Paul Graham Keynote

Kevin — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 02:05:00 -0600

“The Power of the Marginal”
It’s cool if people have never heard of your programming language.
Many of the best companies started in garages.
Don’t major in what you like unless the thing you like happens to have a great teacher (and business classes typically don’t have good teachers, because most good businesspeople are too busy being good businesspeople to teach).
Big companies make bad people filter up to the top, since thoughtful people wouldn’t manage to play the politics as much as is necessary.
Outsiders have a big advantage in the extent to which they can take risks; if they fail, who cares.
Stupid ideas don’t make you stupid. Not risking enough to have stupid ideas probably means you’re not taking enough risks.
Eminent people just don’t have enough time to come up with earth-shattering ideas.
One way to make sure things are done right is to not delegate. Do everything yourself.
Since outsiders haven’t specialized and become known for one thing, they have the opportunity to work on a wider variety of things.
Eminent people refer to things they’re scared of as “not ready yet.” If someone refers to a programming language as “not ready yet,” jump on it.
Small projects have the potential to be perfect. They can have a personality. They can be done tonight!
Most people care more about the opinions of the ten people they care about most more than the rest put together.
If you end up being eminent, you may find that the best part is having an audience. (At this point he glances at the audience and smirks).
Since the marginal do have so much potential, people will try to dismiss you before you can get your act together: You’re on the right track if people say you’re 1. “Unqualified” or 2. “Inappropriate.” These are just other ways of saying, “we don’t like your type around here.” So if they say 1 or 2, keep rolling and they’re busted.

I definitely don’t like this guy less after having heard him speak. Check him out – his essays are all chilling.

notkeepingitreal.com: Paul Graham Keynote

Paul Graham Keynote