You want an idea that not many other people are working on, and it's okay if it doesn't sound big at first.

If you look at successful pivots, they almost always are a pivot into something that the founder wanted. Not a random made up idea.

You need someone that behaves like James Bond more than you need someone that is an expert in some particular domain.

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

In general don't start a startup you're not willing to work on for ten years.

What you want to do is innovate on your product and your business model, management structure is not where I would try and innovate.

Share results (financial and key metrics) with the company every month.