At YC we have this public phrase, and it's relentlessly resourceful.

The second part of how to hire: try not to.

Many of the best YC companies have had phenomenally small number of employees for their first year, sometimes none besides the founders.

You need to figure out what the 2 or 3 most important things are, and then just do those.

One thing I tell startups all the time is that the best way to grow is to make their product better.

If someone is getting every decision wrong, that's when you need to act, and at that point it'll be painfully aware to everyone.

In the beginning of a company, there is no management and this actually works really well.