There are exceptions of course, but most companies start with a great idea - not a pivot.

Companies that I've been very involved with, that have had a very bad first hire in the first 3 or so employees never recover from it.

... for the top twenty most valuable YC companies, all of them have at least two founders.

You should be able to describe any employee as an animal at what they do.

The hard part is that this is a very fine line. There's right on one side of it, and crazy on the other.

You need conviction in your own beliefs, and the willingness to ignore others naysaying.

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