No matter how much heart and hard work you throw into something, no matter how good your intentions, no matter how strong your convictions—if real customers don’t want what you’re offering, you’ll go out of business.

a product feature that converts onetime customers into repeat customers is more valuable than one that brings in onetime customers.

But Kevin still wanted to be helpful. He noticed that Square didn’t have a video demo on their website showing how the device worked. So on his own he put together a high-definition video showing off the device and then shared the video with Jack just as an fyi. Impressed, Jack turned around and invited Kevin to invest in the “full” Series A round

A strong market can overcome almost any deficiency in a startup, at least for a time.

“There is no I in team” is wrong, too. There is an I in team. A team is made up of individuals with different strengths and abilities.

Passions Aren’t Found—They Emerge

Slack (Searchable Log of All Communications and Knowledge).

“Get out of the weeds. Go where there’s fast growth, because fast growth creates all opportunities.”

Companies that employ part-time consultants and for-hire workers often seek specialists with very specific skills whom they can briefly “plug in” to a broader overall project. It’s easier to plug in a specialist whose role and value-add are clear than it is with a generalist whose exact roles and responsibilities may be more ambiguous.