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.

Most founders have not managed people before, and they certainly haven't managed managers.

Every thing at a startup gets modeled after the founders. Whatever the founders do becomes the culture.

Many of the best YC companies have had phenomenally small number of employees for their first year, sometimes none besides the founders.

Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.

As you grow, the productivity I think, goes down with the square of the number of employees if you don't make an effort.

One thing that often disrupts momentum and really shouldn't is competitors.