Disclosure : I am the author of the guest post. This is very HN appropriate.
Yesterday, I was thinking, "Why am I doing this? Why do I work so hard for ~nothing?" and then it dawned on me that if it isn't hard, it isn't worth anything. If it was easy, everyone else could do it. If everyone else can do it, why would they pay you to do it? They won't.
It has to be hard. You have to feel the pain. You have to lie awake at night wondering if you're crazy -- YOU ARE! Keep being crazy. Do the crazy things, the impossible things and keep doing them until you have something someone thinks is worth buying and then sell it and go on vacation, until you get bored with that and then do it all over again!
Partnering with huge brands is obviously a great move, but everyone could do it if it was easy. All the other points, while not necessarily easy, are doable. I'd like to hear a bit more about how you guys hitched those rides.
Although I've heard points on your list many times before on HN. I also disagree with using friends (unless they really fit the requirements and your comfortable telling them when they do something wrong) and outsourcing.
And if you start down the road with a friend and it doesn't work out, remain cordial and remember that this isn't your last startup. You're going to make mistakes. It's how you recover from those mistakes and how you use the lessons you learn from them that will be the test of your mettle years later.