Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.

It's difficult to get large groups of people, to the extreme levels of focus and productivity that you need, for a startup to be successful.

The single word that matters most I think to keep the company productive as it grows is alignment.

A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.

As the company grows and about this 25 or so employee size, your main job shifts from building a great product to building a great company.

We've seen a lot of data at YC now, and the most successful companies and the ones where the investors do the best... end up giving a lot of stock out to employees- year after year after year.

Every company has a rocky beginning.