Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
One of the exciting things about Paul Graham handing over the reins of Y Combinator to Sam Altman is the fact that it gives Paul more time to write. Paul has long been one of my writing inspirations, and his concise yet conversational style has always struck me a near-perfect fit for his topics. I’m … Continue reading Gaming The System Doesn’t Work, And Everyone Has Worries
Paul Graham has just published one of his best essays ever, “How To Raise Money” http://bit.ly/18acSGq I was nodding my head through the entire essay, but I want to draw particular attention to what Paul has to say about valuation. Now YC companies are (in)famous for raising money at huge valuations, and Paul has been … Continue reading Paul Graham to Entrepreneurs: Stop Worrying About Valuation
Another great tidbit from Paul Graham’s unfairly controversial Inc interview: http://bit.ly/1dNuheK Paul has the last word on the “Silicon Valley doesn’t tackle big problems” meme: “I think people underestimate how small big ideas were when they first got started. Microsoft’s first product was an implementation of the BASIC programming language for a machine called Altair. … Continue reading You Get To Big Ideas By Starting With Small Ones
Paul Graham recently gave an interview to Inc. Maybe you’ve heard of it? http://bit.ly/15rQHsS Sadly, the “controversy” over Paul being misquoted about foreign accents has overshadowed an interview that I think is worth its weight in gold. My favorite part of the interview is this passage: “Most of the time, start-ups fail for the same … Continue reading Startups Fail For The Same Reasons Restaurants Do
I love this HackerNews item on the key questions you’d use when programming a Paul Graham bot to dispense startup advice. Here are the questions/phrases: “Who needs it?”“Who uses it?”“Who *really* needs it?”“What problem does this solve?”“Does that problem *really* need to be solved?”“What is the worst problem in your life?”“In any given day, how … Continue reading Paul Graham’s Office Hours Questions