A key to achieving success is to assemble a strong and stable management team.

Corporate executives and business owners need to realize that there can be no compromise when it comes to ethics, and there are no easy shortcuts to success. Ethics need to be carefully sown into the fabric of their companies.

An open-minded and diverse population that readily shares information, encourages experimentation, accepts failure and dispenses with formality and hierarchy is what makes Silicon Valley the successful hub that it is.

No matter how well things are going, failure and disaster are just around the corner. So celebrate the good, but be ready for the bad.

The mentor-mentee relationship is ideally like that of the guru and disciple: motivated by the desire of the guru to impart knowledge to the disciple.

Most successful entrepreneurs share their knowledge as a way of giving back. They do not demand compensation. Those who do are usually trying to take advantage of you.

What you want in a mentor is someone who truly cares for you and who will look after your interests and not just their own. When you do come across the right person to mentor you, start by showing them that the time they spend with you is worthwhile.

When I became an entrepreneur, I had the knowledge to develop and manage budgets, market products and review legal contracts.

What the tech industry often forgets is that with age comes wisdom. Older workers are usually better at following direction, mentoring, and leading.

If you don't have savings, and your co-founders are as poor as you are, and if Mom and Dad won't loan you money, then your best bet is to find people that know you - your friends. If they, too, won't help, then you're stuck seeking out angel investors.

The truth is that entrepreneurship is more like a roller coaster ride than a cruise.