Startups often have to do dubious things. Paul Graham dubiousstartupthing Change image and share on social
Small-business customers are very conservative and very cheap. We don't have to explain ourselves for the most part. Paul Graham businesscheapconservative Change image and share on social
A programming language is for thinking about programs, not for expressing programs you've already thought of. It should be a pencil, not a pen. Paul Graham expresshavelanguage Change image and share on social
It's hard to say exactly what it is about face-to-face contact that makes deals happen, but whatever it is, it hasn't yet been duplicated by technology. Paul Graham contactdealduplicate Change image and share on social
What I tell founders is not to sweat the business model too much at first. The most important task at first is to build something people want. If you don't do that, it won't matter how clever your business model is. Paul Graham buildbusinessclever share on social
Dressing up is inevitably a substitute for good ideas. It is no coincidence that technically inept business types are known as 'suits'. Paul Graham businesscoincidencedress Change image and share on social
You know your business model is broken when you're suing your customers. Paul Graham breakbusinesscustomer Change image and share on social
If you imagine someone with 100 percent determination and 100 percent intelligence, you can discard a lot of intelligence before they stop succeeding. But if you start discarding determination, you very quickly get an ineffectual and perpetual grad student. Paul Graham determinationdiscardgrad share on social
Like having a child, running a startup is the sort of experience that's hard to imagine unless you've done it yourself. Paul Graham childexperiencehard Change image and share on social
Empirically the way you get a product visionary as CEO is for him to found the company and not get fired. Paul Graham ceocompanyempirically Change image and share on social
