The natural state of a start-up is to die; most start-ups require multiple miracles in their early days to escape this fate.

One of the great and terrible things about starting a start up is that you get no credit for trying.

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

Because so few people make an actual long term commitment to what they're building, the ones that do have a huge advantage.

You can win with the best product, the best price, or the best experience.

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

Really dig into projects people have worked on and call references; that is another thing that first time founders like to skip.