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

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
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Cases
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More quotes by Sam Altman

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1 of the hardest parts about being a founder, is that there are a 100 important things competing for your attention each day.
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You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done.
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I really believe that the single hardest thing in business is building a company that does repeatable innovation... and just has this ongoing culture of excellence as it grows.
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Momentum and growth are the lifeblood of startups. This is probably in the top three secrets of executing well.
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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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Everyone starting a startup for the first time is scared, and everyone feels like a bit of an imposter.
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The biggest PR hack you can do, is not hire a PR firm.
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Founders need to figure out what the message of the company is going to be.
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You cannot create a market that doesn't want to exist.
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The thing that kills startups at some level, is the founders giving up.
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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.
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A small communication breakdown is enough for everyone to be working on slightly different things. And then you loose focus.
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The most common post YC failure case for the companies we fund, is they're incredibly focussed during YC on their company... and after they start doing a lot of other things. They advise companies, they go to conferences, whatever.
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You certainly don't need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination.
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Developing a personal connection with anyone you're trying to do a big deal with is really important.
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You should think about for the next 10 years, you're going to be giving out 3-5% of the company every year.
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... but the pendulum has swung way out of whack here. A bad idea is still bad, and the pivot happy world we're in today feels suboptimal.
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Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
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For most software startups, this translates to keep growing. For hardware startups, it translates to don't let your ship date slip.
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Most startups are not nearly focussed enough. They work hard...maybe, but they don't work hard on the right things.
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