Having witnessed several successful startups grow from concept to real-business, I can finally sit down and define what elements you need if you hope to succeed.

1. At least one of the founders must have a car, in case you need to pick up office supplies from Office Depot. However, multiple founders should help pay for parking when you meet at Starbucks.
2. There should be at least one girl in the group, whether she’s a founder, employee, or one of the founder’s girlfriends. The girl is a good litmus test for flagging extremely stupid ideas.
3. Draft roles, processes, timelines, plans, bylaws, org charts, or resource allocation charts at least once a year, but no one should look at those docs for the rest of the year. At least one team member should protest “whats the process for this” or “whats his role” to which someone might reference the fact that there is a document for that somewhere.
4. Whenever the founders go home from the office around 6pm or 7pm, they should go back to their computers and keep working until 1am, communicating frequently over gtalk ot Skype. In fact, more communication should happen over gtalk and Skype than by phone or in-person.
5. Own at least 2 dry erase boards and always run out of markers. Accidentally use a permanent marker at some point.
6. Have at least one founder who thinks he is a good designer, humor him a little, though everyone unanimously agrees he can’t design.
7. At any one point in time, at least one founder should be working at a coffee shop, even if you have an actual office.
8. Have 3 pitches for your startup. One pitch is for smart investors who understand your market and might actually invest. Another pitch is for people you meet at parties, explaining why you’re going to save or change the world. The third pitch is for your parents or non-techy degree’d friends explaining why you’re not wasting your life.
9. Have private corporate documents indescriminately mixed in with personal notes, like print-out maps to the airport or university alumni newsletters.
10. Have at least one founder who refuses to maintain a calendar, so that everyone else is forced to call him every few hours asking where he is or if he is coming into the office.