Paul Graham on the most important predictor of success in startups: determination.
Season 3 September Update! Fight as Ultimate Luna and explore the brand-new Lounge today!
@ycombinator determination and, frankly, a disregard for risk
@ycombinator Extreme determination is likely a “talent” — i.e., those with it have an innate disposition that most people don’t.
@ycombinator You can now: talk-to-paul.vercel.app by @miguelreng
@ycombinator I'd actually love @paulg to chime in on what he'd change about this essay. I've studied it many times but it's old and I wonder if he'd modify it at all today
@ycombinator If you're the one that always does something despite everyone saying you can't do it, that's the most solid signal.
@ycombinator Founders need grit. But adaptable determination, not blind persistence, is key.
@ycombinator Oof not determined enough to read all that text
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. Calvin Coolidge
@ycombinator To sum it up, the 2 most important sentences, if you don't want to read it all
@ycombinator The irony is that sustained determination eventually looks like talent to everyone else.
@ycombinator and arguably sheer willpower to get over failures. lots of failures
@ycombinator @garrytan Determination is half the battle. The other half is brutal self-honesty—no amount of hustle fixes building the wrong thing.
Buying alerts from processors? You're giving them a front-row seat to your dispute data.
@ycombinator If those are the two predictors of success, I better get my determination going.
@ycombinator “Persistence and determination alone are all-powerful.”
@ycombinator It’s simple really - don’t die. Or at the very least, prolong your death for as long as you can -.
@ycombinator At the same time, determination is also a talent.
@ycombinator This explains why my stubborn friend with average grades built a bigger company than our class genius.
I find it hard to believe that building a search engine is more difficult than running a newspaper. Imagine creating a workflow of humans coming up with objective stories about society in different fields and yet maintaining integrity. I admire @paulg but I think YC model of success is a mathematical certainty and newspaper is social anomaly. Imagine building a @ycombinator that measures not only potential but also measures success of a startup in a multi dimensional framework. Profit, Impact, Social Value you get the idea. Now that would be an Incubator that can be compared to a newspaper model of organization.
@ycombinator tl;dr never give up because not giving up is most of the battle 🙌
@ycombinator nice. this probably applies to more than just sucess in startups--creative careers and sports come to mind
@ycombinator @garrytan It’s often in the moments just after you give up that you would have succeeded if you kept going.
@ycombinator This will work the same even after newer generation comes into play even though they function and process things differently. Just bcuz of their early internet consumption
@ycombinator Brains is still a close second though.
@ycombinator I believe obsession on top of it make it more dangerous
