Success...is no longer a simple ascension of steps. You need to climb sideways and sometimes down, and sometimes you need to swing from the jungle gym and establish your own turf somewhere else on the playground.

The reality is: a founder is someone who deals with a ton of different headaches and no one is universally super powered.

Managing risk is a key variable, frankly, all aspects of life, business is just one of them, and one of the things that most people do in terms of managing risk, that's actually bad thinking, is they think they can manage risk to zero. Everything has some risk to it. You know, you drive your car down the street, a drunk driver may hit you. So what you're doing is you're actually trying to get to an acceptable level of risk.

Part of the entrepreneurial thing is there are lots of ways to die.

You should have an investment thesis that essentially says why you think this is potentially a good idea.

...Silicon Valley's success comes from the way its companies build alliances with their employees.

Data only exists within the framework of a vision you're building to, a hypothesis of where you're moving to.