Paul Graham on Business Quotes

"A startup is a small company that takes on a hard technical problem."

"The most successful businesses are the ones that solve a real problem for a large number of people."

"Wealth is not the same thing as money. Wealth is as old as human history. Money is a comparatively recent invention."

"The most successful founders are the ones who are most obsessed with their customers."

"Don't worry about being 'professional.' Worry about being useful."

"Don't be afraid to fail. Failure is just a way to learn what doesn't work."

"Focus on the product, not the competition."

"The most important thing for a startup is to have a good co-founder."

"Life is short, and the best way to make it not seem short is to not waste it."

"It is better to have a small percentage of a big pie than a big percentage of a small pie."

"If you can't decide, the answer is no."

"A startup is a company designed to grow fast."

"Hire people who are smarter than you."

"Startups don't die from competition, they die from suicide."

"The most successful companies are the ones that create the most value for their customers."

"It's better to make a few people really happy than a lot of people semi-happy."

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

"If you want to make money, you have to be right and non-consensus."

"The best way to build a great company is to hire great people and then get out of their way."

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

"Do things that don't scale."

"The best way to increase your wealth is to increase your ability to create value."

"The best way to do something big is to start with something small and keep going."

"The most important thing is to never give up."

"The most important thing is to keep moving forward."

"The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth."

"If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late."

"Economic inequality is not a bug; it is a feature of a system that rewards productivity."

"Do what you love doesn't mean, do what you would like to do now."

"The real test of a business is whether it can survive without its founder."

"A good idea is one that you can't stop thinking about."

"The most important quality in a founder is determination."

"To be a good hacker, you have to have a sense of design."