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Michael Seibel

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Michael Seibel
Seibel at Moscone Center in San Francisco during TechCrunch Disrupt in 2019
Seibel in 2019
Born (1982-10-07) October 7, 1982 (age 42)
New York City, U.S.
EducationYale University

Michael Seibel (born October 7, 1982) is a partner at Y Combinator and co-founder of two startups – Justin.tv/Twitch and Socialcam.[1][2] He first joined Y Combinator in 2013, advising hundreds of startups, and has been active in promoting diversity efforts among startup founders.[3][4]

Education & Startups

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Seibel was born in Brooklyn and calls New York City his favorite city.[5] He moved to East Brunswick, New Jersey as a pre-teen and is a 2000 graduate of East Brunswick High School.[6] At Yale, he majored in political science and became friends with Justin Kan. After his graduation in 2005, he worked as a finance director for Kweisi Mfume's unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 2006. He then moved to Silicon Valley to co-found Justin.tv, and became CEO at the company (from 2007 to 2011). He then became CEO of Socialcam,[7] a social video-sharing app that launched in March 2011 and sold to Autodesk for $60 million in 2012 (after existing for only 18 months). In 2014 Justin.tv was renamed Twitch Interactive[8] and later that year sold to Amazon for $970 million.[9]

Startup Mentoring, Y Combinator, Investments, Board Seats

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In 2008, Michael Seibel was a key mentor to the co-founders of Airbnb and recommended them to Y Combinator.[10][11]

In 2013 he became a part-time partner at Y Combinator and joined Y Combinator as its first African-American partner in October 2014.[12][13] He became CEO of the Y Combinator Startup Accelerator in 2016.[14] On March 15, 2024, Seibel announced that he was stepping down from his leadership role at Y Combinator after 8 years and returning to his original role of partner.[15]

Some of Seibel's personal startup investments include Cruise, Brex, Figma, Rippling, Reddit, Clipboard Health, and Promise.[16][17][18][19]

On June 10, 2020, it was announced that Seibel was named a Reddit board member, replacing Alexis Ohanian, who resigned on June 5, 2020, in response to the murder of George Floyd.[20] In his resignation announcement, Ohanian had urged Reddit's board of directors to fill his vacant board seat with a black candidate.[21][22] Reddit later named Seibel as the "first black board member in the company's history".[23]

On December 15, 2020, it was announced that Seibel was named to the Dropbox board of directors.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Emily Price (2016-03-09). "Y Combinator's Michael Seibel Says This Area Is Ripe for Disruption". Fortune.com. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  2. ^ Kolodny, Lora (13 September 2016). "With a new CEO, Y Combinator will wind down fellowships and start a MOOC". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  3. ^ "Michael Seibel LIVE Chat on Product Hunt". Product Hunt. March 8, 2016. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  4. ^ "Michael Seibel". Black Entrepreneurs & Executives Profiles. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  5. ^ CNNMoney questions with Michael Seibel https://money.cnn.com/interactive/technology/15-questions-with-michael-seibel/indetitle=15 questions with Michael Seibel. Retrieved 2019-03-27. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ^ Michael Seibel Biography, All American Speakers. Accessed February 2, 2022. "Michael Seibel was born in Brooklyn, NY, and lived there for his first nine years. His family then moved to East Brunswick, NJ, where he graduated from East Brunswick High School in 2000."
  7. ^ Jessica E. Vascellaro (2012-05-08). "New Race: Building the Instagram of Video". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  8. ^ Kumparak, Greg (5 August 2014). "Justin.tv Shuts Down To Let The Company Focus On Twitch". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  9. ^ Wilhelm, Alex (25 August 2014). "Amazon Will Buy Twitch For Over $1 Billion". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  10. ^ "Airbnb's Surprising Path to Y Combinator". Backchannel. 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2017-03-14.[permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^ Stone, Brad (January 26, 2017). "The $99 Billion Idea: How Uber and Airbnb Won". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  12. ^ Jessica Guynn (2014-12-03). "Y Combinator hires first black partner to recruit more minorities". Usatoday.com. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  13. ^ "Michael Seibel". LinkedIn. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  14. ^ Lora Kolodny (2016-09-13). "With a new CEO, Y Combinator will wind down fellowships and start a MOOC". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  15. ^ Levy, Steven (15 March 2024). "Y Combinator's Chief Startup Whisperer Is Demoting Himself". [[Wired (magazine)|]]. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  16. ^ Spangler, Todd (2020-06-10). "Reddit Names Y Combinator's Michael Seibel to Board, Replacing Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian". Variety. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  17. ^ "GM Buying Self-Driving Tech Startup for More Than $1 Billion". Fortune. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  18. ^ "Clipboard Health Secures Total of $80M in Funding, Reaching $1.3B Valuation". www.businesswire.com. 2022-04-19. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  19. ^ "Promise Co-Founder and CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins on Being a Force for Good". Y Combinator. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  20. ^ Ivan Mehta (2020-06-10). "Reddit names its first black board member, Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel". TNW. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  21. ^ Kaya Yurieff (2020-06-10). "Alexis Ohanian asked to be replaced by a black candidate on Reddit's board. Reddit listened". CNN. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  22. ^ Alexis Ohanian (2020-06-05). "Alexis Ohanian Sr. on Instagram". Instagram. Archived from the original on 2021-12-24. Retrieved June 10, 2020. I have resigned as a member of the reddit board, I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate.
  23. ^ Yurieff, Kaya; O'Brien, Sara Ashley (10 June 2020). "Alexis Ohanian asked to be replaced by a black candidate on Reddit's board. Reddit listened". CNN. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  24. ^ "Dropbox Adds Twitch Co-Founder to Board to Advise Growth". THE ORG. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
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