Persist beyond rationality to succeed

One of my mantras is just don't die. Just keep your startup going. Just keep going.

The underlying theme is that rationally the founder should have given up at some point. And so again, let's talk about Airbnb, obviously something you know a lot about. They probably should have shut down three or four times before they got into YC.

The thing that I would argue folks that build really big companies have in common is they just really want it and they really believe in themselves and they really believe they can make it work.

I might flame out completely, but hell if I don't try.