A team aligned behind a vision will move mountains. Sell them on your roadmap and don't compromise - care about the details, the fit and finish.

Letting users control your site can be terrifying at first. From day one we were asking ourselves, "What is going to be on the front page today?" You have no idea what the system will produce. But stepping back and giving consumers control is what brought more and more people to the site. They have a sense of ownership and discovery at the same time. If you give users the tools to spread and share their interests with others, they will use them to promote what is important to them.

Don't spend too much time planning, release early and often, some things will work, others won't, refine and move forward and above all forget the money, just make sure you love what you're doing.

I love well-designed products that combine form and functionality.

You don't need anyone's approval and in fact, you probably won't get it, so don't even try. Build, release and iterate. Make a list of the features you want to create over the next six months and get going! For small companies, once a week; for larger companies, maybe twice a month.

I don't do a ton of deals a year, and I really like working with startups - it's the only way I can invest. It fits my ADD brain.

Founders: there is no shame in failing, take pride in that you have the guts to try something new.