Why I'm Joining Y-Combinator as a Visiting Partner
Sharing knowledge is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have.
Growing, building, and selling a startup can be a tumultuous, traumatic odyssey. If you can help another fellow founder get through that journey, it’s worth it. Helping others brings a feeling of gratification that is very hard to match, which is why I’m joining Y-Combinator as a Visiting Partner!
At Arcus, we travel through the entire startup journey—the highs and lows—and I can only hope that I can help other founders get through it in the most efficient way possible.
What I’m Looking Forward To
One of YC’s biggest advantages is that, unlike other accelerators or even VCs, all YC partners are ex-founders themselves. What better coach can you have to win a race than someone who just finished that race?
When I was going through YC, I remember I could talk to Visiting Partners about things that I couldn’t talk about with VCs or even my co-founders. Sometimes, a little bit of guidance makes all the difference. As a Visiting Partner, I'm looking forward to watching founders thrive and grow and seeing their entire story arc from inception to exit.
When we went through Y Combinator in 2013, we were fortunate enough—blessed actually—to have Michael Seibel and Garry Tan as Visiting Partners. They helped us go through the trenches and ultimately succeed, thrive, and exit. I can only hope I can follow in their footsteps and provide some of the value to other founders that they provided for us.
Secondly, I'm looking forward to learning. Over the years I’ve learned that one of the most efficient ways of achieving long-term success is by putting yourself in the right room. If you surround yourself with people who are smarter and more successful than you, then you’ll become smarter and more successful too, just by virtue of osmosis.
YC is arguably the most successful accelerator and most successful venture capital firm in history. So I'm just looking forward to learning from the best. It kind of feels like I’m in the lineup for the Yankees on opening day—it's honestly a dream come true.
