What you should fear, as a startup, is not the established players, but other startups you don't know exist yet. They're way more dangerous than Google because, like you, they're cornered animals.

The most important quality in a startup founder is determination, not intelligence. You can lose quite a lot in the brains department and it won't kill you. But lose even a little bit in the commitment department, and that will kill you very rapidly.

If your product seems finished, there are two possible explanations: (a) it is finished, or (b) you lack imagination. Experience suggests (b) is a thousand times more likely.

When you're working on something that isn't released, problems are intriguing. In something that's out there, problems are alarming. That urgency is precisely why people put release off — they know they'll have to work a lot harder once they do.

Almost everyone's initial plan is broken. If companies stuck to their initial plans, Microsoft would be selling programming languages and Apple would be selling printed circuit boards. The recipe for a dead startup: founders with a great idea they're going to build no matter what users say.

Treat optimism like the core of a nuclear reactor — a source of power that's also very dangerous. Be optimistic about what you can do, but assume the worst about machines, deals, and other people. If your startup is doing a deal, just assume it's not going to happen.

You have to be determined, but flexible, like a running back. He improvises: runs around defenders, spins out of grips, even runs the wrong direction briefly. The one thing he'll never do is stand still. Stubbornness is a disastrous quality in a startup.

What really motivates investors, even big VCs, is not the hope of good returns, but the fear of missing out. So if you make it clear you're going to succeed no matter what and only need them to make it happen faster, you're much more likely to get money.