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Essays that will help you build a startup

Paul Graham founded YC and has written 212 essays about startups

do things that don't scale:

startups don't grow on their own. founders are responsible for getting them going. to learn how to do it, they need to do things that don't scale.

startups = growth:

not all new companies are startups. startups are designed to grow fast above all else. here's how to use growth as a compass

how to get startup ideas:

don't look for ideas, look for problems. preferably ones you have yourself

18 mistakes that kill startups:

if you don't make something people want, your startup will die. here are 18 ways to get there

billionaires build:

how to ace your Y Combinator interview, used as an example for why billionaires are just people who make things that people want

what startups are really like:

a list of 19 common surprises about startups, as told by YC founders

how to convince investors:

inexperienced founders try to convince investors. they should instead let their startup do the work

how to make wealth:

outlines the principles behind why the best way to get rich is to take on a hard problem with a small company

the hardest lesson for startups to learn:

actually a list of 7 "hardest lessons" that startups have to learn

how to start a startup:

to be successful, a startup needs 3 things — good people, making something that people want, and spending as little money as possible

why not to start a startup:

explores 16 commonly cited reasons to not build a startup and says which are real, and which aren't

how to think for yourself:

you don't want to start a startup that everyone agrees is a good idea. you have to do something that sounds to most other people like a bad idea, but that you know isn't