Talk to users, always. Focus on 10% of the most important features
Conferences, dinners and meetups with VC are potential distractions (fake work). Focus on 2 things: Talk to users and Build a product.
Most founders don’t realize that they get to choose customers as much as customers get to choose them. Recruiting 10 customers who have a burning problem is much better than 1000 customers who have a passing annoyance. Some customers can cost way more than they provide in either revenue or learning.
Do less, but really well. Choose one or two metrics and become a master on them.
Stay sane
The Pocket Guide of Essential YC Advice
Launch now
Build something people want
Do things that don't scale
Find the 90 / 10 solution
Find 10-100 customers who love your product
All startups are badly broken at some point
Write code - talk to users
"It’s not your money"
Growth is the result of a great product not the precursor
Don’t scale your team/product until you have built something people want
Valuation is not equal to success or even probability of success
Avoid long negotiated deals with big customers if you can
Avoid big company corporate development queries - they will only waste time
Avoid conferences unless they are the best way to get customers
Pre-product market fit - do things that don’t scale: remain small/nimble
Startups can only solve one problem well at any given time
Founder relationships matter more than you think
Sometimes you need to fire your customers (they might be killing you)
Ignore your competitors, you will more likely die of suicide than murder
Most companies don't die because they run out of money