I have started four venture backed companies since 1995 … And I was lucky to have mentors … and since then, I have metored hundreds of companies. A couple of items I focus on is: (a) founder relationships and (b)what it takes. Regarding (a) I mention: no one likes lawyers until you need them. I learned this in my first company. tl;dr: your founder agreements should be tight. So much can go wrong when so long. One thing that happened to me was: “My founder passed away in his late 20’s … and who controlled the 40+% that hey owned? His wife? Girlfriend?” This was a challenge. And who owns what? Well, generally the entity. CTO’s genearlly find this the hard way: “Well it was me and team who …”. In my experience, that’s not how it works … How does down roads work? And dillusion? The board? These are complicated concepts that have a huge impact on the company and idea. Hollywood creates myths of success and failure … but remember they are just mthys. How the world works … well, that’s a different thing.