Essay · ~15 min read

The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups

Paul Graham · paulgraham.com Free Beginner

This essay names the exact trap you are in: delays in launching are usually fear of being judged and excessive perfectionism wearing the costume of polish. Graham gives you the mirror to catch yourself, most famously the gut-check of asking whether you would still wait if the product were 100 percent finished and ready to launch at the push of a button. Read it when the tweaking feels productive but the launch date keeps sliding.

  • Endless polishing is often fear of judgment in disguise, so naming it is the first way to catch yourself doing it.
  • Ask honestly: if the page were finished and one click from live, would you still be finding reasons to wait?
  • You have not really started until you launch, because real users teach you things no amount of solo editing can.
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The question it answers

  1. How do investors judge a founding team, and does a solo founder get penalized?

Read with it

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  2. Most of the solo-vs-team debate is written for US VCs writing US-sized cheques. This one is written for the Indian raise, where... Xartup Article · 9 min read Solo Founder vs Co-Founders: What VCs Really Think Asmita (Spotlight by Xartup)
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