... if you talk to say any of the first 40 or 50 employees, they all feel like they were a part of the founding of the company.

In the early stage of a startup, hiring senior people is usually a mistake. You just want people that get stuff done.

The most common post YC failure case for the companies we fund, is they're incredibly focussed during YC on their company... and after they start doing a lot of other things. They advise companies, they go to conferences, whatever.

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.

You should always know how you're doing against your metrics. You should always have a weekly review meeting every week.

AirBnB spent 5 months interviewing their first employee, before they hired someone and in their first year, they only hired 2 people.

The company just needs to see you as like this maniacal execution machine.