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

If someone is choosing between joining McKinsey or your startup it's very unlikely they're going to work out at the startup.

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.

You need conviction in your own beliefs, and the willingness to ignore others naysaying.

You never want to be in a place where an employee has vested 3 out of the 4 years of stock and they start thinking about leaving.

There's no way I know, to get through the pain of a startup without belief that the mission really matters.

If you pivot, do it fully and with conviction. The worst thing is to try to do a bit of the old and the new-it's hard to kill your babies.