I've been using PostgreSQL (an open-source database) for many years. Here are some of the less obvious tips and tricks I've picked up. This post isn't meant to be a comprehensive tuning or scaling guide, though I link to some good documentation below. When importing data, use COPY FROM and no indexes. For fast Web sites, have everything use indexes. MORE >>

The second major thing I've learned from interviewing people on getting traction is that initial traction can happen in a lot of different ways, often unpredictably. The first thing was that entrepreneurs usually have movement ideas even though they often think they have powder keg or empire ideas.) Note: this list is no particular order. Justin.tv MORE >>

Hiring is hard. Not hiring can seem even harder, but often isn't. At my last company we went from entrance to exit without hiring one employee. I'm now three years into DuckDuckGo, and still haven't hired. Needless to say, I'm an outlier. So don't take what I say about hiring too seriously, but perhaps I have something useful to say on not hiring. MORE >>

I was once a wannabe entrepreneur. Fresh out of college and a summer internship at a VC firm, I thought I knew what I was doing. Though this was 2000 , and all startup & VC blogs we've grown to love didn't exist yet, I did have mentors available. should have leaned on them a lot more, but I didn't, or at least not in the right ways. MORE >>

DuckDuckGo was named one of TIME's 50 Best Websites of 2011. thought other startups might want to know how this awesome inclusion came to be. I'm sure each story is slightly different, but here is one data point for you. It's sort of obvious but often overlooked that if you want to be covered somewhere, the right person has to know about you. MORE >>