2020
Paul Graham remarked in December 2020 that about 99.98% of Amazon's growth had occurred since its IPO.
“he remarked in December 2020 that an astonishing 99.98 of Amazon's growth had happened since IPO.”
Topic
Paul Graham
11 facts from 3 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
Undated
David Senra says reading Paul Graham's essay 'How to Do What You Love' pushed him to dedicate his life to the Founders podcast.
“I'm up late at night. I read Paul Graham's essay, How to Do What You Love.”
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The host summarizes Paul Graham's essay as a four-step process: choose a field, learn enough to reach the frontier, notice gaps, and explore promising gaps.
“Number one, choose a field. Number two, learn enough to get to the frontier.”
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Paul Graham calls his advice to do whatever seems most interesting while keeping future options open "staying upwind".
“At each stage, do whatever seems most interesting and gives you the best options for the future. I call this approach staying upwind.”
Undated
In his essay "How to Do What You Love", Paul Graham guesses that only a few hundred thousand people out of billions discover work they love.
“Paul has another essay called How to Do What You Love, where he says, only a few 100,000, and his guess, a few 100,000 people ever actually figure this out.”
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The host says Paul Graham noticed in Y Combinator office hours that struggling founders often weren't using their own products.
“that the ones, uh, that were kind of lost or like kind of not doing well, they were weren't even using their own product.”
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The host says Jessica, Paul Graham's wife and Y Combinator partner, said she rereads the essay "How to Do Great Work" every year.
“I thought I saw that um, Paul's wife and his partner on Y Combinator, Jessica said that she's going to reread every year.”
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The host believes Paul Graham spent about half a year writing "How to Do Great Work".
“I think he spent like half a year writing this essay, if if I'm not mistaken.”
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Paul Graham's essay notes that it took most of a century for the heliocentric model of the solar system to be widely accepted, even among astronomers.
“It took the greater part of a century for the heliocentric model to be generally accepted, even among astronomers, because it felt so wrong.”
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Paul Graham says that for the hardest kinds of work a person may only manage four or five productive hours a day.
“Some of the hardest types, you might only be able to do four or five hours a day.”
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The host recommends reading Paul Graham's essay "Life is Short" right after "How to Do Great Work".
“Paul's other essay, Life is Short, which I think you can read in like five or ten minutes.”
Episodes