Despite speculation, Seibel denied his decision was influenced by being overlooked for the CEO position after the departure of YC's president, Geoff Ralston, at the end of 2022. Under the new leadership of Garry Tan, YC has discontinued its continuity fund and reduced batch sizes, focusing more on mentoring founders through a rigorous application process. The current batch size is around 260, down from the previous 412 companies under Ralston's tenure.
Key takeaways:
- Michael Seibel is stepping down as the managing director of Y Combinator (YC), a role that involved selecting startup founders for the incubator's three-month program and running the boot-camp-style operation.
- Seibel will now become one of the four group leaders who each mentor a quarter of the batch of startups in the program.
- There has been a recent shift in YC's focus under its new leadership, with a refocus on the founders themselves and discontinuation of the continuity fund. The batch sizes have also been cut almost in half.
- Despite speculation, Seibel denies his move is related to being passed over for the leadership of the entire operation, stating he would have accepted the job if offered but is happy to do whatever YC needs from him.