Paul Graham: SOPA Supporting Companies No Longer Allowed At YC Demo Day

Boycotts of individual companies have begun.

Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas

The way to do big things is to start with small things.

Black Swan Farming

Startup investing is counterintuitive.

Startup = Growth

A startup founder is in effect an economic research scientist.

How to Get Startup Ideas

Live in the future, then build what's missing.

Do Things that Don't Scale

“Startups take off because the founders make them take off.”

Before the Startup

“The ultimate advice for young would-be startup founders, boiled down to two words: just learn.”

Mean People Fail

“Startups don't win by attacking. They win by transcending.”

“‘ly’ is the mullet of startup names.”

“Twitter is an intellectual convenience store.”

Change Your Name

“The problem with not having the .com of your name is that it signals weakness.”

“The most important factor in doing original work is to do it before the errands, not after.”

“Everyone has something they’re unusually good at. When you meet someone try to figure out what it is.”

“The best protection against competitor x is to do things that are contrary to their DNA.”

“The danger of competitors, for a good startup, is not that they’ll take your users, but that you’ll do dumb things out of fear of them.”

“There are people who fix problems and people who complain about problems, and the two sets are remarkably disjoint.”

“If having most employees working from home makes it harder to have meetings, companies may actually be more productive.”

“If you do creative work, try to avoid situations where people with less ability than you can tell you what to do, or edit your work.”