I'd actually argue forging a company is far more harder than forging a product

The companies I have traditionally seen do best over the long term had lead investors for their seed rounds

You need to simplify the value proposition in the company's metrics for success on a whiteboard.

The key to culture is it's a framework for making decisions. And if it's baked into your culture, people learn how to make decisions across that culture without you ever saying anything. You never have to really do anything except watch and promote and move people around.

Every good startup is a cult. And it's really hard to create a cult if you are sharing space with people. Because a cult means you think you are better than every other startup, you have a special way of doing things that's better than anyone else in the world.

There are three things you need to do as a CEO-founder. Think strategically, drive design, and drive technology. Some people who are really good at one can build a pretty foundational company. Most people who are very successful are good at two. But Jack is the only person in the Valley I've met who's all three. He's a first-rate strategist, a first-rate designer, and a first-rate technologist.

Building a company is basically taking all the irrational people you know... Putting them in one building and then living with them 12 hrs a day at least.