Lecture 3 - Before the Startup (Paul Graham)

That short. Like, long introductions are no good. Sam knows. Alright, ready, everybody? I'm not gonna ask if the mic is working like in every talk so far. I'll just assume it's working.

No!

No, fuck!

All right, well make it work somebody.

It works, it works

All right, this is like some kinda class tradition. All right, all right. I wrote out my talk and afterwards in a couple days I will like turn it from a talk into an essay and put it online. So, you don't have to take notes, just, just listen.

All right. So, one of the advantages of having kids is that when you have to give advice to people, you can ask yourself, what would I tell my own kids? And actually, you find this really focuses you. So, even though my kids are little. My two-year-old today, when I asked what he was gonna be after two? He said a bat. The correct answer was three. But a bat is so much more interesting.

So even though my kids are little, I already know what I would tell them about startups if they were in college. And so that is what I am gonna tell you. So, you're literally getting what I would give my own kids, since most of you are young enough to be my own kids.

All right. So, startups are very counterintuitive. And I'm not sure exactly why, it could be simply