Primary source
Paul Graham: Selected Essays
Written by Paul Graham · 2026 · grounds Paul Graham
Overview
A growing synthesis of Paul Graham's official essay archive on startups, users, programming, writing, taste, ambition, and doing great work. The first source-backed slice covers six canonical essays; the private sync pipeline can backfill the rest without republishing his full text.
A full write-up of this book has not been published yet.
Skills drawn from this book
Installable Claude Code skills grounded in this text. Each one teaches a framework the book actually argues for.
/paul-graham:paul-grahamChannel Paul GrahamGet out of startup theater and back to users, product, maker time, and the smallest test that can teach you something real.
/paul-graham:do-things-that-dont-scaleDo Things That Don't ScaleReplace abstract growth planning with manual recruiting, close observation, and an unusually attentive first-user experience.
/paul-graham:default-aliveDefault AliveUse current cash, burn, and growth to determine whether the company reaches profitability before the bank balance reaches zero.
/paul-graham:maker-scheduleProtect the Maker ScheduleCluster coordination and recover the uninterrupted blocks required to hold a large creative problem in your head.
/paul-graham:great-work-projectFind the Great-Work ProjectMove from vague ambition to a field, its frontier, an interesting gap, and one project that creates feedback this week.