top 20 "things you know now that you wish you knew at age 20"

Top 20 "Things you know now that you wish you knew at age 20"Ben Ling, Khosla Ventures @bling0

To help with this talk, I turned to my colleagues (and twitter)

of

Over 200+ public and private responses...

.... here are the top 20

Themes

A. The importance of people and relationshipsB. The importance of hustle and perseveranceC. What to Optimize for...D. If you're going to start a company...

The Importance of People and Relationships#20

"Learn from not just what you do but who you do it with. The value of surrounding yourself with a great peer

group is important for the short and long haul"

@hunterwalk, Founder homebrew


@mikeyang, Pinterest GC and Head of BizDev


"Inspire. People will do exceptional things for you because they want to, not because they have to."

@betashop, Jason Goldberg, CEO of @fab


"The uncomfortable conversations are the most valuable ones. Whether it is with a co-worker, co-founder, or

significant other make sure to always speak your mind and create an environment that invites open communication. This

will be the foundation for strong relationships and the feedback you get will be your key source of personal growth."

@logangreen CEO of @lyft


@briancaldwell, Partnerships for @evernote

The Importance of Hustle and Perseverance#15

@WKortschak, Senior Advisor @Summit_Partners


"I remember always being in a hurry and not having patience. I wish someone told me that you need a lot of

patience to be great at something"

@om, Founder of GigaOM


@bentsmithfour, Founder of MerchantCircle

The Importance of Hustle and Perseverance

#12

"Add value before you ask for value - Prove your impact by accomplishing something before getting hung up in

discussions about compensation. Just take the initiative and you'll become indispensable."

@sacca, founder of lowercase capital

The Importance of Hustle and Perseverance

#11

"Work hard at something that matters to you, sooner or later -- and the sooner the better because you

have to work hard in order to make a difference."

@eldon, co-editor at techcrunch

What to Optimize for...

#10

"Get busy unlearning and forgetting what other people and society want and expect from you. The sooner you can stop

listening to others, the sooner you can hear your inner voice, and get busy doing what you want to do and will

therefore be great at."@naval, founder and CEO of @angellist

What to Optimize for...#9

@mitch, Partnerships at @Eventbrite


"Optimize for working with great people, on hard problems, that impact the world."

@bling0, Ben Ling, Khosla Ventures


"Pick your boss, not your job"

@rabois, Keith Rabois, Khosla Ventures


"Consider time your most precious resource"

@yishan, Yishan Wong, CEO of @reddit

If you start a company...#5

"Attempt GREAT things. Hopefully you'll succeed, but even if you fail you'll meet great people and have a great life

while trying. After each success or failure figure out what your next GREAT thing is you're going to attempt."

@tomkatis, Founder and CEO of @voxer


"Most things are not as risky as they seem"

@sama, Sam Altman, Partner at YC


"Work on something you believe in deeply and don't relent until you've reached your goal. Good things will break

your way as long as you never give up."

@Mototwit, Matt Douglass, Co-Founder @PracticeFusion

If you start a company...

#2

"A. Make sure you're building something that wasn't possible just 18 months agoB. Make sure you focus on something that you really want to be working on for at least a decade."@levie, Aaron Levie, Founder and CEO of @boxHQ

If you start a company...

#1

"I don't mind failing but if we succeed it better be worth succeeding. Most people reduce risk to the point where the

consequences of success are inconsequential"

@vkhosla, Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun and Khosla Ventures

Questions?

top 20 "things you know now that you wish you knew at age 20"

Entertainment & Humor