Where does Michael Seibel work?

Michael Seibel is Founder of Michael Seibel and Twitch co-founder and Y Combinator CEO at Pi Campus and Board director at Kalshi and Director; Partner Emeritus, Y Combinator; Chair, Talent and Compensation Committee at Dropbox.

What check size does Michael Seibel write?

Michael Seibel typically writes checks of $150K.

What companies did Michael Seibel found?

Michael Seibel founded Michael Seibel.

What boards does Michael Seibel sit on?

Michael Seibel holds tracked board seats at Dropbox, Kalshi, Reddit.

Where did Michael Seibel go to school?

Michael Seibel studied at Yale University (BA, Political Science).

What has Michael Seibel written?

Michael Seibel has 3 tracked posts on michaelseibel.com, including "The AM/PM Debate - or How not to be an idiot CEO", "YC Has Changed", "Why Does Your Company Deserve More Money?".

What podcasts and interviews feature Michael Seibel?

Tracked appearances include "Y Combinator ex CEO Michael Seibel – What Makes the Top 10% f Founders Different?", "Signs Your Company Is Recovering From ZIRP", "How To Live In The Social Media Matrix", and 9 more.

Michael Seibel

InvestorFounder

Twitch co-founder and Y Combinator CEO at Pi Campus · Board director at Kalshi · Director; Partner Emeritus, Y Combinator; Chair, Talent and Compensation Committee at Dropbox · Founder at Michael Seibel

San Francisco, CA

Writes $150K checks

FoundedMichael Seibel

Find your path to Michael

3,570 people in our graph share verified history with Michael — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Arhaan A.unlockedMichael: together at Y Combinator (2022)

Michael: together at Yale University

×8Michael: together at Y Combinator

×2Michael: together at Kalshi

Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons ↗

About

Michael Seibel spent more than 12 years at Y Combinator, serving as CEO of its accelerator and as a group partner who worked with over a thousand startups, before transitioning to partner emeritus in 2025 with an eye toward public-sector work. He co-founded Justin.tv, which became Twitch, and Socialcam, and became one of the most recognizable startup advisors of his generation through YC's videos and office hours.

Contact· published on Michael's own website

m•••@ycombinator.comreveal

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningDeep TechDeveloper ToolsFintechHardwareSaaS

Beyond investing

Founded: Co-founded Justin.tv, which grew into Twitch and sold to Amazon for $970m in 2014. Co-founded Socialcam, which sold to Autodesk for $60m in 2012. Seibel co-founded Justin.tv, which later became Twitch and sold to Amazon for $970 million in 2014.
Education: Graduated from Yale University in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in political science. Studied at Yale University (BA, political science, 2005) Studied at East Brunswick High School (2000)
Boards: Serves on the board of Reddit. Serves on the board of Dropbox. Serves on the board of Kalshi.
Communities: Seibel was an early mentor to Airbnb's co-founders and recommended them to Y Combinator in 2008. Seibel advocates for diversity, access to capital, and mentorship in tech, speaking at conferences including TechCrunch Disrupt, AfroTech, and Startup Grind. At Yale, Seibel was active in the Black Student Alliance.
Hobbies: Spends much of his free time cooking, reading, traveling, and going for long drives. Runs CooksLarder.com featuring his favorite cooking ingredients and recipes. Runs JonathansApps.com featuring his favorite iOS apps for kids.
Family: Lives in San Francisco with his wife Sarah, son Jonathan, and daughter Jessica.
More: Co-produced the startup podcast 'Dalton + Michael' with Dalton Caldwell. Created the 'Life, Work, and Startups' podcast series of shorts with his brother Jason Seibel in 2021. Has lived and worked in the Bay Area since 2006. Seibel became Y Combinator's first African-American partner in October 2014. Seibel was named Reddit's first Black board member in June 2020, replacing Alexis Ohanian.

