No growth hack, brilliant marketing idea, or sales team can save you long term if you don't have a sufficiently good product.

Founders need to figure out what the message of the company is going to be.

It's become popular in recent years to say that the idea doesn't matter.

The role of the board is advice and consent. If the CEO does not lay out a clear strategy and tries to get the board to set one, it will usually end in disaster.

Stay focused and don't try to do too many things at once. Care about execution quality.

The most common post YC failure case for the companies we fund, is they're incredibly focussed during YC on their company... and after they start doing a lot of other things. They advise companies, they go to conferences, whatever.

Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.