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The natural state of a start-up is to die most start-ups require multiple miracles in their early days to escape this fate.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Dies
Multiple
State
Require
Natural
Escape
States
Miracle
Fate
Early
Days
Start
Miracles

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Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies.
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One thing I tell startups all the time is that the best way to grow is to make their product better.
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Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.
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Founders are usually very stingy with equity to employees and very generous with equity to investors. I think this is totally backwards.
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So it's worth some real up front time to think through the long term value and the defensibility of the business.
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Startups are very hard no matter what you do you may as well go after a big opportunity.
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Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers.
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Most good founders that I know at any given time have a set of small overarching goals for the company that everybody in the company knows.
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The best ideas often look terrible at the beginning the truly good ideas, don't seem like they're worth stealing.
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If it works out, you're going to be working on this for 10 years.
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In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
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As you grow, it feels hopelessly corporate but it really is worth putting in place these compensation bands.
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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.
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Growth and momentum are what a startup lives on and you always have to focus on maintaining these.
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Ideas by themselves are not worth anything, only executing well is what creates value.
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You're saying no ninety-seven times out of a hundred, and most founders find they have to make a very conscious effort to do this.
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Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans, but they never quite make a decision.
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You need to figure out what the 2 or 3 most important things are, and then just do those.
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In the beginning of a company, there is no management and this actually works really well.
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Press releases are easier to write than code, and that is still easier than making a great product.
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