At Andreessen Horowitz, we talk about the notion of being 'too hungry to eat.' That's to say, we often see startups that are so entrenched in the product that the founders forget they need muscle to grow.

One of the rookie mistakes first-time entrepreneurs often make is to be too guarded about their idea - in fact, many will actually spend their first $25,000 on patent lawyers without ever fully vetting their product.

People aren't interested in your product. They want to talk about themselves and their needs.

I don't like sweating the details, and I'm pretty disorganized. To be a better leader, I need to stay on top of these shortcomings, and being reminded really helps.

At the core, coaching authenticity is complicated - some might say impossible. Telling someone to be authentic sounds pretty low calorie, especially to a founder plowing through a list of product and operational goals. But it's important.

The appeal all too often is to the gallery, hungry for sensation.