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
• Be nice! Or at least don’t be a jerk
• Get sleep and exercise — take care of yourself