A thread on some insights and wisdom learned from Paul Graham (@paulg) on building startups, writing and thinking.
1. There are only two things in business that you need to know - make something users love and make more then you spend.
1. There are only two things in business that you need to know - make something users love and make more then you spend.
2. The way to create something beautiful is often to make subtle tweaks to something that already exists or to combine existing ideas in a slightly new way.
3. Advice that will improve almost any writing: Cut half the words. Don't write anything you wouldn't say.
3. Advice that will improve almost any writing: Cut half the words. Don't write anything you wouldn't say.
4. The statements that make people mad are the ones they worry might be believed. The statements that make people maddest are those they worry might be true.
5. Specialists can tell you what to worry about. True experts can tell you what not to worry about.
5. Specialists can tell you what to worry about. True experts can tell you what not to worry about.
6. All progress in tools increases economic inequality. Tools multiply output, and the bottom end of the range is always zero.
7. The danger of being attached to a false premise is that you also discard all the connected ideas, and ideas are highly connected.
7. The danger of being attached to a false premise is that you also discard all the connected ideas, and ideas are highly connected.
8. The most important thing is to be able to think what you want, not to say what you want. And if you feel you have to say everything you think, it may inhibit you from thinking improper thoughts.
9. Technology has been eliminating jobs for centuries. But not net jobs.
9. Technology has been eliminating jobs for centuries. But not net jobs.
10. The Bus Ticket Theory Of Genius
"If I had to put the recipe for genius into one sentence, that might be it: to have a disinterested obsession with something that matters."
paulgraham.com/genius.html
"If I had to put the recipe for genius into one sentence, that might be it: to have a disinterested obsession with something that matters."
paulgraham.com/genius.html
11.The right way to collaborate is to divide projects into sharply defined modules, each with a definite owner and with interfaces between them carefully designed articulated as programming languages.
12. In a time of bad design, building something simple is a revolutionary act.
12. In a time of bad design, building something simple is a revolutionary act.
13. For a company to grow really big, it must -
(a) make something lots of people want, and
(b) reach and serve all those people.
Most businesses are tightly constrained in (a) or (b).
The distinctive feature of successful startups is that they're not.
(a) make something lots of people want, and
(b) reach and serve all those people.
Most businesses are tightly constrained in (a) or (b).
The distinctive feature of successful startups is that they're not.
14. One number every founder should always know - company's growth rate (a measure of a startup)
If you don't know that number, you don't even know if you're doing well or badly.
15. The more elaborate the explanation of why something failed, the less likely it is to be true.
If you don't know that number, you don't even know if you're doing well or badly.
15. The more elaborate the explanation of why something failed, the less likely it is to be true.
16. To get rich you need to get yourself in a situation with two things - measurement & leverage.
You need to be in a position where your performance is measured and you need leverage i.e. your decisions need to have a big effect.
Link to all his essays
paulgraham.com/articles.html
You need to be in a position where your performance is measured and you need leverage i.e. your decisions need to have a big effect.
Link to all his essays
paulgraham.com/articles.html
