Co-founder of Y Combinator, essayist
Paul Graham started YC after doing a startup himself, and in YC's 21st year he still writes his talk for each batch from scratch. Founders have to be really ambitious, he says, because the obstacles are too fearsome for mere dutifulness. He and Jessica had a word for the founders investors want: formidable, someone who gets what they want. In Stockholm he takes up the old question of whether to go to Silicon Valley, and his answer is yes.
Y Combinator 00:21 05:10 05:12 05:22 09:32 09:44 09:59 Y Combinator 00:00 00:47
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Startups don't take off by themselves. Recruit the first users by hand and do the unscalable work that delights them.
The biggest problem that most startups have is they can't get users and they're not making something people want.
Paul Graham
says startups do not take off by themselves, so you recruit your first users one by one, by hand, and do the unscalable work that delights them, the way Airbnb went door to door. The manual work is what teaches you what to build.
says distribution first, product second. When AI makes building nearly free the code is commoditised and the moat is an audience, so grow one to about a thousand people, ask them what they need, and build into a warm market.
