If you're wondering how to design your startup's product so that everyone will want it in 10 years, just do whatever would make your friends want it … - Paul Graham

It’s not when people notice you’re there that they pay attention; it’s when they notice you’re still there.

If your startup's potential market is huge, make very conservative assumptions when estimating its size. There is nothing investors like more than an obviously conservative estimate that still ends up being huge.

And you had better have a convincing explanation of why your technology would be hard to duplicate. Otherwise as soon as some big company becomes aware of it, they’ll make their own, and with their brand name, capital, and distribution clout, they’ll take away your market overnight. You’d be like guerillas caught in the open field by regular army forces.