Mentioned above: the Y Combinator mafia → · the Yale University mafia → · the Kalshi mafia →

From Michael's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Board director at Kalshi YC W19

Intro paths

Kalshi went through Y Combinator (Winter 2019) — Michael sits on its board, so any YC alum in your network can reach them through the company's founders.

→

In turn, Michael can intro founders to Kalshi's investors below.

Kalshi's investors · 34

a16z cryptoMenlo Park Alpha PartnersNew York · $3M – $10M checks Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks CapitalGSan Francisco · $50M – $100M checks Coatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M checks Conductive VenturesMountain View Deviation CapitalNew York EQUIAMSan Francisco · $1M – $10M checks Everybody Ventures$100K checks Formus Capital Human CapitalSan Francisco · $250K – $200M checks Integra GroupeMenlo Park · $100K – $200K checks Interplay Ventures Early Stage Management LlcNew York · $1M checks IVP (Institutional Venture Partners)San Francisco · $15M – $75M checks J17 Capital Jam FundLos Angeles · $500K – $20M checks Manhattan WestLos Angeles Mantis CapitalSanta Monica · $100K – $1M checks Mech VenturesLas Vegas Meritech Capital PartnersPalo Alto · $5M – $40M checks Multicoin CapitalAustin · $1M – $50M checks Nexus BayTelegraph Bay Night CapitalCapitola ParadigmSan Francisco · $1M – $100M checks · since 2025 Pathlight VenturesOld Bridge · $500K – $5M checks Razor Capital Sequoia CapitalMenlo Park · $4.4M – $214M checks · since 2025 SGH CapitalParis Soma CapitalSacramento · $100K – $300K checks Spark CapitalSan Francisco · $500K – $25M checks SV AngelSan Francisco ThirdbaseNew York WealthUnion$10K checks Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K checks · since 2019

Co-founders at Kalshi

Luana Lopes LaraFounder

Tarek MansourCo-founder & CEO

Director; Partner Emeritus, Y Combinator; Chair, Talent and Compensation Committee at Dropbox YC S07

Intro paths

Dropbox went through Y Combinator (Summer 2007) — Michael sits on its board, so any YC alum in your network can reach them through the company's founders.

→

In turn, Michael can intro founders to Dropbox's investors below.

Dropbox's investors · 15

Co-founders at Dropbox

Drew HoustonCo-Founder and Co-CEO

Arash FerdowsiCo-founder & CTO

Founder at Michael Seibel

Intro paths

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In turn, Michael can intro founders to Michael Seibel's investors below.

Michael Seibel's investors · 1

Ardent VentureWashington · $250K – $3M checks

Experience

Y CombinatorPartner Emerituscurrent2025 — present
Y CombinatorPartner2014 — 2025
Y CombinatorPart-time Partner2013 — 2014San Francisco
SocialcamCEO2011 — 2014San Francisco, CA
Justin.tvCEO2006 — 2011
Mfume for US Senate 2006Finance Director2005 — 2006

Skills & more

Online Advertising81User Experience75Social Media67Start-upsBlogging32Social Entrepreneurship9EntrepreneurshipSocial Media Marketing13Social Networking21HTML8Digital Media35Ruby on Rails10

+8 more

E-commerceOnline MarketingDigital StrategyWeb AnalyticsStrategic PartnershipsNew MediaWordPressSEO

From Michael's professional profile.

Investments

Board seats

Dropbox Kalshi Reddit

Investor

Agentnoon BellabeatBishop FoxBotcoBrexCaptain 401kClipboard HealthConcourse Cruise Dripos EasyPostEquipment ShareFigmaGive CampusLugg Mattermost Motion Nash Panorama EducationPayFazzPaystack Pine Park HealthPlayers LoungePromiseReach LabsReady Retell AI Rippling Scentbird Simple AISoftmaxSquireSuperorder Vitable Health Vori Wave yhangry

Per the investor's own website.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Michael Seibel

Y Combinator ex CEO Michael Seibel – What Makes the Top 10% f Founders Different?

