Quotes from Kathryn Minshew

Being able to hear someone say, 'I found an incredible job on The Muse,' or 'It gave me courage to make a career change,' that's the motivating factor.

The idea for The Muse came from my own life, from a product that I wanted but couldn't find anywhere. Sometimes when you see a need for something in your own life and you can't get it, you feel crazy enough to make it happen yourself.

Understanding your employee's perspective can go a long way towards increasing productivity and happiness.

Previous experience, key skills, and education. They're undoubtedly all important things you consider when filtering through applicants in order to make a new hire. But, what's another major determining factor of whether or not that hopeful interviewee deserves an offer letter? Cultural fit.

You won't be exiled to permanent unemployment just because there's a picture somewhere of you holding a red Solo cup and looking underage. But, your Google results tell a story: Have you been in the news? Authored articles or blog posts? What types of topics do you frequently tweet about?

As you move through the application process, keep refining the way you present yourself. Like any skill, you'll only get better with practice, and you'll only hurt yourself if you get discouraged too early. This is one race that's definitely a marathon, not a sprint.

Networking doesn't have to be all about talking shop over appetizers and bad chardonnay - do it in a way that works for you.

I work late nights catching up on emails, and then, in the mornings, I just hop on my laptop right away. Then, every other day, I'll hop into the shower! My husband is horrified that I don't shower every day.

I grew up thinking that I would be an ambassador secret agent. From age 14 to right before I graduated college, I was really interested in the foreign service and the United Nations. I learned to speak French, Turkish, and all these things.

Call it nature or nurture, there are differences in how men and women approach professional conduct, and facing these issues head-on will make us all more equipped to succeed.

Work-life balance for founders doesn't look like work-life balance for everyone else. Starting a company isn't a nine-to-six job - or a nine-to-nine job, or a nine-to-midnight job.

One of the top causes of startup death - right after cofounder problems - is building something no one wants.

The most important thing in startups is getting a product to market, as imperfect as it may be, and then iterating on it and continually making it better. A first rev of a site that has a few typos may not be perfect, but it was the start of something that I deeply believed in.

There are always going to be obstacles. I think the bigger your aspirations, the larger the obstacles.

Get your product in front of actual, living, breathing strangers. Your college roommate's approval does not mean there's market demand.

I know, being the odd one out can feel brutal. But, rest assured, it's also wonderful - because your desire to do things differently isn't 'uncool.' In fact, it's the exact opposite.

Job seekers light up when they find The Muse - we're a breath of fresh air in a stale, musty world. Our user experience focuses first and foremost on the individual, on providing them information - from content to company profiles - to make the most pressing professional decisions in their lives.

Keeping a 'CEO blog' or 'founder's blog' can be a great platform for engaging your users in a nontraditional way, reaching people outside of your product pitch and building rapport without selling them anything except a belief in your ideas.

It's fantastic to be known as a company that responds quickly to users, shares great resources and friendly banter with them over Twitter, and forges relationships on Pinterest, Facebook, and every other social media site out there.

You don't hire for mediocrity. Instead, you bring people onto your team because you know that they'll make a valuable contribution and turn in amazing work. But, in order to have that expectation, you need to make sure you're fostering an environment that allows them to do so.

Most weeks, I work 100-plus hours on TheMuse.com. There are definitions of 'work-life balance' that would say I have none.

For almost the first year of The Muse's life, I would do 5 to 8 networking events a week. And I don't necessarily think that's the right path for everyone, but I realized that as an entrepreneur, one of my strengths was finding the right people who could help us. I didn't come into startups with any network.

Know your career values: Not your parents' values, not your friends', but what you personally value in work. For me, it's things like moving quickly and scrappily, ownership and authority over my work, and flexibility.

Starting with the values that feel authentic to who you are can serve as a compass to find more meaningful, fulfilling work.