Startup quotes, traced and tested
Famous lines about building companies, read closely
Each essay starts from one sentence a founder or investor is known for. It traces who said it, where and to whom, then tests the advice against what happened in practice: where it holds, where it breaks, and what to weigh instead.
A good first read is If the first version doesn’t embarrass you, it shipped too late, on Reid Hoffman’s rule for launching early: what kind of embarrassment he meant, and where shipping early does damage.
Most read
The essays readers open most, in order.
ProductIf the first version doesn't embarrass you, it shipped too lateThe embarrassment should come from what is missing, never from what is broken. And it works best when few people are watching.
ExecutionMove fast and break things, and count what breaks
ExecutionInterest can stand in for a plan, up to a point
Founders and teamsExplaining something to a peer shows what you do not know- 05ExecutionPunches you can see coming beat the slow kindPaul Graham
- 06ExecutionThe hard part is letting go of the old ideaEdwin Land
- 07ProductDesign is how the thing worksSteve Jobs
- 08ExecutionThe word “try” is often an excuse filed in advanceYoda
- Fog Creek's marketing experiments, and the release that beat themJoel Spolsky2011
- Every feature keeps sending a billDavid Karp2011
- When the market sours, the business underneath is what remainsFred Wilson2011
- Built in the downturn, collected in the recoveryJason Calacanis2011
- For the person using it, the screen is all there isAza Raskin2011
- Nothing is viral until other people decide it isPeter Shankman2011
- The feeling of being finished is the thing to watchIngvar Kamprad2011
- An idea earns its value when someone uses itThomas Edison2011
- What gets measured and watched gets better, mostlyBob Parsons2011
- Small companies win with attention, not muscleJack Ma2011
- Working alone, the day starts with one choiceNoah Everett2011
- Ship it, iterate hard, and admit the outcome is a hopeKyle Bragger2011
75 essays, 2010–2014
Founders and teams
Sentences about the people doing the building, alone and together.
- Mark Zuckerberg's lines, and what they meant for building a companyMark Zuckerberg2014
- Build the rough version the technology allows todayDennis Crowley2011
- The objection that became the featureAaron Patzer2011
- Someone at the table is better than youTony Hsieh2011
- Acting brilliant is the slow road to being seen as brilliantSeth Godin2011
- Progress runs through the change people resistCharles F. Kettering2011
- A theory is worth what it does in the shopJames Cash Penney2011
- Richest in the cemetery was never the goalSteve Jobs2011
- The complaint that says the price is rightPaul Graham2011
- Running out of cash is honest, but lateDavid Heinemeier Hansson2011
- Traction attracts investors, but not every good product has the kind they wantDavid Cohen2011
- The business model Instapaper runs onMarco Arment2011
Worth your time
Borrowing to bootstrap: set the stopping rule first
Seth Godin’s The Dip says winners quit the right things at the right time, and Poland makes that moment easy to postpone: six months free of social contributions and two years of reduced ones leave almost nothing outside a founder to force a verdict, so the sum, the date and the number that has to move are best written down before the first loan, from a bank or from Avinto.
Speakers
Everyone whose words open an essay, by surname. A name leads to that speaker's essays in the archive.
ASachin AgarwalSam AltmanMarco Arment 2Michael Arrington 2Jeff Atwood 2
BMicah Baldwin 2Jim BarksdaleJen BekmanScott Belsky 2Marc Benioff 3Kyle Bragger 2Richard BransonJim BreyerPaul BuchheitWarren BuffettBrad Burnham
CJason Calacanis 2Ryan Carson 2Steve Case 2Jean-David ChamboredonBilly ChasenBrian Chesky 2Gary ChouJeff ClavierJon Yongfook CockleDavid Cohen 2Jason CohenJim Collins 4Ron Conway 2Dennis Crowley 4Mark Cuban 4Leah Culver
DBart DecremMichael Dell 2Walt DisneyChris DixonJohn Doerr 3Jack Dorsey 2Esther Dyson 2
EThomas Edison 2Roger EhrenbergLarry Ellison 4Noah Everett
FCaterina Fake 3Brad FeldHenry Ford 2Ryan Freitas 2Jason Fried 3Spencer Fry 2
GTodd GarlandGordon GekkoSeth Godin 6Chuck GordonPaul Graham 4Dan GreenbergForrest Gump
HKevin HaleOmar Hamoui 2David Heinemeier Hansson 2Scott Heiferman 2Reid Hoffman 4Ben HorowitzDrew Houston 2Tony Hsieh 4Arianna Huffington 4Chris Hughes 2Ben Huh 3
JJosh JamesMagnus JepsonSteve Jobs 6
KRob KalinIngvar Kamprad 4Justin Kan 2David Karp 3Guy KawasakiAlan Kay 2Ben Keighran 2Tom KelleyCharles F. Kettering 2Joe Kraus 3
LSarah Lacy 2Edwin Land 4Jessica Livingston 2Michael Lopp 2
MJack Ma 3Dan MartellAndrew Mason 2Marissa Mayer 2Greg McAdoo 2Dave McClure 2Matt Mullenweg 2Garrett Murray
NJake Nickell 2Friedrich Nietzsche
OTim O'Reilly 2Pierre Omidyar 2
PLarry Page 2Sean ParkerBob Parsons 2Aaron Patzer 4James Cash Penney 3Jonah PerettiMark Pincus 3Shervin PishevarTom Preston-Werner 3
RSean RadAza Raskin 4Matt RutledgeNolan Ryan
SBijan Sabet 2Joshua Schachter 2Howard SchultzHiten ShahPeter ShankmanKathy SierraAdam Smith 2Angelo Sotira 2Gregg SpiridellisJoel Spolsky 4Tony StarkBiz Stone 2Lisa StoneJeremy Stoppelman 2Mark Suster 2
WTim Westergren 3Wendy Tan WhiteEvan Williams 2Fred Wilson 6Rebecca Woodcock
YYoda