Hire the best people you can find. This was kind of easy in the early days of foursquare - we hired our friends who were really passionate about the stuff they were building. We have a superstar team not just because their resumes are so strong, but because they've been passionate, thinking about and tinkering in this space forever. Those are the people you want to surround yourself with.

What we're starting to see is that the best apps tend to be the simplest, the easiest to use and the fastest to use.

Don't let other people distract what you're doing. There's always haters.

I keep a notebook in my pocket, and I write down all the stuff we could ever do with Foursquare.

I learned early on not to feel badly about reaching out for help, and not to feel embarrassed about saying that you're in over your head.

I'm still a really shitty programmer, but I know enough to hack a prototype together.

Foursquare makes maps special. We take maps that are blank and put dots on them to help you figure out what to do.