No matter what you choose, build stuff and be around smart people.
Great execution is at least 10 times more important and a 100 times harder than a good idea.
Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. Even if you miss, you'll probably end up in a pretty good place.
One of the great and terrible things about starting a start up is that you get no credit for trying.
Unpopular but right is what you're going for.
One thing that founders forget is that after they hire employees, they have to retain them.
There are 3 things I look for when I hire people. Are they smart? Do they get things done? Do I want to spend a lot of time around them?
You can create value with breakthrough innovation, incremental refinement, or complex coordination. Great companies often do two of these. The very best companies do all three.
You only get points when you make something the market wants. So if you work really hard on the wrong things, no one will care.
It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.
In general, it's best if you're building something that you yourself need.
Study the unusually successful people you know, and you will find them imbued with enthusiasm for their work which is contagious. Not only are they themselves excited about what they are doing, but they also get you excited
Execution gets divided into two key questions: 1) can you figure out what to do and 2) can you get it done.
Obsess about the quality of the product.
It's better to have no cofounder than to have a bad cofounder, but it's still bad to be a solo founder.
If someone is difficult to talk to, if someone cannot communicate clearly, it's a real problem in terms of their likelihood to work out.
The best people know that they should join a rocketship.
Most things are not as risky as they seem.
Keep salaries low and equity high. Keep the organization as flat as you can.
No growth hack, brilliant marketing idea, or sales team can save you long term if you don't have a sufficiently good product.
You should be giving out a lot of equity to your employees.
You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative.
1 of the hardest parts about being a founder, is that there are a 100 important things competing for your attention each day.
The best source by far for hiring is people that you already know and people that other employees in the company already know.
Every first time founder waits too long, everyone hopes that an employee will turn around. But the right answer is to fire fast.
