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The way a company operates—its culture, its values, the way it makes decisions—it's really a manifestation of the founders and their values.

When I hear people say, 'Ideas don't matter,' it just drives me crazy. The idea is the most valuable thing you have when you start, and the best ones are the result of a tremendous amount of work, effort, experience, and insight. They're unique and almost magical by nature. Great ideas hold the energy that can propel a team forward through the tremendous uncertainty you face when you first get going. Often times, the idea defines the mission of some of the most important companies in the world.

When you talk about finding product-market fit, in my opinion, the most important choice you make as a Founder is picking a good market. Other than choosing your co-founders, I actually think that's the single most important choice a founder makes.

The advice I often give to founders as an investor is that the culture of their company is naturally going to be a manifestation of their values, so they should work really hard to codify and communicate them.

I think one of the traps that I fell into very early on as an angel investor was trying to solve all of the founders' problems myself and trying to help them come up with the perfect answers.