This is Paul Graham.
18 mistakes that kill startups in simple:
Single Founder: Lacks the skills and support needed.
Bad Location: Being in the wrong place can hinder success.
Marginal Niche: Targeting a market too small to sustain growth.
Derivative Idea: Lacking originality leads to competition.
Obstinacy: Not adapting to feedback or market changes.
Hiring Bad
... See moreWhat should you do if you're young and ambitious but don't know what to work on? What you should not do is drift along passively, assuming the problem will solve itself. You need to take action. But there is no systematic procedure you can follow. When you read biographies of people who've done great work, it's remarkable how much luck is involved.... See more
Paul Graham • How to Do Great Work
The best essay would be on the most important topic you could tell people something surprising about.
Paul Graham - Essays • The Best Essay
The trouble with planning is that it only works for achievements you can describe in advance. You can win a gold medal or get rich by deciding to as a child and then tenaciously pursuing that goal, but you can't discover natural selection that way.
I think for most people who want to do great work, the right strategy is not to plan too much. At each... See more
I think for most people who want to do great work, the right strategy is not to plan too much. At each... See more
Paul Graham • How to Do Great Work
You shouldn't worry about prestige. Prestige is the opinion of the rest of the world
paulgraham.com • How to Do What You Love
You need to be good at some kind of technology, you need an idea for what you're going to build, and you need cofounders to start the company with.
How to Start Google
If you regard someone judging you as a customer instead of a judge, the expectation of fairness goes away.
Two Kinds of Judgement
Art has a purpose, which is to interest its audience.
Good art (like good anything) is art that achieves its purpose
particularly well.
Good art (like good anything) is art that achieves its purpose
particularly well.
How Art Can Be Good
The third big lesson we can learn from open source and blogging is that ideas can bubble up from the bottom, instead of flowing down from the top. Open source and blogging both work bottom-up: people make what they want, and the best stuff prevails.