Paul Graham · 2012 · 10 min
Startup = Growth
A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Anything not designed for growth isn't a startup, it's a small business.
Key Takeaways
- 01The benchmark inside YC: 5–7% week-over-week growth is good. 10% is exceptional. Below 1% means something's wrong.
- 02Growth rate is the single best predictor of startup success. More than team. More than market. More than tech.
- 03Compound math: 5%/week = 12.6x in a year. That's the difference between $10k MRR and $126k MRR.
- 04If you're not growing, the answer is almost never 'we need more PR.' It's almost always 'the product isn't good enough yet.'
Distilled
This is the essay every founder should re-read every quarter. PG's argument: the entire reason VC exists is to fund the rare companies that can grow fast enough to be worth orders-of-magnitude returns.
Implication: if you're growing 1%/week and you tell yourself 'we'll figure it out,' you won't. The thing that needs to change is fundamental — the product, the market, or both.
Source
paulgraham.com — Startup = Growth →We summarize so you can decide whether to read the full piece. Always read the source for context.