Essay

The Right Kind of Stubborn

Paul Graham · paulgraham.com Free Intermediate

Graham draws a sharp line between persistence and mere obstinacy: the persistent stay flexible on method while locked onto the goal, which is exactly the mindset a follow-up sequence needs. It reframes "don't give up" as a skill made of judgment and adaptation, not just stubbornness, so you know why you're still emailing on touch five and not just repeating touch one.

  • Persistence means changing your approach while keeping the goal fixed, not repeating the same move
  • Obstinacy looks like persistence but ignores feedback, which is why generic bump emails fail
  • Energy plus judgment, not raw stubbornness, is what makes follow-up actually work
Open on paulgraham.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. How many times should I follow up before giving up on a cold prospect?

Read with it

  1. A YC partner turns 'talk to users' into a repeatable 5-question interview script you can use this afternoon. It's The Mom Test... YC Startup Library Video · ~25 min How to Talk to Users Eric Migicovsky (YC / founder of Pebble)
  2. This is the book most modern cold outbound advice quietly borrows from, so reading the source is worth it. Its "Cold Calling... Amazon Book · ~208 pages Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler
  3. If you want to fix the follow-up mindset for good, this is the book, and this is the author's own page for it. Blount is blunt... jebblount.com (official) Book · ~320 pages Fanatical Prospecting Jeb Blount
  4. This is the canonical structure for the investor cold email, written by a YC partner who reads them from the other side. It is... Y Combinator Startup Library Essay · 5 min read How to Cold Email Investors Aaron Harris
  5. An Indian founder story where the early demand test was manual, cold emails and direct outreach to find the first customers... Prime Venture Partners Podcast Podcast · ~50 min How Khadim Batti Built Whatfix Into a Global SaaS Leader Prime Venture Partners
  6. A short, practical guide you can lift straight into your own process: how many times to follow up, what to say at each touch,... Close Template The Follow Up Formula Steli Efti
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →