00:00 - What Makes The Top 10% Of Founders Different? 00:35 - Great founders execute 1:22 - Formidability 2:09 - Clear communication 3:40 - Internal motivation 4:52 - Note that "idea" is not on this list

To every other founder out there watching this video and chasing their dreams. Cheers!

1. Execute - Consistent ability to say what you are going to do, do it and learn from it. Never get stuck in the execution step. 2. Formidable - demand respect because you always execute 3. Clear Communication/Vision - articulate what they are working on to anyone 4. Internal Motivation - that they don't get too discouraged when things go wrong and stay motivated

Thank you, Amit Shah! Thank you a lot!!

Everything I heard Micheal Seibel, Y Combinator say and applied in my business from last year has worked. Not even 1 has failed.

Michael Seibel never fails to deliver great and reliable advices.

I'm gonna try to grade myself based on this video : 1- Execution : 8/10 2- Explaining what I do in 1 sentence: 5/10 3- Internal motivation: 10/10... Boy I've been failing for 4 years S.T.R.A.I.G.H.T my life is falling down because of my business, and I'm still going like I'm gonna make it tomorrow... Although, the business is finally paying off now after finding the product-market fit. Good luck to everyone!

Michael, thanks for the great feedback to the startup community. 1. Execute, 2. Formidability, 3. Communication, 4. Motivation.

Spoiler: 1. Ability to execute 2. Formidable 3. Ability to clearly communicate what they working on Bonus: Internal motivation

Great insight - I would add these qualities are found in the top 10% of employees too

Been binging so many of YC’s videos honestly amazing this amount value is available for free!

Very clear thinking, explanation and insight. Thank you. On the execution one, I think there is a complication: one's judgment about the task you are saying you will do. It leaves me wondering about a follow-up question on this: how do these founders judge and then commit to these things? Egs: are they superior in judging their priorities, or more realistic in balancing 'can-do' tendencies, or are there other judgment qualities that you can point to? Or am I over-thinking this LOL? I am reminded of something Guy Kawasaki once said about the difference beteen corporate executives and entrepreneurs (I come from 20+ years corporate background, so I've struggled with the transition). He said if you give a new project to people, the execs will start formulating strategies and making plans. The entrepreneurs will think, what do I need to do next to move things forwards. And then they'll do that (and as you said, learn from it). Does this mindset difference between execs and entrepreneurs correlate in any way with the difference between the top 10% of founders and "the rest" in your experience? It's certainly something I'm still working on (and hopefully not thinking too much!)

This is one of the most important videos on KZfaq. Simple, but powerful.

Man, I watch every one of these. One thing I would love to hear, is "why" from the Y comb leadership team. Running a business is a lot of work, and I'd love to know why they're doing this. Successful business owners always have amazing answers to this question.

This is very timely for me. Thank you for sharing this super useful synthesis Michael Seibel.

If you have the drive, execution, formidability, communication and passion will follow, I think. So Drive with clarity can be the key.

Top 4 Skills for a TOP FOUNDER REC.F Relentless - Does not get deterred by mistakes or failures, not easily dissuaded Execution - will complete their goals in some way and learn from it Communication - Can communication what something is or they want to do concisely Formidability - Continuously gets things done and is respected by others for it (gets it for free when you have Execution)

Still great info. So glad Y Combinator YT channel exists. Wish I found this sooner.

This guy is absolutely great.

Thank you very much Michael. Great on YC.

From this video I see my problem is Communication. That I'll work on more and more now. Thanks

Great 4 points Michael

Thanks a lot! Integrating this to my self-evaluation as top priority👍Need to improve on the communication part. Doing pitch exercises daily now, and talk to more people to practice the pitch and get feedback.

Context comes from making mistakes. Once you develop that context, that's when you'll start making decisions that end up being the right ones. Just my two cents.

That shirt looks f*cking comfortable. Nice fabric, sweet cut, great color.

Wow follow-through and execution are so important.

Seeming Formidable is a by-product of consistency & perseverance. Maybe those would be the qualities :)

Completely agree with you about "idea", want to reference a Chinese story "The Little Horse Crosses the River" for that, the idea is strongly tied to capability.

Thank you - being in a completely different industry, can confirm that these suggestions still stand

Thank you YC for providing me the blue print to doing the startup correctly, SUS2019 was very helpful.

I love the idea of explaining your business idea at the: * 5 year old level * grade school level * high school * college * masters * PhD It'd make a decent video tbh following the existing format you can KZfaq

A kind and humble assessment of key qualities. Thanks for sharing Michael.

Another great video! I will work hard to be in those top 10% founders.Thanks!

This video was very encouraging! Thanks Michael!

Great points Michael. I personally definitely struggle with execution/iterate too much. I know for that matter that I’m definitely not gonna make day to day operation decisions, but rather lead the marketing efforts to the outside. Communication and esp. trust is my strength, which is crucial in our business.

