Before the Startup with Paul Graham (How to Start a Startup 2014: Lecture 3)

TL;DR

Startups are profoundly counterintuitive; following natural instincts leads to failure, similar to learning to ski. The crucial skill is deep domain expertise and user understanding, not startup mechanics or fundraising tricks. Founders must avoid "playing house" by going through motions and instead focus solely on making something people want.

Key insights

• Startups are as unnatural as skiing; your first instinct will be wrong, and you must consciously suppress it.
• You can trust your instincts about people; distrusting someone who seems impressive but somehow off is a common fatal mistake, especially for engineers who wrongly assume business is supposed to be di
• Expertise in startups is not what you need; you need expertise in your own users. Mark Zuckerberg succeeded despite being a startup noob because he understood users.