A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.
It's really easy to get PR with no results & it actually feels like you're really actually cool, but in a year you'll still have nothing.
Stay focused and don't try to do too many things at once. Care about execution quality.
You need this sort of a tailwind to make a startup successful.
Whatever the founder cares about, whatever the founders think are the key goals, that's going to be what the whole company focusses on.
Keep salaries low and equity high. Keep the organization as flat as you can.