Essays by Paul Graham

Startups take off because the founders make them take off. Almost all startups are fragile initially. It's important to recruit users manually.

Assuming expenses remain constant and revenue growth continues on trend, will your company make it to profitability on the money you have left? Are you default alive or dead?

You need three things: formidable founders, a promising market, and some evidence of success so far.

YC's Paul Graham on the biggest mistakes for startups: not making something users want.

A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.

You come up with a random idea, plunge into it, then at each point (a day, a week, a month) feel you've put so much time into it that this must be THE idea.

The very best startup ideas tend to have three things in common: they're something the founders themselves want, that they themselves can build, and that few others realize are worth doing.

YC's Paul Graham explains that startups are counterintuive and all-consuming, and he boils down his advice to two words: just learn.

YC's Paul Graham discusses common reasons why people are reluctant to start a company.

Seven counterintuitive lessons about startups — from releasing early to not getting your hopes up.

YC's Paul Graham introduces a general formula for deciding if trading away stock in your company is worth it.

YC's Paul Graham shares advice for acing the YC interview.

Make something people want' is the destination, but 'be relentlessly resourceful' is how you get there.

The pros and cons of starting a startup in (or soon after) college. Pros: stamina, poverty, rootlessness, colleagues, ignorance. Cons: building stuff that looks like class projects.