It's upsetting to me that you have to be a millionaire to invest in your friend's start-up.

Don't try to solve the entire problem on day one.

Many artists stick to making and hire a manager to focus on their business. Artists that build websites and mobile apps can do that, too.

Customers are a great way to finance a business for many reasons. First, customer financing is typically non dilutive. They want something from you other than equity in your business. Customers also help you fit your product to the market. And customers will help debug and improve the quality of the product.

Building product is not about having a large team to manage. It is about having a small team with the right people on it.

It's upsetting to me that you have to be a millionaire to invest in your friend's start-up.

When my dad was in Vietnam, we lost a parent for a year. Thank God we didn't lose a parent for good.