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Paul Graham defines a startup strictly: 'A startup is a company designed to grow fast. ' Everything else—technology, venture capital, exit strategy—is secondary. He teaches that growth is the compass. If you are growing, you are winning. If you are not, you are dying. He emphasizes the 'weekly growth rate' as the only metric that matters in the early stages. This clarity of focus allows founders to ignore distractions and optimize for the one thing that ensures survival.
"The most successful businesses are the ones that solve a real problem for a large number of people."
"The most important thing for a startup is to focus on growth."
"If you can't decide between two courses of action, choose the one that's more difficult."
"The most successful people are often the ones who are least afraid of looking stupid."
"You need to be able to see the potential in a small, niche market that could become huge."
"A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some kind of exit."
"A creative person is someone who is always looking for a better way to do things."
"The best founders are the ones who are most resilient."
"The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away."
"Keep your identity small."
"The secret to doing great work is to be curious."
"Adults are not just older children."
"You can't see the whole thing at the beginning. You have to start and let the idea grow."
"The best way to do great work is to be working on something that is at the limit of your ability."
"Empirically, the way to do really big things seems to be to start with deceptively small things."
"You have to be able to see the potential in something that looks like a toy."
"The way to do really big things is to do really small things and grow them."
"Do things that don't scale."
"The most important thing for a startup is to build something people want. If you do that, everything else will take care of itself."
"The most important thing for a startup is to be able to scale. You have to be able to grow your business without losing quality."
"Writing about something teaches you what you think."
"Confidence is often just a byproduct of having done something hard."
"The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth."
"The most important thing for a startup is to be able to move fast. You have to be able to iterate quickly and learn from your mistakes."
"The most damaging thing you learned in school wasn't something you learned in a specific class. It was learning to get good grades."
Seeing how Paul Graham approaches Growth helps you apply the idea with more precision.
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"Use this collection whenever you need Paul Graham's lens on Growth."