PHIL LIBIN – Founder, Evernote<br /></b><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"//www.youtube.com/embed/KEy_ocXnrdY?list=SPQ-uHSnFig5PZH_UEL0JalZ2edVGsO2R8\%22 width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe></p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<b>DAN SIROKER</b> – <b>Founder</b>, <b>Optimizely</b> </div>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"//www.youtube.com/embed/k4_3uluQsq4?list=SPQ-uHSnFig5PZH_UEL0JalZ2edVGsO2R8\%22 width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe></div>\n</div>\n<div></div>\n<div><b>RON CONWAY – Partner, SV Angel</b></div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"//www.youtube.com/embed/7bm-Xj2jMCk/" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe></p>\n<div><b><br /></b></div>\n<div><b>OFFICE HOURS with Paul Graham and Sam Altman</b></div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"//www.youtube.com/embed/syoqjYLDs48?list=SPQ-uHSnFig5PZH_UEL0JalZ2edVGsO2R8\%22 width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe></p>\n</div>\n<div></div>\n<div><b>CHRIS DIXON – Partner, Andreessen Horowitz and Founder, Hunch and SiteAdvisor</b></div>\n<div>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"//www.youtube.com/embed/akOazwgDiSI?list=SPQ-uHSnFig5PZH_UEL0JalZ2edVGsO2R8\%22 width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe></p>\n</div>\n<div></div>\n<div><b>DIANE GREENE – Founder, VMware</b></div>\n<div>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"//www.youtube.com/embed/zSEeFxq2X_c?list=SPQ-uHSnFig5PZH_UEL0JalZ2edVGsO2R8\%22 width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe></p>\n</div>\n<div></div>\n<div>\n<b>BALAJI SRINIVASAN – Founder and CTO, Counsyl and Lecturer at Stanford University</b><br /><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"//www.youtube.com/embed/cOubCHLXT6A?list=SPQ-uHSnFig5PZH_UEL0JalZ2edVGsO2R8\%22 width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe></p>\n</div>\n<div></div>\n<div><b>CHASE ADAM – Founder, Watsi</b></div>\n<div>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"//www.youtube.com/embed/WlT3UhC7NwQ?list=SPQ-uHSnFig5PZH_UEL0JalZ2edVGsO2R8\%22 width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe></p>\n</div>\n<div></div>\n<div><b>JACK DORSEY – Founder, Square and Twitter</b></div>\n<div>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"//www.youtube.com/embed/wEQawgkCMOU?list=SPQ-uHSnFig5PZH_UEL0JalZ2edVGsO2R8\%22 width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe></p>\n</div>\n<div></div>\n<div><b>MARK ZUCKERBERG – Founder, Facebook</b></div>\n<div>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"//www.youtube.com/embed/MGsalg2f9js?list=SPQ-uHSnFig5PZH_UEL0JalZ2edVGsO2R8\%22 width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe></p>\n</div>\n<div></div>\n<div><b>NATE BLECHARCZYK – Founder, Airbnb</b></div>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"//www.youtube.com/embed/Ya0I6oz7q9U?list=SPQ-uHSnFig5PZH_UEL0JalZ2edVGsO2R8\%22 width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"></iframe></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n<!--kg-card-end: html-->","comment_id":"613290","feature_image":null,"featured":false,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2013-10-27T09:25:12.000-07:00","updated_at":"2021-10-20T14:26:07.000-07:00","published_at":"2013-10-27T09:25:12.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710d1","name":"Y Combinator","slug":"y-combinator","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/1200px-Y_Combinator_logo.svg.png","cover_image":null,"bio":"Y Combinator created a new model for funding early stage startups. Twice a year we invest a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200).\r\n\r\nThe startups move to Silicon","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/y-combinator/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71163","name":"Startup School 2013","slug":"startup-school-2013","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/startup-school-2013/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71166","name":"videos","slug":"videos","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/videos/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71173","name":"YC News","slug":"yc-news","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-news/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710d1","name":"Y Combinator","slug":"y-combinator","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/1200px-Y_Combinator_logo.svg.png","cover_image":null,"bio":"Y Combinator created a new model for funding early stage startups. Twice a year we invest a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200).\r\n\r\nThe startups move to Silicon","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/y-combinator/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71163","name":"Startup School 2013","slug":"startup-school-2013","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/startup-school-2013/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/videos-from-startup-school-2013-are-now-online/","excerpt":"If you missed Startup School 2013, you can now watch videos from last week’s talks on YouTube.","reading_time":0,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"6501d59947c9f1000193a180","uuid":"e8fb5777-9a85-4f4c-aa0c-1bf28930d206","title":"Why you shouldn't copy your tech idols","slug":"why-you-shouldnt-copy-your-tech-idols","html":"<p>Is trying to live your life exactly like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, or Mark Zuckerberg a good strategy? How seriously should you take advice from famously successful people?</p><p>It’s hard not to give advice when you’re successful, but context matters. Is the person giving advice thinking about all the steps they followed in the early parts of their career, or just what’s possible for them today <em>because </em>of those steps?