Most great companies in tech have been built by personal referrals for the first...at least 100 employees and often many more.

... but the pendulum has swung way out of whack here. A bad idea is still bad, and the pivot happy world we're in today feels suboptimal.

So it's worth some real up front time to think through the long term value and the defensibility of the business.

Every first time founder waits too long, everyone hopes that an employee will turn around. But the right answer is to fire fast.

... the thing we see wrong with YC apps most frequently, is that people have not thought about the market first and what people want first.

Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.

Don't let the company get distracted or excited about other things. A common mistake is that companies get excited by their own PR.