changes the fundraising dynamic for founders by allowing you to focus on product and growth and then creating an environment where investors come to yo
57.
by mwseibel 8y ago
I really wish more first time founders took some time to understand these points.
58.
by mwseibel 9y ago
Lol
59.
by mwseibel 9y ago
This is possible.
60.
by mwseibel 9y ago
totally agree

More ›