9 Habits of World Class Startups (The NFX Podcast)

Startups that grow into transformative companies do two things. Number one: They nail the basics. Number two: They cultivate the right habits—their core operating principles. The first is mandatory. If you don't get the basics right, in all probability, your company won't succeed.

There are 13 ways of doing anything; 11 of them will work. Just pick one and do it. The best founders avoid over-analyzing. As a startup, you don't have time, and the result will most likely be marginal. Pick a way and do it. Be consistently decisive.

As a CEO, you are storyteller in chief. Telling your story in compelling ways and adapting that story to the audience and the moment is your most important job.

As a benchmark, you should be conducting 20-100 experiments per month as a startup.

Single player products increase their value to the user at a linear rate; multiplayer networked products can become more valuable at an exponential rate.

The most high-impact companies think about language first and features second. You can build a whole company on the power of a phrase.