Dalton Caldwell

Dalton Caldwell

Partner Emeritus at Y Combinator

About

I’ve spent my career around startups, founders, and the challenges that come with building something from the ground up. As a Partner Emeritus at Y Combinator, I focus on sharing the experience I’ve gained with entrepreneurs, helping founders think through difficult decisions, sharpen their ideas, and build companies that can grow. For me, the most rewarding part is working with ambitious people who are willing to question assumptions, move quickly, and learn from what doesn’t work. I enjoy mentoring founders, exchanging ideas, and staying close to the startup ecosystem while continuing to learn from the next generation of builders.

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Tastemaker
Tastemaker
Gone streaking
Gone streaking

Forums

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10d ago

We removed our most productive feature and churn decreased.

I took out the most used feature in our dashboard three months back. This wasn't because it was not good; it helped people bypass the process that made them stay. The use of this particular page dropped by 40% and monthly churn decreased by the same percentage in the following quarter.

I am still skeptical about the correlation, but this got me thinking whether "engagement" data really tells us anything about value creation.

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