Paul Graham(@paulg)

Someone asked what was the best way to get hired by a startup. I told him it was to start one and th...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:57:33 GMT

Someone asked what was the best way to get hired by a startup. I told him it was to start one and then hire himself.

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Pro tip: Hang paintings so that the light on them is coming from the same direction as the light in ...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:42:43 GMT

Pro tip: Hang paintings so that the light on them is coming from the same direction as the light in them. If you can match the color too, that's even better.

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Playgrounds before they got nerfed.

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 15:31:37 GMT

Playgrounds before they got nerfed.

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14 yo asked how to write good essays. I asked if he meant the kind kids write in school, or actual g...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 15:25:57 GMT

14 yo asked how to write good essays. I asked if he meant the kind kids write in school, or actual good essays as written by adults. How strange that I have to ask that. If he asked how to solve a math problem, I wouldn't have to ask if he meant the school way or the real way.

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To publish something on a paywalled site is to make it invisible. If AIs can't find it, then for all...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 14:30:51 GMT

To publish something on a paywalled site is to make it invisible. If AIs can't find it, then for all practical purposes it doesn't exist.

These two sentences aren't 100% true yet, but they will only get truer.

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This is how things will be for the foreseeable future.

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 14:14:54 GMT

This is how things will be for the foreseeable future.

dax@thdxr

they've been non stop trying to attack our systems for the past 48 hours

a side effect is everything is getting hardened but damn we basically need agents going 24/7

because that's what they have

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Why is speaking of words "doing work" and "doing heavy lifting" so common in AI-generated replies? I...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 17:32:24 GMT

Why is speaking of words "doing work" and "doing heavy lifting" so common in AI-generated replies? I assume this phase will pass, but how did it happen at all? Is there one model with this idiosyncrasy that they all use?

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Does anyone else stir their tea or coffee before putting the milk in instead of after? (I do because...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 17:24:39 GMT

Does anyone else stir their tea or coffee before putting the milk in instead of after? (I do because the spoons are near the kettle, but the milk is in the fridge on the other side of the kitchen.)

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I've been tricked several times by redials, but I won't knowingly buy one. They're different from re...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 14:09:19 GMT

I've been tricked several times by redials, but I won't knowingly buy one. They're different from restorations on paintings because (a) they're irreversible, (b) they cover the entire dial, and (c) they're almost always badly done.

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One pitfall when buying old watches is "redials," or repainted dials. No reputable dealer will sell ...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 13:57:14 GMT

One pitfall when buying old watches is "redials," or repainted dials. No reputable dealer will sell you one without telling you (maybe with euphemisms like "restored" or "refurbished") but in auctions it's mostly buyer beware. Compare a redial (left) and original (right).

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Before it became possible to get rich by creating wealth, the way to do it was to be on the winning ...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 11:44:11 GMT

Before it became possible to get rich by creating wealth, the way to do it was to be on the winning side in a military or political dispute.

LiorLefineder@lefineder

After William conquered England in 1066, he incorporated 21% of the land in England as his royal estate.

Then came the rewards for his close followers: 57 people were given control of half the land in England.

Based on the origin of names in the Domesday Book, we can see that almost all major landholders were Norman; only a few hundred English landholders (mostly with smaller lands) are named, who in total possessed just 8% of the landed wealth in England (this figure includes ecclesiastical landholding as well; if only private landholders are counted, it would be even lower)."

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With the Man, Ron Conway.

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 23:13:39 GMT

With the Man, Ron Conway.

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If you were trying to create a brand that would sound strange to the Swiss, you couldn't do much bet...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 17:13:54 GMT

If you were trying to create a brand that would sound strange to the Swiss, you couldn't do much better.

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Founders are often puzzled when investors reject them for what seem like stupid reasons. There are t...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 11:27:16 GMT

Founders are often puzzled when investors reject them for what seem like stupid reasons. There are two possible explanations: (a) the investors actually are stupid, or (b) they just dislike you, and are making up the reason. And that or is not a xor.

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My favorite kind of person is the curious nerd with a sparkle in his eye.

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 22:02:33 GMT

My favorite kind of person is the curious nerd with a sparkle in his eye.

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Shopping with Jessica. Me: Do you like this tie? Jessica: If you had to dress up so much that you ...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 22:11:41 GMT

Shopping with Jessica.

Me: Do you like this tie?

Jessica: If you had to dress up so much that you had to wear a tie, I'd do everything in my power to prevent you from wearing that one.

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Before a meeting. Me: Can I wear Birkenstocks? Jessica: You met Obama with Birkenstocks.

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 12:36:23 GMT

Before a meeting.

Me: Can I wear Birkenstocks?

Jessica: You met Obama with Birkenstocks.