Clarity, knowing why you do this start up, and why now? Why you are the one, and what is the business model, who will buy it. Clarity is important.

Thanks for this

Well stated and explained! Simply fantastic!

Good advice

This is highly inspiring! Thank you for these messages! 💪💪💪

I’ll be there.

Michael, I’d love your take on how transparent founders should be. Admitting we made a mistake and learning from it is how we improve, but can it backfire and make us come across as negative or unconfident?

So it's just two things. Formidability is derived from an ability to execute. So if you have the ability to execute, then formidability follows from it.

This is excellent Michael, thank you

Thanks Michael

All your videos are gold

0. Have enough money to get the required b traction for raising your first round for your Startup around your idea. Money. Helps. A. Lot.

Thankyou Amit Shah , very informative

Make Something People Want. Make People Want Something.

Thank you so much! I got to work on point 1 and 2. 😦

What’s your tip on nailing your business 1 liner?

Excellent advice.

Thank you

Can someone execute consistently and not be perceived as formidable?

🙏🏽 Thank you so much

Great vid

Thanks for the insight.

Thanks Amit 👍🏼👍🏼

Preciate it💪🏽

Industriousness + Presicion in Communication

Great video!

I'm infatuated with this. I had the pleasure of reading something similar, and I was completely infatuated. "The Hidden Empire: Inside the Private Worlds of Elite CEOs" by Adam Skylight

One thing that nobody seems to talk about when it comes to starting a company is the personality of the founders. We still seem to skip over the fact that some people might not be able to successfully start a company due to certain personality traits or mental illnesses or life hurdles. For example, I have attempted to start many companies. And every time what gets in my way is what is being talked about in this video. But, it’s not because I’m lazy or that I give up too soon and don’t execute. The reason is, I suffer from social anxiety. So for me to network, execute, and continue forward is severely hindered by my inability to make partnerships or friendships with others. Any thoughts on this Y Combinator?????

wow amazing content. Thank you so much for sharing this I have learned a lot.

LET ME IN!

I've never heard of 3 ideas turning into 6 so quickly XD

Thanks!

thanks a lot

Pretty cool!

Thank you so much. I am weak at first three quality. Does that mean i will fail? I am highly motivated. Is there anyway, tips to improve myself?

Communications!

Amit shah?

I have only 1 question. I appreciate if you take only 1 minute and answer. 1. I have a an idea of decade. And I don't have MVP. For developing MVP make take minimum 6 months. Do Y COMBINATOR FUND FOR IDEA? OR WE SHOULD HAVE MVP?

Great content but can we talk about those arms? That looks to be some strongman/powerlifter level beef right there.

It's all my worst nightmare. I always have ideas and rarely feel like slaving away on them alone

Amit shah joined YC

Ya, like Y combinators have an amazing track record (eye roll). They don't. Period.

I need to work on my communication

YC get better Biotech reviewers who actually know their stuff please!

How can I get funding from y combinator for my start up please let me know...I'm here sitting at my home n have done to some extent a great level of thinking n reached a solution for a problem ..

Completely agree with executability. That is what I admire most about my co-founder (he gets $*1+ done).

I don't know why people hash on the idea so much. Have fun executing a bad idea. There are lots of them.

“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, not the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. FROM THE WISEST MAN THE EARTH HAS EVER BEHELD! (net worth: $2 trillion)

Internal motivation… you mean perseverance and determination? 🤨

But acceptance rate of startups at YC is just 1.5 percent!

👏

Young Amit Shah!!

Notes: medium.com/tech-product-and-life/what-makes-the-top-10-of-founders-different-michael-siebel-from-yc-cff844efdb5f

He looks like amit shah

Are amit shah ji ye kis line Mai agaye

Easy see you in 2025.

man if i were in your shoes for 6 months i could change the world.

👍🏽 👍🏽

Top 10% founder is still gonna fail right? A better question is what differentiates the 0.1% founders?

Know how to use social media to sell your company also?

Amit Shah😃🤣

By this standard Elon Musk is a bad founder since he fails to execute in time and takes longer than expected to execute. Given limited resources, a person who always want to execute within ambitious time would choose something easy and never explore. Explore (something that may work) vs exploit (something that is very likely to work) tradeoff are basic problem all companies face. An executing founder would avoid exploring much since it is ripe with chances of failure to deliver. This would lead to different kind of startup. Instead of rate of delivering, its the rate and speed of learning that in my view most defines a would be successful startup. A person who always deliver in 2 weeks seems like doing nothing ambitious or complex. This person is less likely to learn something important. There are many business problems that are good with this approach but many are not.

Luck

Basically no INTPs ALLOWED!

“Intimidating, but not in a bad way.” Haha. Gross. Thank God I don’t live in some pretend universe where intimidation isn’t something I strive to bring to the world.