“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,” Michael shared on Twitter. “It also means that the W25 batch was my last batch funding new YC companies.”
Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator, confirmed the news in a company blog post, noting that while Seibel will no longer be involved in the day-to-day operations or directly working on funding new startups, “he’ll continue to support our community in meaningful ways.” Tan praised Seibel’s contributions, stating, “He’s been instrumental in shaping our program, our culture, and our values.”
Notably, Seibel had already stepped back into a less operational group partner role recently. In a YC blog post last year, he wrote that he was ready to “hand over my leadership responsibilities,” with the transition becoming “effective” after the accelerator’s winter batch of startups completed the program.
Mr. Seibel’s journey into startups began after he earned a political science degree from Yale University in 2005 and spent a year as the finance director for a US Senate campaign.
He entered the tech world as the co-founder and CEO of two YC startups, Justin.tv (which became Twitch) and Socialcam. In 2012, Socialcam was acquired by Autodesk Inc. for $60 million; in 2014, under Emmett Shear’s and Kevin Lin’s leadership, Twitch sold to Amazon for $970 million.
Seibel became YC’s first Black partner in 2014 and later served as Managing Director/ CEO from 2016 to 2024. Under his leadership, YC expanded its reach, significantly increasing diversity among its funded startups.
In 2024, Seibel stepped down as YC’s Managing Director and returned to a partner role, focusing on mentoring early-stage startups.
Now, Seibel is embarking on a new journey. “The next adventure I’m excited to pursue (after taking the summer to relax) is how I can help government better serve its citizens,” he wrote on Twitter. “Thank you to the countless friends who have been pushing me in this direction for years. Government was the passion of my youth and I’m excited to reengage.”
