Even though plans themselves are worthless, the exercise of planning is very valuable and totally missing in most startups today.

In general though, if you look at the track record of pivots, they don't become big companies.

AirBnB happened because Brian Chesky couldn't pay his rent, but did have some space.

If someone is getting every decision wrong, that's when you need to act, and at that point it'll be painfully aware to everyone.

If someone is choosing between joining McKinsey or your startup it's very unlikely they're going to work out at the startup.

If you can just learn to think about the market first, you will have a big leg up on most people starting startups.

You have to find a small market in which you can get a monopoly and then quickly expand.