High Signal Podcasts Evidence ledger
Method
Browse
← Back to evidence

Evidence receipt / uncertainty

Published · transcript-backed

Dalton Caldwell: uncertainty

18 Apr 2024 Lenny's Podcast Lessons from 1,000+ YC startups: Resilience, tar pit ideas, pivoting, more | Dalton Caldwell (Y Combinator, Managing Director)

“There's only so many years we get to have our careers, doing something that makes you miserable and the only reason you're doing it is to avoid losing face and you know in your heart is not going to work, I don't know, that seems like a pretty big opportunity cost on literally your life.”

— Dalton Caldwell

Source trail

Everything needed to verify it.

Speaker
Dalton Caldwell
Attribution
Verified speaker
Claim type
uncertainty
Recorded
18 Apr 2024
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

Transcript context

…Yeah. This is actually very practical and great advice. This is something people can sense, "Okay, am I actually enjoying this? Do I want to keep doing this?" Versus, "Man, such a drag that I have to keep running this startup." Is there anything you could say to folks that are just like, "I can't stop because it'll feel like I failed"? If it's really going poorly or if you're having a really bad time, it's no big deal. No one will remember that you shut down your company probably in 10 years or 20 years time. As long as you have integrity, as long as you're an honest person, as long as you handle yourself well through good times and bad, people will remember you fondly. We have such a short life. There's only so many years we get to have our careers, doing something that makes you miserable and the only reason you're doing it is to avoid losing face and you know in your heart is not going to work, I don't know, that seems like a pretty big opportunity cost on literally your life. Right? Yeah, that's exactly what I tell founders all the time. Life is short. There's no need to force yourself to work on this. And I really like your point of just, is it still enjoyable? Do you like working with your founders? Following this thread of the struggle training a little bit more, one of the founders that worked with you during YC, his name is Danny Alberson, shared a story how during one of the batches of YC, one of the founders raised his hand and asked you, "What is wrong with our batch? Everyone is struggling, nobody is doing well. What have we done wrong?" And you shared a story about Brex that made everyone feel a little better. Does that ring a bell and if so, can you share that?…

Stored transcript either side of the excerpt. The highlighted words are the published quote; the surrounding text is unedited source, never generated.

Search evidence