YC on why founders get bad advice (and the fix)

This article summarizes an episode of Dalton + Michael’s video series featuring Y Combinator partners Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel.

Photo credit: Y Combinator

Y Combinator partners Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel have seen a harmful pattern in startup advice. Founders often want praise, not honest advice, during meetings. This problem wastes time and stops advisors from fixing a startup’s biggest problems.

Asking for praise, not help

Founders often go into meetings with advisors after they have already made a decision. This puts advisors in a bad position. They have to guess the meeting’s purpose instead of helping solve problems.

Advisors know when a founder isn’t being direct
Seibel says, “Look, let’s be real. Is what’s going on here that you’ve already decided that you’re going to [take the acquisition offer]? You just want to tell me about it in a roundabout way and you want me to be excited for you. Or do you not want to do it and you just need the pep talk that it’s a good idea to not take it?”

Looking for agreement wastes everyone’s time
“We have this concept in YC called shopping for advice,” Seibel notes. “If you already know what you want to do, step one isn’t to go talk to a bunch of advisors and find one who agrees with you. Just do the thing.”

The hidden problem

Wanting praise creates a bigger problem. By trying to get a “yes,” founders often hide the problems in their company until it is too late for a useful talk.

The biggest news often comes up at the last minute
Caldwell states, “And then what they’ll do is they’ll bring it up in the final two minutes. They’ll be like, ‘Oh, by the way, three of the four founders are leaving.’ You know, they just slip it in at the very end.”

This forces advisors to ignore problems that could kill the company
Seibel explains this dynamic, “‘Hey, we’ve been shot eight places. There’s a hole in our aorta. Can we talk about the sprained ankle?’ Why are we even talking about this? Let’s talk about the important thing, not the unimportant.'”

A plan to get real advice

Hiding problems leads to bad results. To get good advice, founders need a plan that treats advisors less like therapists and more like paid experts.

Seibel and Caldwell suggest a method for managing experts, comparing it to how you work with lawyers and startup advisors.

• Know what you want from the meeting.
• Give clear limits to focus the talk.
• Share your three biggest and hardest problems.
• Be honest about the situation.

The founder’s job is to guide the expert
Seibel advises, “Tell the lawyer what you want and give them constraints. And then ask for legal advice… You’re basically the boss of the lawyer. They’re service providers.”

The advice you get is only as good as the information you give
Seibel argues, “Honesty is so important. The quality of what you give us is the only factor in the quality of what we give you back… if you type in a really generic, lame prompt, you’re probably going to get a generic, lame answer.”

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