# Why Founders Shouldn't Think Like Investors

**Author:** Dalton Caldwell, Michael Seibel
**Type:** Video
**URL:** https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Kk-why-founders-shouldn-t-think-like-investors
**YouTube ID:** SMi3JO-hsyY

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It’s easy to analyze your way out of taking the first step. It’s something we see a lot, particularly when founders try
to choose what to build based on what they think VCs will like.

These founders will find a great problem that they could solve, only to convince themselves it’s not “venture scale.”
Before they’ve written a line of code or even talked to a single person about it, they’re trying to predict market
opportunities and exit strategies a decade down the road. That’s just not how early stage startups work.

In this episode of [Dalton & Michael](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/carousel/Dalton%20&%20Michael), we’ll talk
about the risks of “thinking like a VC”, how to know when you’re stuck in this mindset, and how to unlearn it (spoiler:
stop reading so much about who’s raising what.) We’ll also cover a short list of things that we’ve found ***actually
matter*** when starting a company — it’s simpler than a lot of people think.

\- Dalton

