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.

You have to be decisive. Indecisiveness is a startup killer.

So you should always stay on top of people's vesting schedules.

The role of the board is advice and consent. If the CEO does not lay out a clear strategy and tries to get the board to set one, it will usually end in disaster.

A related advantage of mission oriented ideas, is that you yourself will be dedicated to them.

If you want something in a deal, just ask for it.

The track record for founders that don't already know each other is really bad.