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10x a year for 3 years? I've seen a lot of growth, and that is truly exceptional. It's not unusual f...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 03:09:13 GMT

10x a year for 3 years? I've seen a lot of growth, and that is truly exceptional. It's not unusual for startups to grow 10x in a year, but to keep it up for 3 years is close to unheard of. That's 1000x.

Will Bryk@WilliamBryk

Exa just passed $100m in annualized revenue.

We've grown almost exactly 10x per year for 3 years. We now handle 2 billion requests a month from 200k+ teams. And it’s still so early:

We predict agents will search 1000x more than humans by 2030.

Agents don't search like humans. They write long, complex queries and want all the world's data, not just the web. We've spent 5 years building a search engine designed for them.

We now serve personal agents, AI labs, coding agents, GTM agents, really any agent. Exa gives these agents access to 100s of billions of web documents and tons of proprietary data.

Our customers are increasingly noticing that information is the bottleneck to agent performance. While the world seems close to perfect intelligence with models like Fable and Astra, we are very far from perfect information.

To our small but legendary team, thank you for getting us here, from engineering to research to GTM to ops.

To our customers, it is an honor to serve you. We have some exciting releases coming soon and can't wait to share them 🫡

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We are truly legit.

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 01:41:53 GMT

We are truly legit.

Luther Lowe@lutherlowe

On @Jeopardy rn…

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Last year's April Fool's joke is this year's reality (except for the name of the problem obviously).

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:52:39 GMT

Last year's April Fool's joke is this year's reality (except for the name of the problem obviously).

Timothy Gowers @wtgowers@wtgowers

It's finally happened: after several unsuccessful attempts, I found a prompt that got Grok to solve a maths problem (the well-known Dubnovy Blazen problem in graph theory) I've been working on for over a year. How long till it's better than human mathematicians across the board?

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The Tesla Model 3 with FSD is mind-blowing. Jessica and I drove to the gym without touching the cont...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:32:21 GMT

The Tesla Model 3 with FSD is mind-blowing. Jessica and I drove to the gym without touching the controls once. It backed out of our driveway, drove there, and backed into a parking space. It's amazing that you can buy so much future for $40k.

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So don't stress about moats, for example. Just grow. It's slightly bad not to have a moat, but it's ...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:27:49 GMT

So don't stress about moats, for example. Just grow. It's slightly bad not to have a moat, but it's far worse to pass on an opportunity to grow because it doesn't have one. Moats often emerge later anyway.

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In some respects AI has made the standard startup advice even more true. For example, one thing we t...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:23:21 GMT

In some respects AI has made the standard startup advice even more true. For example, one thing we tell startups is not to be conservative, because they have nothing to lose. Since they can move fast, they should. This is even more important now.

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One question founders always ask when we speak at YC is: How much of the standard startup advice sti...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:16:45 GMT

One question founders always ask when we speak at YC is: How much of the standard startup advice still applies in the age of AI? At this point, nearly all of it. I can't promise that will be true in 10 years, but at this moment, starting a startup is much the same as always.

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If customers won't buy your stuff, try asking what they would buy. This sounds obvious, but surprisi...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:12:05 GMT

If customers won't buy your stuff, try asking what they would buy. This sounds obvious, but surprisingly few founders do it, and it often yields valuable insights.

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Did office hours yesterday with a very smart but nerdy founder. When I suggested he might want a mor...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 14:25:21 GMT

Did office hours yesterday with a very smart but nerdy founder. When I suggested he might want a more outgoing cofounder to do sales, he said he didn't, because most of his sales would be to agents. I had to admit he could be right.

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Did office hours yesterday with a very smart but nerdy founder. When I suggested he might want a mor...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 14:13:18 GMT

Did office hours yesterday with a very smart but nerdy founder. When I suggested he might want a more outgoing cofounder to do sales, he said didn't, because most of his sales would be to agents. I had to agree he could be right.

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The movement in this watch is a famous one, the AP cal 2120, which is in turn based on the JLC cal 9...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 16:47:48 GMT

The movement in this watch is a famous one, the AP cal 2120, which is in turn based on the JLC cal 920.  When it was launched in 1967 it was the thinnest full-rotor automatic movement ever made, at 2.45 mm. It still is.

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Since this movement is a self-winding one, there's a rotor on the other side. It's the gold semi-cir...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 16:37:48 GMT

Since this movement is a self-winding one, there's a rotor on the other side. It's the gold semi-circle occupying the bottom half of the movement. This rotates as you move your arm, keeping the watch wound. You want a rotor to be dense, so this one is 21k gold.

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This skeletonized Audemars Piguet 14232 is a great way to understand how movements work. The big cir...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 16:30:30 GMT

This skeletonized Audemars Piguet 14232 is a great way to understand how movements work. The big circle at 1:00 is the muscle: the barrel, which contains the mainspring. The other, at 5:30, is the brain: the balance wheel, which oscillates rapidly to keep time.

