Clever Geek Handbook

What separates the coolest 10% of founders from others (Michael Sibel, founder of Twitch)

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Michael Sibel is the co-founder (at age 25) of startups Justin.tv/Twitch (capitalization of $ 15 billion) and Socialcam, member of the Reddit board.



One of the questions I get asked a lot during the YC series is what separates the top 10% of founders from the rest. When I started YC, I didn't have enough context to answer. I was the founder of my own company, and of course I had friends of mine, but that was not enough to serve as a metric. Over the past 13 YC events, I have interacted with over 2,500 founders and have been able to gain a better understanding of how the greatest of them stand out.



Execution



The first thing I'm going to say is that great founders get things done. I'll explain exactly what that means. When I work with great founders and they say they are going to do something, in two weeks they will do it and learn something. They do everything consistently and they are able to clearly articulate what they want to do and do it, at the same time they learn from it. This does not mean that what they wanted to do was right, or that they will have the desire to keep going in the same direction, but they never get stuck in the execution phase. They will never say what they want, and then two weeks later they will return with nothing. They always understand which way to apply to complete what they started, while learning something.



Formidability



The second point, which is a consequence of the first, is impressiveness, they are impressive. When someone says they are going to do something and then does it over and over again, you know that person is going through with it. It's enough to work with someone who is constantly going through with it. Not frighteningly in a bad way, but in the sense that they demand respect because they go all the way. When you talk to such people, you treat them with great respect, you respect their goals more because you think that they achieve them, you respect their tasks more because they fulfill them. The ability to perform creates impressiveness, and impressiveness is extremely important.



Clear communication



And the last thing I could not understand for a long time until I did a lot of interviews at YC is communication. I used to think that it was enough just to be good at tasks, without the ability to communicate. But the problem is, a startup requires good communication skills. Communication with users, with potential investors, with co-founders, with potential employees. A good founder should talk about his business and delight people with it. The number one mistake that founders make is that they can't actually explain what their business is about. The best founders can explain in 1 or 2 sentences exactly what their business is. They can explain it to a client, an investor, their mom, anyone and whatever level of knowledge about their industry. They are able to do it without hesitation. I think it's ridiculously importantbecause to get an investment recommendation or to convince someone to join your company, people first have to understand what you are doing. You will be surprised to find out how many founders fail to clearly explain what they are doing, and even begin to persuade you to help or join them.



So, again, the three most important things I see make the top 10% of founders stand out from the rest: first, the ability to perform; second - the impressiveness arising from the first point, you seem to respect them more; the third is the ability to clearly explain what they are working on.



Internal motivation



Now, if I needed to add a fourth point as a bonus, it might be a little strange, but this is internal motivation. The best founders don't get too upset when things go wrong, they stay motivated. A startup is a game in which you will constantly lose, you will constantly make wrong decisions, you will have correct hypotheses, which later turn out to be wrong. And there are people who do not give up, even if they did 5 wrong movements in a row. They remain passionate about the task, passionate about finding a solution, they continue to follow through and move forward. Being motivated in the face of failure or failure is an extremely important trait that a startup founder must possess.



So I said three, but I was cheating: fulfillment, relevance, communication, motivation. These are the things that make 10% of startup founders stand out from everyone else. One thing I didn't mention is the idea. It is usually very difficult to tell if a company has a good idea early on. I never use ideas to distinguish great founders from the rest, because I am not a judge of what is a good idea and I do not have the perfect experience for every problem. When I think about what a good idea or not, I can get lost in my own thoughts and pretend that I know more than I really do, so try not to get hung up on ideas.



Thanks for attention.









On November 9, 2020, the free Startup School for Future Founders by Y Combinator has started from the world's best accelerator, and we will publish useful translations for those who plan to become the founder of an international startup.



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