Inside Standard Capital: New $425M Series A Fund, Explained

1. DADalton0:00

   Think about how much of our job at YC has been-

2. MIMichael0:01

   Yes

3. DADalton0:01

   ... decoding VC speak-

4. MIMichael0:04

   [laughs]

5. DADalton0:04

   ... into English.

6. MIMichael0:05

   [laughs] Yes.

7. DADalton0:06

   Any words that aren't yes-

8. MIMichael0:08

   [laughs]

9. DADalton0:08

   ... is a no.

10. MIMichael0:09

    Yeah. [laughs]

11. DADalton0:10

    But, like, with all this, like, extra accoutrements on the edges. If you get an email and there's like lots of words in it, that's a no.

12. MIMichael0:15

    Yes. [upbeat music] Hello, this is Dalton plus Michael, and today we're gonna talk about Standard Capital, the new fund by Dalton and PB. As a kind of 30-second preview, why don't you tell us a little bit about, um, how you decided to start this fund, and why is it different?

13. DADalton0:42

    I think to start with, um, as you know, I give a lot of advice over the years as a YC partner on pivots.

14. MIMichael0:49

    Yes.

15. DADalton0:49

    And one of the things I th- I try to do when giving someone advice about a pivot is I try to imagine of all ideas this person could work in in the world-

16. MIMichael0:57

    Mm

17. DADalton0:57

    ... where do they have the most unfair advantages? Where do they have the best network? Like, I believe that every person has, like, a perfect idea for them, and that my job is to try to pull out of any founder what their ideal idea is.

18. MIMichael1:09

    I have stolen that line.

19. DADalton1:11

    [laughs] Like, maybe 100 times.

20. MIMichael1:13

    Yeah. [laughs]

21. DADalton1:14

    [laughs] Maybe, maybe 100 times.

22. MIMichael1:16

    It's helpful, especially in the sea of, "Well, I could do anything."

23. DADalton1:19

    Yeah.

24. MIMichael1:20

    Yes.

25. DADalton1:20

    There's, there's too many choices. There's-

26. MIMichael1:21

    Too many choices

27. DADalton1:22

    ... um, but if you think about it this way, everyone has one really-

28. MIMichael1:26

    Yes, yes

29. DADalton1:26

    ... uh, good idea. And so-

30. MIMichael1:27

    By the way, I love that too, because it's kind of like in a really hard competition, you wanna play games you're good at.

Episode duration: 35:09