Essay · ~20 min read

Startup = Growth

Paul Graham Free Beginner

This is the essay that forces the honest question underneath your idea: are you building a growth company or a good small business, because they are different DNA and require different lives. Graham is blunt that a barbershop is not a startup no matter how new it is, and that clarity helps you choose on purpose instead of drifting. There is nothing wrong with either path, but you should pick the one you actually want before you spend years on it.

  • A startup is defined by fast growth, not by being new or funded, so a business that cannot grow fast is a different (and often fine) choice, just not a startup.
  • Growth needs two things at once: something many people want, and a way to reach them at scale, if either is missing the idea caps out as a niche.
  • Deciding whether your idea can grow beyond a niche is really deciding what kind of company, and what kind of years, you are signing up for.
Open on paulgraham.com ↗

It answers 12 questions

  1. My launch flopped and nobody cared, did I mess it up?
  2. My market is small right now but growing fast. Is that a problem?
  3. How do I know when something we shipped is actually working versus just launched?
  4. How do I know if I've found product-market fit?
  5. Can I bootstrap first and raise VC later, or does that close doors?
  6. How do I evaluate whether an idea is big enough to be worth years of my life?
  7. What is a sane way to prioritise between fixing bugs, paying customer promises, and building the exciting new thing?
  8. How much of the market do I realistically need to capture for this to be a real business?
  9. At what point in my journey should I actually start caring about unit economics, versus just focusing on getting users?
  10. How do I research market size and timing when I can only spend a weekend and have no budget for reports?
  11. Two of us disagree on how big the opportunity is. How do we resolve a market-size argument between cofounders?
  12. How do I know if venture funding is even right for my startup, and what are the alternatives?

Read with it

  1. Turns the vague feeling of product-market fit into a number you can move. Ask users how they would feel if they could no longer... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product/Market Fit Rahul Vohra
  2. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  3. The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for... paulgraham.com Essay · ~20 min read How to Get Startup Ideas Paul Graham
  4. The essay that put 'product-market fit' into the startup vocabulary. Read it for the gut-level description of what PMF feels... pmarchive.com Essay · ~15 min read The Only Thing That Matters Marc Andreessen
  5. Most market sizing advice online is generic TAM SAM SOM filler. This one is written by an investor, backed by a survey of 30... Pear VC Essay · ~15 min read Market Sizing Guide Ian Taylor
  6. Video · ~50 min How to Evaluate Startup Ideas Kevin Hale, Y Combinator
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