For most of the early hires you make in a startup, experience doesn't matter very much, and you should go for aptitude.

Facebook has this famous poster that says move fast and break things. But at the same time they manage to be obsessed with quality.

The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.

Losing focus is another way that founders get off track.

One thing that founders forget is that after they hire employees, they have to retain them.

You can have a startup and one other thing, you can have a family, but you probably can't have many other things.

For most software startups, this translates to keep growing. For hardware startups, it translates to don't let your ship date slip.