29 key startup principles from Paul Graham

Paul Graham started writing essays while at YCombinator over 2 decades ago. The startup world has certainly evolved over the years and even more so the world revolving around them. However, these foundational principles remain true.

• Ideas for startups often come from solving your own problems.
• A good startup idea should have at least one of three things: it's something you're passionate about, it solves a problem you have, or it's something you're good at.
• The best way to predict the future is to build it.
• Move fast and break things.
• A startup is a company designed to grow fast.
• A startup is a company that is confused about what its product is.
• The key to growing a startup is to learn as fast as possible.
• The ideal size for a startup team is around three to five people.
• The best startups are often started by people who are still in school or in their early 20s.
• Don't worry about competition. Worry about creating something that people love.
• Make something people want.
• A startup is a company that is trying to answer a question nobody knows the answer to.
• The most important quality for a startup CEO is determination.
• A startup is a company that is being run by a small group of people who are trying to discover how to build a scalable business.
• To be a successful startup founder, you need to be an expert in something.
• A startup is a company that is trying to create something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty.
• The goal of a startup is to figure out the right thing to build—the thing customers want and will pay for—as quickly as possible.
• If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late.
• Don't let your ideas be dragged down by the standard of what already exists.
• Don't scale too soon.
• Your job is to do what you do best and delegate the rest.
• Don't take VC money until you have to.
• If you want to start a startup, don't think too much. Just do it.
• To be successful, a startup has to be run like a cult.
• The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas. It's to look for problems, preferably problems you have yourself.
• The biggest mistake startups make is not making something people want.
• Your first 10 users are more important than your next 10,000.
• If you're going to start a startup, you should know from the beginning that it's going to be hard.
• The best way to raise money for a startup is to not need it.