About this source
Paul Graham's autobiographical essay tracing his intellectual and professional journey from programming on an IBM 1401 through founding Viaweb, writing essays, starting Y Combinator, and painting — revealing how following curiosity and working on what matters leads to an extraordinary career.
Frameworks extracted
3 totalENTmonths
The Organic Startup Method
Build what you need, then discover it is a company
PRODmonths
The Working On Hard Problems Principle
Choose work by its difficulty and interestingness, not its payoff
SELFongoing
Curiosity-Led Career Navigation
Follow genuine curiosity through domains to build an unexpected career