The biggest causes I've seen of early startup failures are founders giving up as soon as the going gets tough, and fights between co-founders. Therefore, I think determination is the most important quality in founders and there must be a trusting relationship between them.

Founders also need to be basically level-headed. They need to think big enough to have crazy ideas but not to be themselves deluded about how hard it will be to pull them off.

I'm collecting interviews now for another edition of Founders at Work!

Giving upon on the idea or entrepreneurship? I am curious to learn on when should pivot and when to stick with an idea. Thx!

Knowing that is what will make you successful in life and it obviously cannot be summed up in few words. You get it or you don't. That's the way I see it.

I think Plato's four cardinal virtues play a big role for many people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato%27s_four_cardinal_virtues

and you learn it better each time you make that decision, stick with it, and it's right or wrong. Adjust accordingly next time.

Kathlyn Hendricks, a relationship expert (_Conscious Loving_ is a fascinating book for the engineering mind dealing with relationships), offers this advice for when to leave a personal relationship (point 2 of the audio). Maybe it's applicable when pursuing ideas as well?

http://www.hendricks.com/QA2

"Have you worked on the relationship so long that the amount of pain you feel overshadows the possibilities? Time to leave."

Also, is a follow-up to "Founders At Work" planned? It's a really inspirational book, and I am sure there is a huge new crop of potential subjects from the last three years of ups and downs in the startup space.

"Also, is a follow-up to "Founders At Work" planned?"

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1113661

One of the things I liked about the original is that it wasn't just in a limited time period, so you could see how things worked differently in various time periods.

I bet she's summarized her take somewhere. But she's also documented in detail how many "roads lead to Rome" (success):

http://www.amazon.com/Founders-Work-Stories-Startups-Early/d...