Many of the best YC companies have had phenomenally small number of employees for their first year, sometimes none besides the founders.

No matter what you choose, build stuff and be around smart people.

You can create value with breakthrough innovation, incremental refinement, or complex coordination. Great companies often do two of these. The very best companies do all three.

Founders are usually very stingy with equity to employees and very generous with equity to investors. I think this is totally backwards.

Obsess about the quality of the product.

In general don't start a startup you're not willing to work on for ten years.

Everyone starting a startup for the first time is scared, and everyone feels like a bit of an imposter.

No growth hack, brilliant marketing idea, or sales team can save you long term if you don't have a sufficiently good product.

You have to be decisive. Indecisiveness is a startup killer.

Execution gets divided into two key questions: 1) can you figure out what to do and 2) can you get it done.

If you don't need it yourself, and you're building something that someone else needs, realize you're at a big disadvantage.

Your education is important because with only a few words you can show an employer the depth of your potential.

I know that the theory of evolution is true

Be brave enough to listen to your heart, be bold enough to hope for the best.

The really happy man is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion go hand in hand.

When you are part of a megachurch you have no responsibility to anybody else.

The challenge is always to find the ultimate in the ordinary horseshit.

Peace is not just the absence of war. Like a cathedral, peace must be constructed patiently and with unshakable faith.

When you really want to show some love, keep the flowers and say it with spaghetti.

My code of life and my personal bushido is honour, respect, loyalty, courage and surrender.