There is a lot of advice here, but the part about hiring seems to me by far the most important. Firstly, it's actionable - it sets a very specific guideline to

There is a lot of advice here, but the part about hiring seems to me by far the most important. Firstly, it's actionable - it sets a very specific guideline to follow. Secondly, it's crucial for the other things to work. If you don't hire the right people - those that are interested in building whatever you're building, no management voodoo will save you. I have never found the traditional methods of hiring — resumés, interviews, quizzes — to be helpful at all. Instead, I look at two things: what someone has done and whether I enjoy spending time with them. The first shows not just their talent but also their ability to execute. If they haven't made something interesting, whether as a side project or at a previous job, then they’re probably not worth hiring. It's not that hard to sit down and accomplish something; be wary of people who haven't. Similarly, you need to keep in mind that you're not just hiring a robot — you're hiring a flesh-and-blood human who you're going to need to spend a lot of time with during the day. That means they need to be someone you not just get along with, but enjoy being around. A formal interview, with all its stress and structure and contrivance, is a pretty bad environment for seeing if you like someone. Instead, just go get coffee and chat. And also: there are few things more fun than working hard with a really nice, talented group of people.