One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit.

There's no way I know, to get through the pain of a startup without belief that the mission really matters.

The cost of getting an early hire wrong is really high.

One of the pieces of advice that we give at YC is: try to work together on a project rather than just doing an interview.

A third advantage of mission oriented companies, is that people outside the company are more willing to help you.

If you pivot, do it fully and with conviction. The worst thing is to try to do a bit of the old and the new-it's hard to kill your babies.

One of the biggest advantages that start ups have is execution speed and you have to have this relentless operating rhythm.