#119 - Amy Buechler and Michael Seibel

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

Amy Buechler is an executive coach for startup founders.
Michael Seibel is a partner and the CEO of YC.
In this episode we talk about coaching and use examples from Michael’s time working on Justin.tv and Socialcam.
You can find Amy at her site foundercoach.io and on Twitter at @amybue.
Michael is on Twitter at @mwseibel.
The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.
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Topics
00:00 - Intro
00:41 - What is coaching?
01:11 - How is coaching different from therapy?
2:31 - What are the most common challenges founders in coaching have?
3:26 - Challenges with roles and responsibilities at Twitch
7:46 - How would Amy have coached Michael around roles and responsibilities?
9:41 - Not being disruptive as a leader
11:31 - Switching roles at Twitch
12:46 - Uneven equity splits
15:01 - Distributing and negotiating equity
21:16 - Communicating your own value
22:51 - Can there be too much communication?
24:11 - Productive arguments
28:11 - Talking about performance issues
30:16 - Setting clear goals and managing motivation
33:16 - Enjoying the work
34:01 - Conversations about runway
36:51 - Digging your company out of the grave and continuing
40:21 - Michael being against coaching initially
42:31 - How to have hard conversations
44:16 - Removing a responsibility from someone
49:51 - Returning to roles and responsibilities
50:41 - Jeanie McCallister asks - What’s the single most important piece of advice you can give a founder?