What are some basic things I could do to reduce the start-up time?
Is there anything in particular I should pay attention to, for that matter?
Note: Startup time can be mitigated by starting Emacs less often (once per session) and opening files in a running instance. This question is about minimizing the startup time, for the session start or any other time when starting Emacs is necessary.
See also the same questionsame question answered on Stack Overflow, with question and answer scores over 50 and 30-some "favorite" bookmarks. Good answers here should go beyond what is available on Stack Overflow.