- Michael Seibel is stepping down as Y Combinator group partner after a decade, transitioning to a partner emeritus role to explore government service.
- Y Combinator, celebrating its 20th anniversary, is shifting its focus to AI startups, with many founders now relying heavily on AI-generated code.
Michael Seibel is stepping down as a group partner at Y Combinator (YC) after a decade at the startup accelerator. He announced that he would transition into a partner emeritus role, shifting his focus toward government service.
“The next adventure I’m excited to pursue is how I can help the government better serve its citizens,” Seibel wrote on X.
Today after 12+ years at Y Combinator I’ll be transitioning to a Partner Emeritus position. This role allows me to continue to do office hours with the 1000+ companies I’ve worked with in the past decade while giving me the free time to explore new adventures. It also means…
— Michael Seibel (@mwseibel) March 20, 2025
Seibel, who joined YC in 2013, has held various leadership roles, including founder, group partner, managing director, and CEO. Before his tenure at YC, he co-founded Justin.tv, which later became Twitch and was acquired by Amazon in 2014 for $970 million. He also co-founded Socialcam, which Autodesk purchased in 2012 for $60 million.
YC President and CEO Garry Tan highlighted Seibel’s contributions in a blog post, noting his impact on YC’s values, programs, and support for founders.
Seibel’s departure comes as YC marks its 20th anniversary. Founded on March 11, 2005, by Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Trevor Blackwell, and Robert Tappan Morris, the accelerator has played a significant role in early-stage startup development. It has supported companies such as Stripe, Airbnb, and Reddit, with its alumni collectively generating over $800 billion in market value.
YC also recently hosted its Winter 2025 Demo Day, where 160 startups presented their innovations. The accelerator has been shifting its focus from funding internet startups to investing in artificial intelligence (AI).
Jared Friedman, a group partner at YC, noted the increasing role of AI in startup development.
“One-quarter of the YC founders admitted that over 95% of their codebase was AI-generated,” Friedman said.
He emphasized that many of these founders, who would have previously built their products manually, now rely on AI for much of the development work.
With Seibel’s exit and an increasing emphasis on AI, YC continues to evolve, reflecting broader trends in the startup ecosystem.
Edited by Harshajit Sarmah
