Top 5 Paul Graham Quotes on Startups
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1. “That’s the thing about counter-intuitive ideas, they contradict your intuitions. So, they seem wrong.”
AirBnb is the perfect example of counter-intuitive ideas. Who in the world would want to sleep in a strangers bed? Conventional wisdom tells you to lock your door and snuggle in the warm security of your home-bed. AirBnb seems wrong. But the populace proves that our notions were simply set in a past paradigm. AirBnb not only verified that people wanted to sleep in a strangers home, but also kickstarted the share-economy movement at the same time!
2. “Work with people you genuinely like and respect, and that you have known long enough to be sure.”
Working with a co-founder is like getting married. You’re going to eat together, sometimes sleep in the office together, manage the budget together, and raise a child called a “Startup” together. And what would a marriage be without respect. Work with people that you genuinely respect. People that you would be more than willing to invite to your home and introduce to your parents.
3. “What you need to succeed in a startup is not expertise in startups. What you need is expertise in your own users.”
Apple’s iTunes succeeded in selling digital music to users, by creating a simple platform where users can buy music for $1. While Microsoft’s Zune opted for users to charge “cash points”. Which increased the complexity for users by adding an additional step to purchases. Similarly YouTube originally built a video-based dating service. But ultimately opted for a video sharing platform after users were using the service simply for sharing videos. Know your users, know your product.
4. “The way to make your startup grow, is to make something users really love.”
The battle between Digg and Reddit shows that the more popular startups wins in the end. Initially, Digg was the front-runner in the aggregation space. In fact getting featured on Digg brought on so much traffic, it was called the “Digg Effect”. However, Digg’s drastic design change, showed Digg had no idea what their users wanted. Reddit took over and has become the “Front Page of the Internet”. You need to build a product your users really REALLY love.
5. “Startups are all consuming. If you start a startup, it will take over your life to a degree that you cannot imagine.”
There’s no vacation for people working startups. Simply days you work in the office and days you work at home. Days you work from 9–9. Days you simply perform deep-thinking on unsolvable problems. If you’re expecting to work from 9–5, have deep slumbers, and a timely social-life perhaps the startup-life isn’t for you. Building a company consumes your life. But we live the life because we wouldn’t be doing anything.
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