The startups that do well are the ones that are working all the time.
For most software startups, this translates to keep growing. For hardware startups, it translates to don't let your ship date slip.
Employees will only add more value over time.
Or a way to stay on strangers couches, that just sounds terrible all around.
The tenth social network, and limited only to college students with no money, also terrible. Myspace had won.
It's difficult to get large groups of people, to the extreme levels of focus and productivity that you need, for a startup to be successful.
Really dig into projects people have worked on and call references; that is another thing that first time founders like to skip.
We hear again and again from founders, that they wish they had waited to start a startup until they came up with an idea they really loved.
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.
A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.
A related advantage of mission oriented ideas, is that you yourself will be dedicated to them.
The best ideas often look terrible at the beginning the truly good ideas, don't seem like they're worth stealing.
The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.
You need this sort of a tailwind to make a startup successful.
The biggest PR hack you can do, is not hire a PR firm.
The way you get deals done and the way you get good terms, is to have a competitive situation.
Once your product is working, switch from not caring about this to caring about this a little bit.
M&A negotiations feel really fun. This is one of the biggest killers of companies, is they entertain acquisition conversations.
Before 20 or 25 employees, most companies are structured with everyone reporting to the founder. It's totally flat.
Most founders have not managed people before, and they certainly haven't managed managers.
Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies.
Losing focus is another way that founders get off track.
What you want to do is innovate on your product and your business model, management structure is not where I would try and innovate.
The most important thing is that there is clear reporting structure and everyone knows what it is.
You don't need to make the structure complicated, in fact you shouldn't. All you need is for every employee to know who their manager is.
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