Finance & Tech Career Advice

Signs Your Company Is Recovering From ZIRP

Dalton and Michael

How To Live In The Social Media Matrix

Dalton and Michaeel

How To Influence Decision Makers

Dalton and Michael

Co-Founder Equity Mistakes to Avoid

Startup School

The Problem With Startup "Experts"

Dalton and Michael

6 more appearances

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel2024-07-19
Y Combinator’s Michael Seibel: How African Founders Can Build Global Tech Companies2024-06-20
What Is ZIRP And How Did It Poison Startups?2024-06-20
How New Technology Creates New Businesses2024-05-24
When Should You Trust Your Gut?2024-04-17
Why Founders Shouldn't Think Like Investors2024-03-21

Writing

All posts ↗

Michael Seibel draws on his Justin.tv, Socialcam, and Twitch experiences to advise startup founders, covering how to avoid wasteful pre-launch arguments, why product market fit matters more than raising money, and how Y Combinator has evolved since 2007.

The AM/PM Debate - or How not to be an idiot CEO2019-11-19

Recounts a two-hour argument over a trivial chat feature at Justin.tv to illustrate why founders, especially non-technical ones, should avoid turning small pre-launch decisions into unproductive fights.

YC Has Changed2018-09-28

Compares Y Combinator in 2007 to today across advice, alumni network, fundraising, hiring, and deal terms, arguing the program offers more value now despite larger batch sizes.

Why Does Your Company Deserve More Money?2018-07-09

Uses the author's Justin.tv experience to argue founders without product market fit should cut costs and reach break-even rather than assume more funding will save them.

Colleagues at Pi Campus

Alex Waibel

Inventor of time-delay networks, serial entrepreneur and AI professor at Pi Campus

Ariel Poler

Angel investor, Human Augmentation syndicate co-founder at Pi Campus

Daniele Meini

Angel investor, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers at Pi Campus

Fabio

Investor at Pi Campus

George

Investor at Pi Campus

Gianluca Granero

Investor at Pi Campus

Hassan

Investor at Pi Campus

Isabelle Andrieu

Investor at Pi Campus

Frequently asked questions

Who is Michael Seibel?: Michael Seibel spent more than 12 years at Y Combinator, serving as CEO of its accelerator and as a group partner who worked with over a thousand startups, before transitioning to partner emeritus in 2025 with an eye toward public-sector work. He co-founded Justin.tv, which became Twitch, and Socialcam, and became one of the most recognizable startup advisors of his generation through YC's videos and office hours.
Where does Michael Seibel work?: Michael Seibel is Founder of Michael Seibel and Twitch co-founder and Y Combinator CEO at Pi Campus and Board director at Kalshi and Director; Partner Emeritus, Y Combinator; Chair, Talent and Compensation Committee at Dropbox.
What does Michael Seibel invest in?: Michael Seibel invests in AI & Machine Learning, Deep Tech, Developer Tools, Fintech, Hardware, SaaS.
What check size does Michael Seibel write?: Michael Seibel typically writes checks of $150K.
What companies did Michael Seibel found?: Michael Seibel founded Michael Seibel.
What boards does Michael Seibel sit on?: Michael Seibel holds tracked board seats at Dropbox, Kalshi, Reddit.
What companies has Michael Seibel invested in?: Investments tracked here include Agentnoon, Bellabeat, Bishop Fox, Botco, Brex, Captain 401k, Clipboard Health, Concourse, Cruise, Dripos, EasyPost, Equipment Share, and 25 more.
Where did Michael Seibel go to school?: Michael Seibel studied at Yale University (BA, Political Science).
What has Michael Seibel written?: Michael Seibel has 3 tracked posts on michaelseibel.com, including "The AM/PM Debate - or How not to be an idiot CEO", "YC Has Changed", "Why Does Your Company Deserve More Money?".
What podcasts and interviews feature Michael Seibel?: Tracked appearances include "Y Combinator ex CEO Michael Seibel – What Makes the Top 10% f Founders Different?", "Signs Your Company Is Recovering From ZIRP", "How To Live In The Social Media Matrix", and 9 more.