This document summarizes the top 20 pieces of advice people wish they knew at age 20 based on responses from Twitter. The advice falls under four main themes: 1) The importance of relationships and surrounding yourself with good peers. 2) The importance of hustle and perseverance to achieve your goals. 3) Prioritizing working on meaningful problems and optimizing for impact. 4) If starting a company, aim for great things and don't be afraid of risk if success could make a difference.

1. Top 20 "Things you know
now that you wish you
knew at age 20"
Ben Ling, Khosla Ventures
@bling0

2. To help with this talk, I turned to my
colleagues (and twitter)
of
Over 200+ public and private responses...
.... here are the top 20

3. Themes
A. The importance of people and relationships
B. The importance of hustle and perseverance
C. What to Optimize for...
D. If you're going to start a company...

4. The Importance of People and
Relationships
#20
"Learn from not just what you do but who you do it with.
The value of surrounding yourself with a great peer
group is important for the short and long haul"
@hunterwalk, Founder homebrew

5. The Importance of People and
Relationships
#19
@mikeyang, Pinterest GC and Head of BizDev

6. The Importance of People and
Relationships
#18
"Inspire. People will do exceptional things for you because
they want to, not because they have to."
@betashop, Jason Goldberg, CEO of @fab

7. The Importance of People and
Relationships
#17
"The uncomfortable conversations are the most valuable
ones. Whether it is with a co-worker, co-founder, or
significant other make sure to always speak your mind and
create an environment that invites open communication. This
will be the foundation for strong relationships and the
feedback you get will be your key source of personal growth."
@logangreen CEO of @lyft

8. The Importance of People and
Relationships
#16
@briancaldwell, Partnerships for @evernote

9. The Importance of Hustle and
Perseverance
#15
@WKortschak, Senior Advisor @Summit_Partners

10. The Importance of Hustle and
Perseverance
#14
"I remember always being in a hurry and not having
patience. I wish someone told me that you need a lot of
patience to be great at something"
@om, Founder of GigaOM

11. The Importance of Hustle and
Perseverance
#13
@bentsmithfour, Founder of MerchantCircle

12. The Importance of Hustle and
Perseverance
#12
"Add value before you ask for value - Prove your impact by
accomplishing something before getting hung up in
discussions about compensation. Just take the initiative
and you'll become indispensable."
@sacca, founder of lowercase capital

13. The Importance of Hustle and
Perseverance
#11
"Work hard at something that matters to you,
sooner or later -- and the sooner the better because you
have to work hard in order to make a difference."
@eldon, co-editor at techcrunch

14. What to Optimize for...
#10
"Get busy unlearning and forgetting what other people and
society want and expect from you. The sooner you can stop
listening to others, the sooner you can hear your inner
voice, and get busy doing what you want to do and will
therefore be great at."
@naval, founder and CEO of @angellist

15. What to Optimize for...
#9
@mitch, Partnerships at @Eventbrite

16. What to Optimize for...
#8
"Optimize for working with great people, on hard problems,
that impact the world."
@bling0, Ben Ling, Khosla Ventures

17. What to Optimize for...
#7
"Pick your boss, not your job"
@rabois, Keith Rabois, Khosla Ventures

18. What to Optimize for...
#6
"Consider time your most precious resource"
@yishan, Yishan Wong, CEO of @reddit

19. If you start a company...
#5
"Attempt GREAT things. Hopefully you'll succeed, but even
if you fail you'll meet great people and have a great life
while trying. After each success or failure figure out what
your next GREAT thing is you're going to attempt."
@tomkatis, Founder and CEO of @voxer

20. If you start a company...
#4
"Most things are not as risky as they seem"
@sama, Sam Altman, Partner at YC

21. If you start a company...
#3
"Work on something you believe in deeply and don't relent
until you've reached your goal. Good things will break
your way as long as you never give up."
@Mototwit, Matt Douglass, Co-Founder @PracticeFusion

22. If you start a company...
#2
"A. Make sure you're building something that wasn't
possible just 18 months ago
B. Make sure you focus on something that you really want
to be working on for at least a decade."
@levie, Aaron Levie, Founder and CEO of @boxHQ

23. If you start a company...
#1
"I don't mind failing but if we succeed it better be worth
succeeding. Most people reduce risk to the point where the
consequences of success are inconsequential"
@vkhosla, Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun and Khosla
Ventures

24. Questions?