The most important thing in venture is market size. If the market is big enough, even a B team can win. If the market is small, even the A team hits a ceiling.
I came to this country with nothing. That experience never leaves you. It makes you paranoid in a useful way — you never fully believe the success is permanent.
The best founders are missionaries, not mercenaries. Missionaries are obsessed with the problem. Mercenaries are obsessed with the exit. You can tell the difference in about ten minutes.
Speed matters in venture. Not recklessness — speed. The analysis never gets you to certainty. At some point you have to decide whether you have enough conviction to act.
Board members who are too worried about the relationship to tell a founder they're wrong are not helping that founder. They're helping themselves feel comfortable.
Focus is the hardest discipline in startups. Every founder wants to expand. My job is to keep asking: what's the one thing you do better than anyone else in the world?