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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.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Case
Focussed
Failure
Conferences
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Advise
Company
Post
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Whatever
Fund
Common
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Firing people is one of the worst parts of running a company. Actually in my own experience, I think it is the worst.
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... fire fast when it's not working. It's better for the company, it's also better for the employee.
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Obsess about the quality of the product.
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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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Starting a business is like riding a wave between life and death. If you can hang on long enough, you're bound to succeed
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As the company grows and about this 25 or so employee size, your main job shifts from building a great product to building a great company.
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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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... and you can only have 2 or 3 things everyday, because everything else will just come at you you know fires in a day.
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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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A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.
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You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative.
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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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Most founders have not managed people before, and they certainly haven't managed managers.
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In general, it's best if you're building something that you yourself need.
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... the thing we see wrong with YC apps most frequently, is that people have not thought about the market first and what people want first.
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When lack of structure fails, it fails all at once. What works totally fine from 0-20 employees, is disastrous at 30.
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One thing that founders forget is that after they hire employees, they have to retain them.
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Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.
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... how much time you should be spending on hiring? The answer is 0 or 25 percent.
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Growth solves (nearly) all problems
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