Don't let the company get distracted or excited about other things. A common mistake is that companies get excited by their own PR.

Don't let the company get distracted or excited about other things. A common mistake is that companies get excited by their own PR.

In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.

You can create value with breakthrough innovation, incremental refinement, or complex coordination. Great companies often do two of these. The very best companies do all three.

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

Stay focused and don't try to do too many things at once. Care about execution quality.

These all sounded really bad, but they turned out to be good. If they had sounded really good, there would have been too many people working on them.