I think as a rough estimate, you should aim to give about 10% of the company to the first 10 employees.

Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality.

Growth solves (nearly) all problems

It's better to have a few users love your product than for a lot of users to sort of like it.

In the early days of a startup, people's compensation is whatever you negotiate with a founder and it's all over the place.

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

So it's worth some real up front time to think through the long term value and the defensibility of the business.