How To Build A Startup Brand

Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss how founders should build a startup brand, and what most startups get wrong about branding. Discussion includes: what isn't brand building (spamming, press, speaking slots, stunts, etc), what is brand building (the service you provide to your customers), word of mouth, why you can't hire someone to build your brand, delivering on a promise, how Reddit built their brand based on what the founder loved, how Twitch built a brand not lying to their users, Airbnb brand and logo early days, Anthropic choosing Claude, Kalshi not changing their name, mistaking brand techniques from other businesses, why founders should define what they want to be great at and figure out how to deliver it, be skeptical about your product even if users say it's great, when to change your company name, and why internal politics can drive brand changes. – Standard Capital is the AI-native Series A fund. Learn more at standardcap.com – About Dalton: Dalton Caldwell is Co-Founder and Partner of Standard Capital. He spent 12 years at Y Combinator, where he served as Managing Partner, worked across 25 YC batches, and advised more than 1,000 startups. His investments include Whatnot, Brex, GitLab, PostHog, Retool, Rappi, Razorpay, and Oklo. Before becoming an investor, Dalton founded imeem and App.net. About Michael: Michael Seibel is a Partner Emeritus at Y Combinator, where he served as a group partner and leader of the early stage accelerator from 2014 - 2024. Michael also serves on the board of three companies: Reddit, Dropbox, and Kalshi. He moved to the bay area in 2006, and was a co-founder and CEO of two Y Combinator startups Justin.tv/Twitch (2007 - 2011) and Socialcam (2011 - 2012). In 2012 Socialcam sold to Autodesk Inc. for $60m and in 2014, under the leadership of Emmett Shear (CEO) and Kevin Lin (COO) Twitch sold to Amazon for $970m. – Are you an AI builder? Check out StandardDB. Discover offers, credits, tools, and partner programs from the StandardDB ecosystem.

Michael SeibelhostDalton Caldwellhost

Aug 31, 202614mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: August 31, 2026
Duration: 14m
Channel: Dalton + Michael
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss how founders should build a startup brand, and what most startups get wrong about branding. Discussion includes: what isn't brand building (spamming, press, speaking slots, stunts, etc), what is brand building (the service you provide to your customers), word of mouth, why you can't hire someone to build your brand, delivering on a promise, how Reddit built their brand based on what the founder loved, how Twitch built a brand not lying to their users, Airbnb brand and logo early days, Anthropic choosing Claude, Kalshi not changing their name, mistaking brand techniques from other businesses, why founders should define what they want to be great at and figure out how to deliver it, be skeptical about your product even if users say it's great, when to change your company name, and why internal politics can drive brand changes. – Standard Capital is the AI-native Series A fund. Learn more at standardcap.com – About Dalton: Dalton Caldwell is Co-Founder and Partner of Standard Capital. He spent 12 years at Y Combinator, where he served as Managing Partner, worked across 25 YC batches, and advised more than 1,000 startups. His investments include Whatnot, Brex, GitLab, PostHog, Retool, Rappi, Razorpay, and Oklo. Before becoming an investor, Dalton founded imeem and App.net. About Michael: Michael Seibel is a Partner Emeritus at Y Combinator, where he served as a group partner and leader of the early stage accelerator from 2014 - 2024. Michael also serves on the board of three companies: Reddit, Dropbox, and Kalshi. He moved to the bay area in 2006, and was a co-founder and CEO of two Y Combinator startups Justin.tv/Twitch (2007 - 2011) and Socialcam (2011 - 2012). In 2012 Socialcam sold to Autodesk Inc. for $60m and in 2014, under the leadership of Emmett Shear (CEO) and Kevin Lin (COO) Twitch sold to Amazon for $970m. – Are you an AI builder? Check out StandardDB. Discover offers, credits, tools, and partner programs from the StandardDB ecosystem.

SPEAKERS

Michael Seibel
host
YC group partner and cofounder of Justin.tv/Twitch with extensive startup operating experience.
Dalton Caldwell
host
Y Combinator partner and startup founder/investor focused on early-stage company building.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Dalton + Michael, featuring Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell, How To Build A Startup Brand explores brand is built by product trust, not logos or agencies Seibel and Caldwell argue that startup brand is primarily created by customers’ repeated experiences of a product that consistently delivers on its promise, not by PR, stunts, or hiring a branding agency.

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