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paulg's profile
Paul Graham
Paul Graham
Paul Graham
Verified account
@paulg

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Paul GrahamVerified account

@paulg

paulgraham.com
Joined August 2010

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    1. Garry Tan‏Verified account @garrytan 12 Jul 2020

      People often ask if a startup idea is viable based on a description alone. Hard to answer without knowing all of these— 🧲 Can you get customers (CAC)? 🤩 Will they be delighted (NPS)? 🗓 Will they stick with it (long term cohort retention)? Only then can you answer viability.

      10 replies 124 retweets 649 likes
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      Paul Graham‏Verified account @paulg 12 Jul 2020
      Replying to @garrytan

      Sometimes you can tell just based on the description. (Don't ask for examples, because I can't remember any at the moment. But I definitely remember times I've realized an idea would work as soon as I heard it.)

      7:46 AM - 12 Jul 2020
      • 1 Retweet
      • 41 Likes
      • Simar Sanjai kutty ✨ Peter Shortino 💻 Travis Bloom Jess François Royer Mireault Ali Mohsen Yassine Rajallah Manish Rath
      11 replies 1 retweet 41 likes
        1. Manish Rath‏ @manishrath 12 Jul 2020
          Replying to @paulg @garrytan

          Do you think Neuralink would workout in the future or it'd just be a failure?

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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        1. amday‏ @dayalamit 12 Jul 2020
          Replying to @paulg @garrytan

          Airbnb would fall in opposite side

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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        1. New conversation
        2. Garry Tan‏Verified account @garrytan 12 Jul 2020
          Replying to @paulg

          That’s true. There are some things that just make sense because people really want it and it gives an intuitive sense for all the other measures. I did feel that way about Instacart!

          4 replies 0 retweets 10 likes
        3. Sanjai kutty  ✨‏ @sanjai_kutty 12 Jul 2020
          Replying to @garrytan @paulg

          Over the time it becomes as Tacit Knowledge, You just feel it right or wrong. You can't define it how or why. You just know/feel it.

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
        4. End of conversation
        1. Zachary Murray ₿ ⚡️‏ @Rudefire 12 Jul 2020
          Replying to @paulg @garrytan

          Do you think it's easier to accurately spot an idea that will work or and idea that won't work? Excluding truly, laughably bad ideas.

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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        1. Paul Graham‏Verified account @paulg 12 Jul 2020
          Replying to @paulg @garrytan

          What you can't predict (or at least I can't predict) is how big working turns out to be. Largely because that depends on the ability and drive of the founders, which is hard to judge when you meet them, let alone predict 5-10 years later.

          0 replies 2 retweets 32 likes
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        1. Evan LaPointe‏ @evanlapointe 12 Jul 2020
          Replying to @paulg @garrytan

          Always interesting when the idea is clearly something the world needs but unsure of whether it’s something the world wants...

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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        1. Aaron Benitez‏ @aaronbenitez_ 12 Jul 2020
          Replying to @paulg @garrytan

          Hotmail was an awesome idea but needed some convincing in a world that hadn't yet seen the power of ads to monetize. So, sometimes it's the description + the current market status.

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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        1. Nick Baum  🇸🇪‏Verified account @nickbaum 12 Jul 2020
          Replying to @paulg @garrytan

          I distinctly remember that feeling the first time @koomen told me about the idea for @Optimizely.

          0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
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        1. RUBEN B. MICHAEL RBC‏ @RBCREATORKINGS 12 Jul 2020
          Replying to @paulg @garrytan

          You cant tell all of it, some require hard works and more research to bring it to life....

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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