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.

Because so few people make an actual long term commitment to what they're building, the ones that do have a huge advantage.

In the early stage of a startup, hiring senior people is usually a mistake. You just want people that get stuff done.

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

For most of the early hires you make in a startup, experience doesn't matter very much, and you should go for aptitude.

You need this sort of a tailwind to make a startup successful.

In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.