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Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies.
If you compromise and hire someone mediocre you will always regret it.
It takes years and years, usually a decade, to create a great startup.
If you compromise and hire someone mediocre, you will always regret it.
Loopt isn't a service that keeps you locked in, staring at your screen.
The thing that kills startups at some level, is the founders giving up.
Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large competitors.
Share results (financial and key metrics) with the company every month.
Don't let yourself make excuses for not doing the things you want to do.
Remember that the idea will expand, and become more ambitious as you go.
It's become popular in recent years to say that the idea doesn't matter.
If you compromise in the first five, ten hires it might kill the company.
At the beginning, you should only hire when you have a desperate need to.
You should be able to describe any employee as an animal at what they do.
... We probably funded a rate of something like one out of ten solo teams.
So always keep momentum, it's this prime directive for managing a startup.
Everyone is looking for the hack, the secret to success without hard work.
In general, it's best if you're building something that you yourself need.
The company just needs to see you as like this maniacal execution machine.
One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit.
You can win with the best product, the best price, or the best experience.
One thing that often disrupts momentum and really shouldn't is competitors.
A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.
I grew up with a computer, and many of my friends were people I met online.
Founders need to figure out what the message of the company is going to be.
Cofounder relationships are among the most important in the entire company.
Or a way to stay on strangers couches, that just sounds terrible all around.
Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers.
You'll get more support on a hard, important, project than a derivative one.
Keep salaries low and equity high. Keep the organization as flat as you can.
In general don't start a startup you're not willing to work on for ten years.
If you go to a paintball subreddit, paintball companies can advertise to you.
In addition to relentlessly resourceful, you want a tough and a calm cofounder.
With Loopt Star, consumers get to tap interactive rewards wherever they may be.
The track record for founders that don't already know each other is really bad.
You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done.
You want to continue to be run by great products, not process for it's own sake.
For early employees you want people that have somewhat of a risk-taking attitude.
... how much time you should be spending on hiring? The answer is 0 or 25 percent.
Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.
The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.
You're either not hiring at all or it's probably your single biggest block of time.
You don't get to make their decisions but you do get to choose the decision makers.
I think you can say a lot of evil behavior by companies is short-term optimization.
AirBnB happened because Brian Chesky couldn't pay his rent, but did have some space.
In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
The Loopt mobile app is all about giving you the latest local deals and insider tips.
Ideas by themselves are not worth anything, only executing well is what creates value.
I believe in the future, and to be a good investor, you have to believe in the future.
Stay focused and don't try to do too many things at once. Care about execution quality.