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

... 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.

You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done.

If you're not in college and you don't know a cofounder, the next best thing I think is to go work at an interesting company.

M&A negotiations feel really fun. This is one of the biggest killers of companies, is they entertain acquisition conversations.

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.

You really want to know your cofounders for a while, ideally years.