I facilitated a discussion yesterday with some @villageglobal founders on the topic of advice. As @vkhosla has said, one of the most important decisions you make as an entrepreneur is whose advice you listen to. And how you parse the advice. Here were my notes for the discussion:

1) Advice is a form of nostalgia. For this reason, we should view advice from others primarily as an opportunity for greater insight into the mind of the advice-giver and all their projected biases, rather than as something useful to be acted upon ourselves.

2) Studies suggest we overvalue advice on difficult decisions (and get trapped in analysis-paralysis) and undervalue advice on "easy" decisions. For small, tactical decisions asking someone for advice can be surprisingly helpful and efficient.

3) World-class experts are not always the best people to give advice because they are "unconsciously competent." They're too naturally gifted, or else simply forget what it's like to be a beginner. Seek help from ppl who can empathize with your stage of expertise.

4) Asking for someone’s advice can cause that person to like and trust you more. So asking for advice is actually an important part of relationship-building.

5) If you want to know what someone really thinks, ask him for advice. People tend to be more open and accidentally honest when in advice-giving mode. (h/t @tylercowen for this one)

6) When making a decision, first get advice from domain experts to map out your various options. Then consult people who know you well personally (your mom, brother, etc) in order to *select* which choice makes most sense for you. Experts for choices; close friends for *fit*.

7) In the entrepreneurship field, there's tons of contradictory advice. Be persistent and never give up...but also pivot and adapt. Etc. Expect contradictions. I'm reminded of the old proverb that the opposite of every great truth is also a great truth.

8) Some of the best entrepreneurial advice is indeed cliche (e.g. "recruiting A-players is everything"). But cliches are often cliches for a reason — they often contain real truth. (David Foster Wallace once wrote about this fact w/r/t cliches.)

9) Don’t become addicted to meetings with advisors and mentors. It can *feel* like you’re making progress but it isn't real progress.

10) It's okay if you have some advisors/advice-givers involved who have limited time to actually help. The ideal advisory board is composed of big names with no time (useful for their brand) and no-names with lots of time (useful for their time).