When i was raising capital for my first venture, my cofounder and I were told a lot of things from VCs - some good, some bad. One remark that stood out the most came from Sequoia Capital - it went something like this: whatever you do, don't hire people in the industry our product was positioned in.

When they said it back then i was too young to really know what it all meant, yet the statement resonated: our most frustrating conversations came from people in the industry. If they were not bashing the product, they endlessly tried to push it in directions that were some middle ground between our concept and current, well established practices that were, well, not all that interesting.

Recently a friend pointed me to an article, Death by Risk Aversion, that helped me understand the real meaning behind Sequoia's statement: If you're starting a company that really challenges accepted standards and bring in a core team that is used to thinking in the framework of archaic practices, then there is a high chance that many risk averse actions will be taken that compromise success.

The founder's ability to direct the business toward the innovative edge it needs is hampered by a team of people who, by pushing risk averse actions, take an innovative idea into a gray zone that lacks the necessary spice to achieve success.