Dalton Caldwell

Dalton Caldwell is Co-Founder and General Partner of Standard Capital, an AI-native Series A firm he launched in 2025 with Bryan Berg and Paul Buchheit. He previously served as a Managing Partner at Y Combinator from 2011 to 2025, where he worked 25 batches and advised over 1,000 companies. He is best known for coining the concept of "tar pit ideas" — startup ideas that receive initial positive feedback but lead to long-term challenges — and for his extensive mentorship of YC founders through more than 6,500 office hours. He holds a B.S. in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University and was previously co-founder and CEO of imeem and App.net.