Even if you're not a natural fundraiser like Elon Musk, you can still build a successful hard tech company by thinking like a software company and surrounding yourself with the right people.

You don't need to be Elon Musk to start a hard tech company; with domain experience, a great co-founder, a scrappy mindset, and perseverance, regular people can launch hard tech companies too.

You don't need to be an expert in technology to start a successful company; working on things that challenge you is more important.

To be a successful tech CEO, you need to be domain aware and savvy, understanding both the technology and the market to effectively lead your company.

If hard tech founders can establish a habit of operating efficiently during Y Combinator, it can lead to long-term success in their ventures.

Being technical is still strategic; having a technical co-founder is incredibly important in today's landscape.

The best hard tech founders possess a clear vision of the future and understand how to compress timelines to prove commercial viability.

Founders in hard tech need to be excellent storytellers to attract talent and investment, as demonstrated by Blake from Boom, who successfully recruited experts despite not having a traditional aerospace background.

Confidence is key in entrepreneurship. Many successful founders are not necessarily smarter but are willing to take risks and work harder than others.