People early in their career should learn from computer science: meander some in your walk (especially early on), randomly drop yourself into new parts of the terrain, and when you find the highest hill, don’t waste any more time on the current hill no matter how much better the next step up might appear .

Recently I’ve gotten a lot of inbound from new grads asking for career advice, so I wrote down a list of things I wish I’d internalized sooner. The key thing: being precocious has an expiration date. Threading the note in its entirety: https://t.co/dW7DAcmyng

What I Wish Someone Had Told Me

1. Optimism, obsession, self-belief, raw horsepower and personal connections are how things get started.


2. Cohesive teams, the right combination of calmness and urgency, and unreasonable commitment are how things get finished. Long-term orientation is in short supply; try not to worry about what people think in the short t

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The Problem with the "Right Idea"

The myth of the “right idea” is one of the biggest traps for aspiring founders. People imagine startups begin with a lightning bolt of inspiration: the one perfect idea that changes everything. But that’s not how it works.

Ideas evolve. Airbnb didn’t start as a marketplace for lodging—it was a website to rent air ma... See more

All of my startup experience summed up: The right person with the precise right focus and completely unshackled is 10x as effective as 10 pretty smart people working hard in a vague general direction