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The most important thing that I learned is that you have to be yourself. There is no formula. There's no right way to do it. You have to figure out what is authentic for you.

leadership— The Hard Thing About Hard Things, 2014
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There are no shortcuts to knowledge, especially knowledge gained from personal experience. Following conventional wisdom and relying on shortcuts can be worse than knowing nothing at all.

investing— The Hard Thing About Hard Things, 2014
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The struggle is not failure but it causes failure. Especially if you are weak. Always if you are weak.

entrepreneurship— The Hard Thing About Hard Things, 2014
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A company without a culture is a company without a soul. Culture is not about perks or parties — it's what you do when no one is watching.

culture— What You Do Is Who You Are, 2019
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In my experience as CEO, I found that the most important decisions tested my courage far more than my intelligence.

leadership— The Hard Thing About Hard Things, 2014
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The problem with following conventional wisdom in a startup is that a startup's situation is almost never conventional.

startups— a16z blog, 2012