</p><p>For this episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/library/carousel/Dalton & Michael/">Dalton + Michael</a>, Michael and I dig into why some advice givers might be tempted to say “Do as I say, not as I <em>did</em>” and how we try to avoid doing that within YC. </p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/09mXPGVkfVA?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen title=\"Why You Shouldn't Copy Your Tech Idols\"></iframe></figure>","comment_id":"6501d59947c9f1000193a180","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/09/DM-tech-idols.jpeg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2023-09-13T08:30:33.000-07:00","updated_at":"2023-09-13T10:20:01.000-07:00","published_at":"2023-09-13T10:20:01.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"For this episode of Dalton + Michael, we dig into why some advice givers might be tempted to say “Do as I say, not as I DID.”","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71166","name":"videos","slug":"videos","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/videos/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. 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How seriously should you take advice from famously successful people?","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":"Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel in front of the text \"Tech Idols\"","feature_image_caption":null},{"id":"6650d25c5df3e40001fdc6a2","uuid":"8aa537c9-6aa7-466f-b480-8b5c66effaec","title":"How AI will create more successful founders","slug":"opportunities-in-ai","html":"<p>When a major new technology comes out, huge new opportunities open up for founders that get in on the ground floor. Fortunes were made when the app store came out, when online payments became easy, and when the web itself was brand new.</p><p>Moments like these don’t happen often. When they do, it’s the people that put themselves right at the bleeding edge that find the opportunities — the people who pay attention to each new thing, pull threads, and search for the problems they can solve now that no one could solve before. It’s the people who stay informed and <em>move</em> that get to choose their paths.</p><p>In this episode of <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/library/carousel/Dalton & Michael/">Dalton and Michael</a> we’ll talk about why this is that moment for AI, who will find those opportunities, and where to look for the people that’ll help you find them faster.</p><figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\"><iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.youtube.com/embed/KxjPgGLVJSg?feature=oembed\%22 frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"How New Technology Creates New Businesses\"></iframe></figure>","comment_id":"6650d25c5df3e40001fdc6a2","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2024/05/new-tech.jpeg","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2024-05-24T10:46:04.000-07:00","updated_at":"2024-05-24T10:49:00.000-07:00","published_at":"2024-05-24T10:49:00.000-07:00","custom_excerpt":"When a major new technology comes out, huge new opportunities open up for founders that get in on the ground floor. 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He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71166","name":"videos","slug":"videos","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/videos/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a71085","name":"Dalton Caldwell","slug":"dalton-caldwell","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/Dalton.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/dalton-caldwell/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71166","name":"videos","slug":"videos","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/videos/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/opportunities-in-ai/","excerpt":"When a major new technology comes out, huge new opportunities open up for founders that get in on the ground floor. Fortunes were made when the app store came out, when online payments became easy, and when the web itself was brand new.","reading_time":1,"access":true,"og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"email_subject":null,"frontmatter":null,"feature_image_alt":null,"feature_image_caption":null}]},"url":"/blog/when-should-a-founder-trust-gut-instincts","version":"a2ce9abc7c2080e819915df4aacfcc5c01cd09b5","encryptHistory":false,"clearHistory":false,"rails_context":{"railsEnv":"production","inMailer":false,"i18nLocale":"en","i18nDefaultLocale":"en","href":"https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/when-should-a-founder-trust-gut-instincts","location":"/blog/when-should-a-founder-trust-gut-instincts","scheme":"https","host":"www.ycombinator.com","port":null,"pathname":"/blog/when-should-a-founder-trust-gut-instincts","search":null,"httpAcceptLanguage":"en, *","applyBatchLong":"Summer 2025","applyBatchShort":"S2025","applyDeadlineShort":"May 13","ycdcRetroMode":true,"currentUser":null,"serverSide":true},"id":"ycdc_new/pages/BlogPage-react-component-a29e1a6d-4af3-4b39-b6b7-e0cdd45e6c9d","server_side":true}" data-reactroot=""> by Dalton Caldwell4/17/2024 When you’re making important decisions as a founder — like what to build, or how it should work — should you spend lots of time gathering input from others or just trust your gut? The answer: it depends. It depends on who you are, what you’re building, and what you know here. We often see founders getting it backwards. Some of the founders with the most expertise are the ones who hesitate to build the thing they know the world needs, while founders without much experience want to spend the next five years working on their vision before talking to anyone about it. In this episode of Dalton + Michael we talk more about this, how to know when you should spend more time validating, and when to just commit. Categories Other Posts Dalton is Managing Director, Architect and Group Partner at YC. He was the cofounder and CEO of imeem (acquired by MySpace in 2009), and the cofounder and CEO of App.net.When should a founder trust gut instincts?
Author
Dalton Caldwell