10 Leadership lessons by Instagram founder Mike Krieger

Focus on doing the right things instead of a bunch of things.

The biggest problem is startups in search of a problem. Chase what you're passionate about; you'll probably already have knowledge in the space.

Hearing 'no' a lot of times usually tells you either you're crazy or you're on the right track, and you don't know which one it is until you finally launch.

Don't spend months building something without any idea if someone actually wants it.

Doing the simple thing first doesn't mean your solution will work forever.

I think the biggest challenge over time is that we stay creative and making sure that we continue to launch awesome products that people love.

Working on a startup is a balancing act: being crazy enough to believe your idea can take off but not crazy enough to miss the signs when it's clearly not going to.

Software is like gardening - one day I'll go behind the shed and clean up. But if nobody ever goes there, does it matter a lot?

Empathy is key in the design process, especially when you start expanding outside of your comfort zone to new languages, cultures, and age groups. If you try to assume what those people want, you're likely to get it wrong.

You have to tailor yourself to everybody. Sometimes people need a firmer hand; some people you can have a laugh with, and they concentrate more. What they needed was more certainty about the future of the company.