Dalton Caldwell, Managing Director at Y Combinator, discusses misconceptions and unsolicited advice founders receive about whether Y Combinator is worth doing.
“I think another big misconception was just folks, a lot of folks that apparently have the strongest opinions of telling people about YC never actually were in a batch.”
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More from Dalton Caldwell
Insight
Caldwell: Ex-Google executives join early startups because they underperformed or misunderstood reality
“What usually happens is they either are, either they joined your startup because they're, they weren't doing well. I'm trying to think of a nice way to say it. Either there's a reason they joined your startup and left Google, or they had expectations that you …”
Dalton CaldwellJan 11, 2023▶ 19:10The Secrets To Setting Smarter Goals · Y Combinator
Insight
Caldwell warns that overly friendly industry networkers are often highly exploitative
“A lot of the folks who are most approachable when you are a first timer, or when you're just moving to the area, or you're trying to break into the industry, the friendly people that want to talk to you are often
The most exploitative, and they're the people …”
Dalton CaldwellOct 28, 2022▶ 17:17The Truth About Y Combinator · Y Combinator
Insight
Caldwell: Starting a company by pitching VCs invites exploitation
“If your idea for how you start a startup is to first create a pitch deck and go pitch VCs, you're setting yourself up to get screwed. You're setting yourself up to get taken advantage of by people who are gonna have 20 different ways to rip you off, versus if …”
Dalton CaldwellOct 28, 2022▶ 25:16The Truth About Y Combinator · Y Combinator
Insight
Caldwell: Effectively no startup gets acqui-hired after running out of runway
“No one gets acquired effectively. Like there's an asterisk next to no one. But the companies, of the companies that attempt, when they're lower on runway, they're, they flew the plane into the side of the mountain. There's no acquisition coming, man.”
Dalton CaldwellMay 6, 2022▶ 17:56Save Your Startup During an Economic Downturn · Y Combinator
Insight
Founders carry startup failure forever while venture investors quickly move on
“This is what's so weird about this business is like, who has to live with the rest of their lives that that was their startup. Or that they could have done something different. They weren't able to versus the investors like, yeah, whatever. Cool. And they go, …”
Dalton CaldwellMay 6, 2022▶ 33:47Save Your Startup During an Economic Downturn · Y Combinator
Insight
Caldwell: Predatory service providers systematically target and exploit struggling startup founders
“We see this a lot with struggling startups. All sorts of people will come out of the woodwork to sell you services or promise they'll connect you with the investors or they'll help you fundraise or you name it. And it's like, it's kind of like moving to Hollyw…”
Dalton CaldwellJul 22, 2022▶ 29:52Most Important Lifestyle Habits Of Successful Founders · Y Combinator
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