What Dalton Caldwell thinks about startups
American technologist; founder of imeem and App.net, managing director and later partner emeritus at Y Combinator, and founder of Standard Capital.
Dalton Caldwell did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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6 dated positions, 2019 to 2024, in their own words. Our reading of what Dalton Caldwell has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsOrganizational dysfunction is customarily tolerated as a "scaling tax", but anyone on the front lines of running startups witnessed the dysfunction go exponential during the ZIRP era.
- 6 months earlier
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Their wordsWhen a startup is competing against a large competitor, they aren't competing with the *entire* company, they are likely competing with some PM focused on internal politics/career progression.
- 12 months earlier
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Their wordsIt's tempting to overestimate the transferability of skills developed within a large corporate environment to early stage startups.
- 8 months earlier
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Their wordsInvestors or advisors on a cap table can’t infuse a company with product market fit by their very presence.
- 3 years earlier
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Their wordsIt seems that optimism, rather than money, is the fuel that startups at the earliest stages run on.
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Their wordsI have seen examples of startups successfully recovering from almost every kind of problem (i.e. no $$$/bad idea/team issues) *other* than founders losing hope/becoming cynical.