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@mattyglesias Apparently it's mostly just because they haven't made much of an effort to train it to...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 22:38:37 GMT

@mattyglesias Apparently it's mostly just because they haven't made much of an effort to train it to write well yet.

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The Patek Philippe reference 1578, 1962.

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 21:59:16 GMT

The Patek Philippe reference 1578, 1962.

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Talked to someone recently who knows a lot about defense tech, and he made an interesting point: the...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 21:52:44 GMT

Talked to someone recently who knows a lot about defense tech, and he made an interesting point: the test of most military hardware right now is whether the Ukrainians want it. They have a hot war going against a determined opponent, and they know what works.

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"You've made it abundantly clear that you care more about work than about me, or this family." — a ...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 05:19:34 GMT

"You've made it abundantly clear that you care more about work than about me, or this family."

— a friend's 6 yo daughter as she left on a work trip

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Your usage restrictions are my opportunity.

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 02:04:33 GMT

Your usage restrictions are my opportunity.

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Any business that bans agents represents an opportunity for a startup to create a competitor. If the...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 02:02:52 GMT

Any business that bans agents represents an opportunity for a startup to create a competitor. If they need to ban agents, it must mean people want to use them, or there would be no point. And that in turn means there's demand for a competitor that allows them.

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Amazon banning agents is the first opportunity I've seen since Amazon was founded for a startup to c...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 01:47:16 GMT

Amazon banning agents is the first opportunity I've seen since Amazon was founded for a startup to create an Amazon competitor. People will want agents to buy stuff for them. It will be one of the main use cases. And they won't want to use some Amazon-supplied agent to do it.

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"I feel kind of gross. I ate the same amount as you." — Jessica after going to Gott's

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 01:01:23 GMT

"I feel kind of gross. I ate the same amount as you."

— Jessica after going to Gott's

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The problem is not just that these hired managers are from outside. They're also a different kind of...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 18:51:54 GMT

The problem is not just that these hired managers are from outside. They're also a different kind of person. As one founder put it, "their loyalty is to their career, not to the company."

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When you talk to successful founders, they always wish they'd hired fewer top managers from outside....

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 18:49:12 GMT

When you talk to successful founders, they always wish they'd hired fewer top managers from outside. I don't think I've ever met a founder who wished he or she had promoted fewer people from within.

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Talking to Amjad yesterday, I realized Replit is more important than I'd previously thought. It's th...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:43:23 GMT

Talking to Amjad yesterday, I realized Replit is more important than I'd previously thought. It's the way AI pervades organizations. Organizations can become somewhat aligned with AI by using AI-powered apps, but the deepest change takes the form of code.

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This is the 853 inside this watch: https://t.co/0iCSj4TUWt

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 13:48:41 GMT

This is the 853 inside this watch:

x.com/paulg/status/2…

Paul Graham@paulg

From what I've learned so far about the golden age of mechanical watches, this is roughly the peak: a 35 mm IWC with a cal 853 and dauphine hands.

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The IWC cal 853, one of the great automatic movements of the golden age.

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 13:36:04 GMT

The IWC cal 853, one of the great automatic movements of the golden age.

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It's great to have competitors who are motivated by money. If they're any good, they eventually get ...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 14:33:52 GMT

It's great to have competitors who are motivated by money. If they're any good, they eventually get it, and then they stop working. And if they aren't good, they aren't good.

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Halloween 2014: A very serious 2 yo wants the full bat experience.

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 23:56:29 GMT

Halloween 2014: A very serious 2 yo wants the full bat experience.

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Nasty problems aren't completely useless though. So-called "real world" problems are often nasty pro...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 20:39:01 GMT

Nasty problems aren't completely useless though. So-called "real world" problems are often nasty problems. So working on them is often a good way to make money, or to make people's lives better. Just don't choose one by accident.

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If I had to say in one word what distinguishes the juicy ones, the word might be unity. Nasty proble...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 20:38:31 GMT

If I had to say in one word what distinguishes the juicy ones, the word might be unity. Nasty problems tend to be collections of random, often extrinsic constraints. Juicy problems have one main thing you're trying to solve

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One very important thing that even the smartest people seem to have to learn from experience is tast...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 20:38:01 GMT

One very important thing that even the smartest people seem to have to learn from experience is taste in problems. There are juicy problems that tend to lead to interesting discoveries, and nasty problems that tend not to.

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If I had to say in one word what distinguishes the juicy ones, the word might be unity. Nasty proble...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 20:33:36 GMT

If I had to say in one word what distinguishes the juicy ones, the word might be unity. Nasty problems tend to be collections of random, often extrinsic constraints. Juicy problems have one main thing you're trying to solve.

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One very important thing that even the smartest people seem to have to learn from experience is tast...

Paul Graham (@paulg) — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 20:28:59 GMT

One very important thing that even the smartest people seem to have to learn from experience is taste in problems. There are juicy problems that tend to lead to interesting discoveries, and nasty problem that tend not to.

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