One of the pieces of advice that we give at YC is: try to work together on a project rather than just doing an interview.
You have to be intense. This only comes from the CEO, this only comes from the founders.
I believe in fighting with investors to reduce the amount of equity they get and then being as generous as you possibly can with employees.
You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done.
Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.
Really dig into projects people have worked on and call references; that is another thing that first time founders like to skip.