What Paul Graham thinks about ambition
Co-founder of Y Combinator and Viaweb; essayist at paulgraham.com.
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Paul Graham did not write this page.
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15 dated positions, 2023 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Paul Graham has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordswe knew that it was grueling. And you need you need something to drive you through all those obstacles and honestly being dutiful is not enough.
↗Paul Graham On Startups, Ambition, and Great Foundersyoutube.com 4th of 16 in this recording
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Their wordsThose stories are rare because most of this quality is inborn.
↗Paul Graham On Startups, Ambition, and Great Foundersyoutube.com 6th of 16 in this recording
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Their wordsit's not that they lack ambition, it's more like they've been trained not to show it. Because when you're young you're often in situations where you're supposed to be obedient. You're not supposed to like go off and do what you want.
↗Paul Graham On Startups, Ambition, and Great Foundersyoutube.com 7th of 16 in this recording
- 3 years earlier
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Our readingReturns for performance are superlinear rather than proportional across most domains that matter.
Their wordsOne of the most important things I didn't understand about the world when I was a child is the degree to which the returns for performance are superlinear.
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Their wordsBut superlinear returns for performance are a feature of the world, not an artifact of rules we've invented. We see the same pattern in fame, power, military victories, knowledge, and even benefit to humanity. In all of these, the rich get richer.
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Their wordsIt may seem as if there are a lot of different situations with superlinear returns, but as far as I can tell they reduce to two fundamental causes: exponential growth and thresholds.
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Their wordsWhich yields another heuristic: always be learning. If you're not learning, you're probably not on a path that leads to superlinear returns.
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Their wordsExposing oneself to superlinear returns is not for everyone. Most people will be better off as part of the pool.
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Their wordsAt the far end of the curve, incremental effort is a bargain. All the more so because there's less competition at the far end — and not just for the obvious reason that it's hard to do something exceptionally well, but also because people find the prospect so intimidating that few even try.
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Their wordsSuperlinear returns imply inequality. The steeper the return curve, the greater the variation in outcomes.
- 3 months earlier
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Their wordsThe way to figure out what to work on is by working. If you're not sure what to work on, guess. But pick something and get going.
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Their wordsBoldly chase outlier ideas, even if other people aren't interested in them — in fact, especially if they aren't.
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Their wordsFour steps: choose a field, learn enough to get to the frontier, notice gaps, explore promising ones. This is how practically everyone who's done great work has done it, from painters to physicists.
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Their wordsOne reason per-project procrastination is so dangerous is that it usually camouflages itself as work. You're not just sitting around doing nothing; you're working industriously on something else.
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Their wordsMorale compounds via work: high morale helps you do good work, which increases your morale and helps you do even better work. But this cycle also operates in the other direction: if you're not doing good work, that can demoralize you and make it even harder to.