@@DecodeSV Why doesn’t the startup community and the world in general not encourage people to be this honest and truthful about how bad shit is in their area of specialization and guide folks intending to join it? Why’re most people so cookie-cutter soft and fluffy like as if things are perfect in the world?
I like how he had to stop himself when talking about Airbnb's IPO. They have gone public since, and it was shortly after this recording. Congrats, Michael!
thank you michael for the words, super insightful and the honesty about the startup world is much appreciated. Thanks to DECODE for making this possible too!
Michael's comments on the hunt for BS in the startup world: 1) scenesters: people doing startups to be a part of the scene, but don't actually want to do the hard work to build a successful company 2) investors who haven't done anything 3) low success rate: most startup founders don't succeed 4) economic argument: do you make more money starting a company or working at a large company? 5) accelerators: are accelerators, including YC, worth it? 6) dropping out of college 7) too young / too inexperienced 8) fail fast / pivot-itis 9) getting rich quick 10) hustle porn / work life balance
I mean, I misinterpreted it as well, it could have been worded better. I guarantee at least one of the people who you're calling "morons" are smarter than you.
"The problems you don't know well, you convince yourself are easy". Well said! This is the Dunning-Kreuger effect. I like to rephrase this as "The people who don't know math don't know why they need to know math". You have said this before, Michael, but I think a certain amount of ignorance is actually healthy. In physics at least, sometimes to move forward, you have to forget what you already know.
Building a company that doesn't know how to get its first customer is like building an animal that doesn't know what to eat. Building a company that is not interested in making a profit is like building an animal that doesn't want to eat.
Really excellent rare & much needed dose of reality - 99% chance of failure - it will normally take 10 years of hard work/no life to pay off when it does - No idea you have had hasn't been thought of before - Nobody can mentor you - Most advice is nonsense. Only those who've done what you're doing can give reliable advice
They paid $120K to have access to this type of honest brutality. Noticed a good number of them are from Asian backgrounds. Their parents know the value of top-level education and are investing in the future of the guys that’ll own the world in the not too distant future.
Post-acquisition work at the acquisitor can be like selling your car and having to ride around in the trunk for two years...maybe with them jumping railroad tracks and hooning the company you built, with the customer relationships, into little pieces.
"You should make rockets--only if you're a billionaire. If helps to start as a billionaire, then rockets. Bezos is doing it. Elon is doing it. It's the cool thing on the block" hahaha
Couldn’t imagine that boy dared asked Michael that after Michael clearly said at the beginning that you should be the expert and the one guiding and telling your VC that they will be the one to miss out if they don’t invest not you asking the investors what they think will succeed and then go build just that
Great talk, but I think his comments on money around 45:00 only applies if you want to live like royalty in the bay area. Think about it. He claimed if you have 6 million dollars you still need to work. If you put 6 million dollars in the stock market you can expect an average return of 10% which results in 600k a year in interest. That's plenty to live on. If you put it in super safe, treasury bonds you can expect 2-3% which is 120-180k. That will fund a great lifestyle in most cities. Now if you want to live like a prince in the bay area. maybe not. Also 20 million is enough not to work anywhere, including in the bay area. If you can't live a great life in any city with 2 million dollars in interest you're simply a baffoon.
Guy, you more than likely don't live in the Bay Area. Your perception of reality isn't distorted enough to live/vote there. If you aren't like Cathy Wood, you won't understand what it is to lose a lot of money in SF
I have a questions - what does "successful" mean at all? A SaaS that solves someone's small problem and brings you 10k MRR in profit is enough to quit your day job and pay your family bills in most places in the world. Is it success or a failure? It doesn't change any industry. It doesn't create a new market. It doesn't bring millions of dollars in evaluation. But is that the goal? How do you define success vs failure?
#1 create product that solves problem #2 people buy it and like it #3 customer retention and repeate customers and reffer and to share others, #4 if its scaleable and u can automate work flows the stars are the limit.
Michael said Yale actually “invited him to leave the school” because he was perfuming so poorly & now he’s the CEO of yCombinator. I find things like this absolutely crazy. What secret society was Michael a part of?
