paul graham

paul graham is a pretty fascinating guy who's done a lot across different fields. he studied philosophy at cornell, got a phd in computer science from harvard, and even took up painting at the rhode island school of design and the accademia di belle arti in florence. it's not every day you see someone who can write about programming languages and also critique renaissance art.

in 1995, he co-founded viaweb, a service that let people create their own online stores, which was a big deal at the time. they coded it in lisp (of course) and took advantage of its flexibility to iterate quickly.

one of my favorite stories about him comes from this period; graham got the idea for viaweb after hearing a radio segment about netscape's vision of ecommerce. he was low on cash but determined not to return to consulting. instead, he teamed up with his old hacker buddy, robert morris, to build software that ran directly on a web server without needing to be downloaded, an idea no one had tried before. the company eventually sold to yahoo for around 50 million dollars.

in 2005, after a talk he gave at the harvard computer society sparked a strong reaction, he co-founded y combinator. yc has helped launch companies like dropbox, reddit, and airbnb, so it's been incredibly influential in the tech world. the program provides funding, advice, and mentorship to startups.

he's also an incredible writer, publishing essays on topics like programming, startups, art, and even life itself. that's what makes him not just a brilliant mind but also an inspiring figure. if you ever get the chance, dive into his essays, they're as thought-provoking as they are practical.

paul graham's essays
my favorite lecture of paul graham

even though i have zero interest in computers, technology, or programming, i've read both his book and many of the essays on his website, some of them even twice. he's an investor, programmer, and writer, and i feel like his essays touch on topics that appeal to a wide audience. but what stands out even more than the topics is the flow of logic in his writing. it's like watching a stone rolling downhill in the world of possibilities; every cause-and-effect relationship just falls into place naturally.

i absolutely admire the way this guy thinks. pay attention to how he analyzes problems in his talks. first, there's a "hmm," then he asks a few really simple, almost childlike questions; ones that others might dismiss as overly basic. but that's exactly how he comes up with objective analyses, unclouded by trends of the day. i don't recall him using many buzzwords, probably because he avoids thinking within the limits of meanings and values that people impose on words.

a renaissance man, fun, intellectual, nerd, multicultural, and genuinely good person; at least this is how i see him. as someone who is a regular reader of his essays, i can say his ideas, insights, and overall demeanor in both professional and everyday life make him a role model worth emulating. his education is equally extraordinary (as mentioned above).

in a y combinator interview, he mentioned how, while working on the website they later sold to yahoo, he and his friend stumbled into the dark web out of curiosity. if i remember correctly, they were at harvard's library when the fbi detained them. during the interrogation, his friend explained, 'we were just curious to see what's going on there.' after a long questioning session, they were placed under fbi surveillance for a while. classic hacker stuff, right?!

oh, and here's a photo of him (he's the second from the left).