Paul Graham – Lessons For Startups (2006)

We extracted the key points from a talk by Paul Graham titled Paul Graham’s Lessons For Startups 2006

1. Release early – iterate based on users’ reactions & create a sense of urgency to fix live bugs
2. Keep pumping out features – force yourself to improve by listening to users & avoiding complexity, continuous improvement is great marketing
3. Make users happy – show users what the software does, loyal users are worth more than gold
4. Fear the right things – worry about startups and future competitors, not big companies or current competitors. Top concerns: internal miscues, inertia, ignoring users
5. Commitment is a self-fulfilling prophecy – investors judge startups by the founders’ commitment
6. There’s always room – think of the possibilities for improvement, not the status quo
7. Don’t get your hopes up – be flexible, keep other options open, focus on users, be realistic about what you expect from others (users, employees, deals)

Startups are fun 🙂