This is the first time I heard "pivotitis". Lol. I only hear drop your idea so I got no choice but to pivot. Ironically at YC you discourage pivoting. 😇
You misunderstood what he is saying. He is bringing an anology here for you kids. The point is that building and 'Selling Start-up' for making quick buck is not trendy as many people imagin to be. You selling your start up for 60Million does not give you 60 million in your bank account, but just a small slice of it, which often is not worth it especially when you have choosen entrepreneural life. A life that is suppose to give you back financial abundance, not just a slice of it. Instead what you should do is by ensuring the start-up to be valuable over a longer period of time, which will take everything of you (Aggressively-Patient, dedication, hardwork, out-work, out stragetise, etc)
@@DreamCatcher-wg1bk Brother for some of us 12 million is the definition of financial abundance. As I stated I could retire on 2 million, let alone 12 with my current living expenses. And after I get that 12 million, I'd still be alive and kicking and able to work on another project (i.e. generate income) and can use a combination of work revenue + investment revenue to live very well indeed.
Comparing yourself and/or your company to what you read on TC (and others) is just as bad an idea as using the fashion industry as a standard of beauty. Like Pink Floyd said, "shine on you crazy diamond". There is great value in NOT listening, sometimes.
At least they had access to someone like Michael who broke the startup bubble sold to every kid attending these high grade schools and has helped them pick themselves up and calibrate for what will make them successful as they make their decisions to delve into building a startup of starting a side project
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The real title: "Michael Seibel grilling some college kids"
this video is brillant and i did NOT expect that. The title should be changed indeed.
Pro tip: watch movies at flixzone. Me and my gf have been using it for watching loads of movies during the lockdown.
Or "Micheal pronounces your name" haha
That sounds fun
Lol
"Vish did you hear any of what I said just now!' Michael is awesome.
This group of students really needed Michael's honesty to say the least
Until you have a multi million dollar startup, you probably need Michael’s honesty.
Students were expecting his kind words about how exciting the startup world is, but all they got was cold water all over the face.
Michael says it as it is. We need more people talking openly about the struggles of start ups
He is definitely one of the most brutally honest speakers that we have. Amazing dude.
@@DecodeSV Agreed
@@DecodeSV he is probably the most brutally honest vc but only second to don valentine.
@@DecodeSV Why doesn’t the startup community and the world in general not encourage people to be this honest and truthful about how bad shit is in their area of specialization and guide folks intending to join it?
Why’re most people so cookie-cutter soft and fluffy like as if things are perfect in the world?
The destiny picked a random student at 35:29 and, given the topic, that was really epic 🤣🤣🤣
lol @ when he asked if anyone was working on a remote work startup and everyone that answered yes was just working remotely
💀
35:30 when Michael said “your friends are useless for getting first customer advice” and picture of student popped up 😂
35:27 why does a guy appear when Michael Seibel says "useless" XD XD
😂🤣
He broke these kids hearts 😂😂......too mean 😂
I like how he had to stop himself when talking about Airbnb's IPO. They have gone public since, and it was shortly after this recording. Congrats, Michael!
Oooh, juicy
No BS, straight to the point insights. Love it
This talk should be top of home feed on everyone’s app. So good.
45:00 Michael on what different acquisition money means to your life
thank you michael for the words, super insightful and the honesty about the startup world is much appreciated. Thanks to DECODE for making this possible too!
Wow thanks for the breath of fresh air ! Nice if you did something similar with an older crowd.
This talk was a reality check.
Michael's comments on the hunt for BS in the startup world:
1) scenesters: people doing startups to be a part of the scene, but don't actually want to do the hard work to build a successful company
2) investors who haven't done anything
3) low success rate: most startup founders don't succeed
4) economic argument: do you make more money starting a company or working at a large company?
5) accelerators: are accelerators, including YC, worth it?
6) dropping out of college
7) too young / too inexperienced
8) fail fast / pivot-itis
9) getting rich quick
10) hustle porn / work life balance
They took the question “are you working on a remote startup” literally 🙈
Bra I was like what a group of morons, after the first 2 people Michael was like fuck this hahaha
I mean, I misinterpreted it as well, it could have been worded better. I guarantee at least one of the people who you're calling "morons" are smarter than you.
@@Xhuffuydrhhddyu I didn't understand what it meant either haha. What does remote mean and then like oh, making something like Zoom.
I think it's easy to call them morons, but it's entirely possible this is the nuance of them learning english as a second language.
Hahaha. That busted my brains.
Michael a very quirky sense of humor that people will think he’s downright rude.
I’m confused didn’t Dropbox go public a few years ago
"The problems you don't know well, you convince yourself are easy". Well said! This is the Dunning-Kreuger effect. I like to rephrase this as "The people who don't know math don't know why they need to know math". You have said this before, Michael, but I think a certain amount of ignorance is actually healthy. In physics at least, sometimes to move forward, you have to forget what you already know.
Love that you mention Dunning-Kreuger effect. Crucial factor in the startup journey.
I like this version of him. So frank and to the point.
This is beautiful work by Seibel🔥
It's amazing...how sometimes, he can speak straight to the face.!!
real talk, thank you Michael!
Building a company that doesn't know how to get its first customer is like building an animal that doesn't know what to eat. Building a company that is not interested in making a profit is like building an animal that doesn't want to eat.
Hahahaha, I fucking love Michael's attitude, totally a savage.
Really excellent rare & much needed dose of reality
- 99% chance of failure
- it will normally take 10 years of hard work/no life to pay off when it does
- No idea you have had hasn't been thought of before
- Nobody can mentor you
- Most advice is nonsense. Only those who've done what you're doing can give reliable advice
Why did that guys photo pop up when he said your completely useless
I thought he was showing us an example of a useless guy
His mic might have been turned on
😂😂😂😂
One of the students named Wish got burned by Michael Siebel lmfao 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Michael keeps it 100%
Thanks, Micheal, for this...now i probably know what to do and where to start from
1:05:00 fear is most important motivator in investment
this was a fire class
Love this talk
Man, you are the best!!!
My ONLY mentor ⚡️🔥🙏🏻
Anyone knows how I can find Xi who asked a question at 1:30:05?
He ate these kids up😭 glad I wasn’t there😂
so many insights, thanks Michael
He’s underestimating the aptitude and agility of some in their 60’s.
Do you mean YC won’t want to partner with them?
YC is for young people. They usually don’t take any team older than 29.
1:19:05 hahahaa
1:18:33 wow is this guy really overlaying a fancy office as his background?
Interesting discussion
Top 10 college tar pit idea. Classic
thank you michael your lessing awesome excellant thank you
What’s event is this? I’m really jealous of these people can have direct conversation with Michael
They paid $120K to have access to this type of honest brutality.
Noticed a good number of them are from Asian backgrounds.
Their parents know the value of top-level education and are investing in the future of the guys that’ll own the world in the not too distant future.
@1:43:00 "that we were emailed at Yale" thats that secret society ish right there. Hes not talkjng about MITReview 😂.
Post-acquisition work at the acquisitor can be like selling your car and having to ride around in the trunk for two years...maybe with them jumping railroad tracks and hooning the company you built, with the customer relationships, into little pieces.
We're going to be all in-house.. in West Oakland. I plan to get an office and have everyone be located in the office.
What was the tarpit idea?
"You should make rockets--only if you're a billionaire. If helps to start as a billionaire, then rockets. Bezos is doing it. Elon is doing it. It's the cool thing on the block" hahaha
Couldn’t imagine that boy dared asked Michael that after Michael clearly said at the beginning that you should be the expert and the one guiding and telling your VC that they will be the one to miss out if they don’t invest not you asking the investors what they think will succeed and then go build just that
Great talk, but I think his comments on money around 45:00 only applies if you want to live like royalty in the bay area. Think about it. He claimed if you have 6 million dollars you still need to work. If you put 6 million dollars in the stock market you can expect an average return of 10% which results in 600k a year in interest. That's plenty to live on. If you put it in super safe, treasury bonds you can expect 2-3% which is 120-180k. That will fund a great lifestyle in most cities. Now if you want to live like a prince in the bay area. maybe not. Also 20 million is enough not to work anywhere, including in the bay area. If you can't live a great life in any city with 2 million dollars in interest you're simply a baffoon.
Everybody has their life aspirations and for his, he said that’s not enough.
