Startups become powerful by finding ways to grow, such as creating marketplaces and selling to fast-moving customers. They should simplify their ideas and avoid relying on slow, bureaucratic companies. Their power must come from making customers’ lives better.

This visualization shows how a single HTTP request travels through many steps in about 200 milliseconds. The data moves as light through fiber optics, gets encrypted, and passes through servers and databases. It highlights the complex journey behind loading a simple web page.

A mechanical watch uses a spring and gears to control the movement of its hands and keep time accurately. The balance wheel and pallet fork work together to regulate the watch’s ticking and prevent it from stopping when shaken. To set the time or wind the watch, the crown moves internal gears that either adjust the hands or tighten the spring.

It might not seem there's much to learn about how to work hard. Anyone who's been to school knows what it entails, even if they chose not to do it. There are 12 year olds who work amazingly hard.

Teams face many good ideas but struggle to pick the best ones because each idea comes with strong confidence and stories. To decide well, focus on testing ideas quickly with clear success measures instead of trusting expert narratives or credentials. Make it safe and valued to reject ideas early when data shows they don’t work, so real progress happens.

Early Stage Advice: Here is what we, at YC, consider the most important, most transformative advice for startups.

Just finished reading an incredible book about system design. The patterns discussed are truly eye-opening.

A deep dive into modern architectural patterns

Sometimes the best code is no code at all.