Explained to my 9 yo how programming works: 1. You have something you want to do. 2. You write code to do it. 3.… https://t.co/6ipSoNIEKF
— paulg (@paulg)
If your startup is growing well, but there are some things you can't do because you don't have enough people, that'… https://t.co/qUTtC0LCE8
— paulg (@paulg)
A simple rule I taught my 9 yo today: If you can't figure something out, figure out how to figure it out.
— paulg (@paulg)
Flight delayed by 2 hours. Spent the time doing yoga in a corner of the terminal. Went to the gate feeling I'd beat… https://t.co/Jdhh1Zg2aZ
— paulg (@paulg)
Imagine the reaction on Twitter if Darwin published the Origin of Species today. It was bad enough for him at the t… https://t.co/9SAFqwLptH
— paulg (@paulg)
9 yo: What's the point of life? Me: I think there are two: to do great things and to be good to people. 9 yo: Can… https://t.co/CzPrU2B1NW
— paulg (@paulg)
If your technology is better but potential customers are too set in their ways to switch, use it yourself and compete with them.
— paulg (@paulg)
If the description of your startup has the word "platform" in it, there's a better description that doesn't.
— paulg (@paulg)
"If just you keep your mind resting against the subject in a friendly but persistent way, sooner or later you will… https://t.co/2VmVkdD7A7
— paulg (@paulg)
The future is not hard to see. You've already seen it. You just didn't realize it, because you dismissed it as a toy.
— paulg (@paulg)
If there's some type of work you enjoy even more when things go wrong, it's probably a type of work you're suited for.
— paulg (@paulg)
You don't become a tech hub by being the new home of Amazon, but by being the home of the new Amazon.
— paulg (@paulg)
One thing that makes me skeptical about the EU long term is the way they seem to view regulation not as an unfortun… https://t.co/Ujc6XD7Qzr
— paulg (@paulg)
There are two places to find new ideas: places no one has looked before, and places where people have looked, but n… https://t.co/CR8cNdoxtp
— paulg (@paulg)
It's a good sign when people misuse your x software to do y. It means they want y a lot.
— paulg (@paulg)
If you're the best, your competitors will lie about you and/or themselves. They have no choice. They can't say "we'… https://t.co/qNBIPSsIVJ
— paulg (@paulg)
The danger of competitors, for a good startup, is not that they'll take your users, but that you'll do dumb things out of fear of them.
— paulg (@paulg)
Trends in startups at Demo Day: More AI, more biotech, more companies from outside the US. Will the next Airbnb be in Nigeria? Could be.
— paulg (@paulg)
6 yo: Imagine if they banned sweets. Me: What would happen if the government banned sweets? 6 yo: There would be… https://t.co/v7eIycSiUQ
— paulg (@paulg)
Hypothesis: You're sufficiently engaged with your work (e.g. writing, programming, math) if you can rewrite it in your head on a walk.
— paulg (@paulg)
The best protection against competitor x is to do things that are contrary to their DNA.
— paulg (@paulg)
Me: I read that self-control is about 60% inherited. 9 yo (aghast): Does that mean I'm going to be fat?
— paulg (@paulg)
Popular environmentalism (e.g. banning plastic straws) is like the way inexperienced programmers optimize code at r… https://t.co/HfqmM81Or7
— paulg (@paulg)
Now that I'm the annoying parent always taking pictures rather than the child squirming at being photographed, I un… https://t.co/prEuvYtdjq
— paulg (@paulg)
If nine year olds played football at school the way they do math, it would consist entirely of drills zigzagging th… https://t.co/m8PoqkLNVx
— paulg (@paulg)
12 years ago today, I finished writing Hacker News. (I delayed launching it till Feb 07, IIRC because the Reddits w… https://t.co/lbpa4RCQWk
— paulg (@paulg)
My 9 yo informed me today that the sinking of the Titanic was a hoax. Thanks Youtube.
— paulg (@paulg)
Now when I tell my kids not to swear, my 9 yo plays Youtube videos of me swearing during talks.
— paulg (@paulg)
When my older son was 5, the teacher asked the children to each describe how they prayed. My son said he would dig… https://t.co/nxTq3A1cc4
— paulg (@paulg)
Laziness + fastidiousness can be a substitute for diligence: 1. Solve the problem in a hackish way. 2. Your disgu… https://t.co/kqbmOrz5rv
— paulg (@paulg)
Twitter is such a constraining medium that anyone who starts an important conversation on it that they could have s… https://t.co/s2lJuDDMtX
— paulg (@paulg)
I would be so excited to read an investor update where "we've achieved product-market fit" was followed by "now we'… https://t.co/3ckdycbEEx
— paulg (@paulg)
I bet I've heard 100 startups explain why they failed to raise money, and I don't think I've heard one say that the… https://t.co/aZK76Vm8lf
— paulg (@paulg)
6 yo gets his first steak: Server: How do you want it done? Jessica: Medium well, please. 6 yo: No, I want it done great!
— paulg (@paulg)
"That was the old me. Now I'm more civilized." – 6 yo explaining why he won't misbehave this time
— paulg (@paulg)
One way (admittedly not the best way) to find startup ideas is to ask what organizations would be good to compete w… https://t.co/C5fHshRQ0v
— paulg (@paulg)
Me: If you could pick an age to stop getting older, which would you choose? 9 yo: 27. 6 yo: I like being 6.
— paulg (@paulg)
A competition where 10% of kids win awards is ok, and one where 100% do is ok too (though it fools no kid over 4),… https://t.co/ENArYQq6oB
— paulg (@paulg)
A startup asked what lessons they should take away from fundraising. I told them: that fundraising sucks, and they… https://t.co/cnbtlIEjlY
— paulg (@paulg)
When you compress something sufficiently, you discover its essence. Conciseness has many advantages, but that is the greatest.
— paulg (@paulg)
If you're upset about how you look in a photo, just check back a few years later and you'll find you're looking better.
— paulg (@paulg)
If you're ambitious, there is an isomorph of this brilliantly brutal essay by Bourdain about your intended field. I… https://t.co/iAxWdICw7j
— paulg (@paulg)
Me: If you could decide now how tall you'd be when you grow up, what would you choose? 9 yo: Six two. 6 yo: A hundred feet.
— paulg (@paulg)
We think of social media as a way to exchange ideas, but although it's undoubtedly a way to exchange conventional i… https://t.co/QEUYIlzfqw
— paulg (@paulg)