For you however, that’s enough
Guy, you more than likely don't live in the Bay Area. Your perception of reality isn't distorted enough to live/vote there.
If you aren't like Cathy Wood, you won't understand what it is to lose a lot of money in SF
u forgot to subtract 6% off the top to account for inflation, minus taxes esp cap gains tax near 40% rn
Seibel raging on undergrads 😂
very valuable
That funny bc I thought about producing a couple raps to tide my funds over while I’m so broke 😂 at least the confidence is here ;)
I have a questions - what does "successful" mean at all? A SaaS that solves someone's small problem and brings you 10k MRR in profit is enough to quit your day job and pay your family bills in most places in the world. Is it success or a failure? It doesn't change any industry. It doesn't create a new market. It doesn't bring millions of dollars in evaluation. But is that the goal? How do you define success vs failure?
#1 create product that solves problem #2 people buy it and like it #3 customer retention and repeate customers and reffer and to share others, #4 if its scaleable and u can automate work flows the stars are the limit.
Q. How do you hack motivation? That's an existential question, as much as a 64 quadrillion dollar one! Ok, I'm on it.
All you have to do is ask.
Michael, we are going to meet someday
Michael said Yale actually “invited him to leave the school” because he was perfuming so poorly & now he’s the CEO of yCombinator.
I find things like this absolutely crazy.
What secret society was Michael a part of?
mambotta
@@titaniumplated7785 ?
Mensa... 😊
I don't find that surprising at all. Yale is a secret society in itself.
"You're the sum of the company you keep" .. sitting home discussing the problems we give a sh*t about.
1:05:25
Reality check at 1:15:45
Awesome
Great video
Same literally all the coding classes I could’ve networked in.
This is the first time I heard "pivotitis". Lol. I only hear drop your idea so I got no choice but to pivot. Ironically at YC you discourage pivoting. 😇
5 years easy
This kids say "like" a lot 😂
And “uhm”
I have a question about work-life balance: Can you _consistently_ flow more than 8 hours per day?
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his bluntness is sexy
Dang it. Not a turn off?
@@JG-no4qr XD
He's normally great, but 12 million dollars after tax/losses isn't enough to retire on? How does he think normal human beings live?
He's got a silicon valley bias! lol. I could retire on 2 million tomorrow. My cost of living is less than $20K, so that would last me 100 years.
He's got a silicon valley bias, lol. I could retire on 2 million tomorrow. My cost of living is less than $20K, so that would last me 100 years.
You misunderstood what he is saying. He is bringing an anology here for you kids. The point is that building and 'Selling Start-up' for making quick buck is not trendy as many people imagin to be. You selling your start up for 60Million does not give you 60 million in your bank account, but just a small slice of it, which often is not worth it especially when you have choosen entrepreneural life. A life that is suppose to give you back financial abundance, not just a slice of it. Instead what you should do is by ensuring the start-up to be valuable over a longer period of time, which will take everything of you (Aggressively-Patient, dedication, hardwork, out-work, out stragetise, etc)
@@DreamCatcher-wg1bk Brother for some of us 12 million is the definition of financial abundance. As I stated I could retire on 2 million, let alone 12 with my current living expenses.
And after I get that 12 million, I'd still be alive and kicking and able to work on another project (i.e. generate income) and can use a combination of work revenue + investment revenue to live very well indeed.
You need 12 Million to retire ??? The average college graduate makes 2 million in their lifetime, this guy is completely out of touch
Comparing yourself and/or your company to what you read on TC (and others) is just as bad an idea as using the fashion industry as a standard of beauty. Like Pink Floyd said, "shine on you crazy diamond". There is great value in NOT listening, sometimes.
"If you are making an economic decision to work on a startup, that's pretty dumb." 😑🙈
Lol what a bunch of awkward kids who just don't get it.
Facts!
At least they had access to someone like Michael who broke the startup bubble sold to every kid attending these high grade schools and has helped them pick themselves up and calibrate for what will make them successful as they make their decisions to delve into building a startup of starting a side project
Never been to UC Berkeley but the rep is definitely aligned to ole rumors confirmed in this video. "Unique Daydreamers circa 2005"
Those collage chicks are day dreamer ,