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I find Paul Graham to stand out even among the smartest people whose work I follow. He's prone to regular and incredible insights. Like a great stand up comedia

I find Paul Graham to stand out even among the smartest people whose work I follow. He's prone to regular and incredible insights. Like a great stand up comedian, he frequently notices things most of us manage to miss. He has his blind spots and faults, of course, like every human ever. And there is truth to the charge that his current popularity is inflated due to him being an investor. Many investors receive an undeserved amount of attention and adulation. After all, their entire job is to hand out millions of dollars. That tends to incline people towards paying attention. But I, along with many thousands of others, have been reading Paul Graham's essays since long before YC. That's how he launched YC (and Reddit, and Hacker News). This is proof that he was genuinely compelling long before he was an investor. His Lisp books were also great. So he was a successful book author, successful founder, successful essayist, then a successful investor. Not an example of someone failing upwards, as is disappointingly-common in The Valley.

nwienert 7y ago
I’ve read most of his stuff and find him to be no more compelling than just about anyone. He just packages it all up and puts it out there. But his foot-in-mouth ratio is also really high and he often tweets or writes about the most banal things as though he were discovering new physics.
- gist 7y ago
  I actually don't fault him (despite my other comments) for writing about 'the most banal things' I put that on the person who is reading that thinks it's more than it is. And seem to celebrate it. Likewise I remember when someone wrote (don't remember who) how they thought it was great that the janitor put a supply of plastic trash can liners at the bottom of the trash can so they'd be there in supply when needed (and when the trash was emptied by taking the existing filled bag). This is something I had done myself forever. Just seemed obvious. So it's more "what's the big deal why are you making like the janitor has figured out some really ingenious trick'"? Also the other thing that I would guess bothers people is when they say the same things it would get no notice at all (from friends or in an online comment). So it's more like 'why is this guy getting attention and I am not for these simple thoughts'? (This might have been parodied on SNL as 'deep thoughts by Jack Handy' iirc.
  - shadowprofile77 7y ago
    Just to briefly note, the trashcan liner storage thing is actually a bad idea if done like that. The reason why? Sometimes because of defects or rips caused by sharper pieces of trash, followed by kitchen/bathroom liquids accumulating in the same bag as its used, said bag leaks. Having stored the reserve bags inside the same can beneath it, you're now left with a leaky, full garbage bag that soaked not only the easy to clean can but also all the other folded bags, which is a more tedious sort of mess. Better to keep them nearby in a guaranteed dry place.
rmason 7y ago
To me his essays are far more important than his role in YC. When I meet a new startup, get talking to the founder and find out he's never heard of PG the first thing I do is send them a link to his essays. I've made life long friends that way, most people are effusive in their praise. Having started several companies I can truthfully say PG has figured out a lot of stuff every founder faces and it's removes a layer of complexity for everyone. Can you think of a startup thought leader that is more important? To me it's a very short list. In addition to PG mine would include Mark Andreesen, Steve Blank, Brad Feld and Naval Ravikant.
gist 7y ago
> Like a great stand up comedian, he frequently notices things most of us manage to miss. How in the world can you make that kind of statement? 'Most of us???'. You say that as if it's an easter egg hunt with 100 participants and PG came up with the most eggs that 'the others clearly could not find'.
- tim333 7y ago
  I guess 'most of us' is a bit vague as to which particular subset of the human population you are referring to but he's more perceptive than most of the stuff I see online.
exolymph 7y ago
> He's prone to regular and incredible insights. Like a great stand up comedian, he frequently notices things most of us manage to miss. Can you give an example?

nwienert 7y ago

I’ve read most of his stuff and find him to be no more compelling than just about anyone. He just packages it all up and puts it out there. But his foot-in-mouth ratio is also really high and he often tweets or writes about the most banal things as though he were discovering new physics.

gist 7y ago
I actually don't fault him (despite my other comments) for writing about 'the most banal things' I put that on the person who is reading that thinks it's more than it is. And seem to celebrate it. Likewise I remember when someone wrote (don't remember who) how they thought it was great that the janitor put a supply of plastic trash can liners at the bottom of the trash can so they'd be there in supply when needed (and when the trash was emptied by taking the existing filled bag). This is something I had done myself forever. Just seemed obvious. So it's more "what's the big deal why are you making like the janitor has figured out some really ingenious trick'"? Also the other thing that I would guess bothers people is when they say the same things it would get no notice at all (from friends or in an online comment). So it's more like 'why is this guy getting attention and I am not for these simple thoughts'? (This might have been parodied on SNL as 'deep thoughts by Jack Handy' iirc.
- shadowprofile77 7y ago
  Just to briefly note, the trashcan liner storage thing is actually a bad idea if done like that. The reason why? Sometimes because of defects or rips caused by sharper pieces of trash, followed by kitchen/bathroom liquids accumulating in the same bag as its used, said bag leaks. Having stored the reserve bags inside the same can beneath it, you're now left with a leaky, full garbage bag that soaked not only the easy to clean can but also all the other folded bags, which is a more tedious sort of mess. Better to keep them nearby in a guaranteed dry place.

rmason 7y ago

To me his essays are far more important than his role in YC. When I meet a new startup, get talking to the founder and find out he's never heard of PG the first thing I do is send them a link to his essays. I've made life long friends that way, most people are effusive in their praise. Having started several companies I can truthfully say PG has figured out a lot of stuff every founder faces and it's removes a layer of complexity for everyone. Can you think of a startup thought leader that is more important? To me it's a very short list. In addition to PG mine would include Mark Andreesen, Steve Blank, Brad Feld and Naval Ravikant.

gist 7y ago

> Like a great stand up comedian, he frequently notices things most of us manage to miss. How in the world can you make that kind of statement? 'Most of us???'. You say that as if it's an easter egg hunt with 100 participants and PG came up with the most eggs that 'the others clearly could not find'.

tim333 7y ago
I guess 'most of us' is a bit vague as to which particular subset of the human population you are referring to but he's more perceptive than most of the stuff I see online.

exolymph 7y ago

> He's prone to regular and incredible insights. Like a great stand up comedian, he frequently notices things most of us manage to miss. Can you give an example?