The hardest part of programming for me was when I knew everything about a codebase, leading to a lack of creativity and excitement in my work.

A hard tech company requires significant time and money to build its first product, and even with ample resources, it's uncertain if the product can be built at all.

It's crucial to understand how hard it is to create something that people actually want. Many founders mistakenly believe they have extra resources to innovate on unrelated aspects, which complicates their efforts.

Unlike software companies, hard tech founders often have a concrete vision of the future that they need to prove before running out of resources.

Building technology first and then finding a problem to solve later can lead to success, as demonstrated by Bolt's journey from near shutdown to a leading AI coding product.

Deciding to start OpenAI was a pivotal moment for us. We almost didn't do it because AGI seemed like a crazy idea, and there were many other successful startups to pursue. It took a core group of people to look each other in the eye and commit to the mission, despite the doubts.

Software development is like navigating an unknown terrain; sometimes you encounter unexpected obstacles that require you to adapt your approach.

Cognition went through eight pivots before landing on the current approach with Devon, highlighting the iterative nature of developing AI tools.

When starting Figma, Evan and I focused on the technologies that were emerging, particularly drones and WebGL, to identify opportunities in design.