I clarified how I handle toxic team members and what truly motivates people beyond cash.
I fire employees when every decision is wrong, the problem has persisted weeks or months, and everyone can feel the misfit.
Motivation ≠ salary; autonomy, mastery, and purpose drive long‑term performance.
4-year vesting with a 1-year cliff is the standard in Silicon Valley.
If someone leaves after 1 year, they keep 25%.
Give ~10% of the company to your first 10 employees.
Say no 97 out of 100 times.
If your viral coefficient is 0.99, you’ll die. If it’s 1.01, you’ll grow forever.
Incentives should pour fuel on a fire.
Bookingcom / Expedia charge 15-25% fees.
I noted that Paul Graham ran Y Combinator for 9 years.
I remembered the warning: “Unless you’re the kind of person who gets off on fear.”
I recorded that most hackathon winners couldn’t get 100 users even when the prize depended on it.
These observations reinforced my decisions to delay founding until I have “gravity,” reject cosmetic “playing‑house” signals, and prioritize deep user discovery above fundraising tricks.
If your startup is going to succeed anyway, but you’re intolerable to work with — maybe skip it.
YC probably helps.
Read the essay Do Things That Don’t Scale.
You’ll know when it takes over your life.
“This is not The Office.”
tokens for acquisition is so 2021
Business school was built to train managers — the officer corps of large companies.
“Don’t try to think of startup ideas. Make your brain the kind that has them unconsciously.”
Don’t build a startup to be cool.
In April 2025 I recorded a series of informal LinkedIn notes that blend a “value‑travel” metaphor, harsh coaching advice, and concrete operating rules for early‑stage founders. I outline how trusted referrals, early‑user shipping, and trust‑latency shape my playbook, and I record several memorable quotes that guide my decisions.
Referrals only hold weightage when
you <> referrer have trust and history of formal work together, being in the trenches
referrer <> VC/partner/etc have trust
Referrals have transferable properties.
Write the intro email for them
Ben Horowitz once said, “The first rule of introductions is: make it easy for the person making the intro.”
Warm intro > cold email
Referral > ad campaign
Trusted voice > your landing page
to remove latency between two human beings is called building trust
Destiny/Luck is just math we haven't understood yet