Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers. It's easy to get sucked into an infrastructure rewrite death spiral.

There are exceptions of course, but most companies start with a great idea - not a pivot.

Why couldn't it have been done 2 years ago, and why will 2 years in the future be too late?

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.

Momentum and growth are the lifeblood of startups. This is probably in the top three secrets of executing well.

The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.

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