Paul Graham

When you're doing a deal with a large organization, find out if the people you're negotiating with actually have final say. Usually they don't, and that means the deal you've agreed upon can be, and often is, killed at the last minute by higher ups.

Here's a simpler version that works just as well in practice: when making a deal with a large organization, no matter what they say, assume the deal will be cancelled at the last moment.

This doesn't just mean "don't get your hopes up." It also has practical consequences. It means you should actively pursue other alternatives in parallel.

Though they may be composed of upstanding individuals, the structure of large organizations causes them to behave in ways that would be evil, if they were an individual person. So remember, whenever you're dealing with a large organization, you're also dealing with an evil one.

Since 10 yo's current career plans are field biology and fiction, on the drive to school I suggested he try combining them by inventing some fictional creatures. Agreeing that nothing could be more logical, he immediately set to work.

Hence the striped butter lizard, which exudes a toxic grease and is striped to warn predators; the arctic butter lizard, an invasive species accidentally brought north by Vikings; and the false butter lizard, which mimics the striped butter lizard to scare predators.

The first step to starting a startup has nothing to do with "entrepreneurship." It's to develop deep technical expertise of some sort, so that you look at the world with informed eyes.

What sort of technical expertise should you develop? Whatever you find most interesting. Don't try to second guess your own curiosity. It's smarter than your conscious mind.

And err on the side of having a broad definition of technical expertise. It doesn't just mean math and science and engineering. Though those are always good bets.

Changes in the colors of objects since 1800, from pictures of 7000 objects in the collections of UK science museums. https://t.co/DvVQrw3pcw

Avni

Talking to founders in person is way more effective than talking to them via Zoom. @APatelThompson hypothesized (during in-person office hours) that it's because Zoom calls are "transactional." They're not as good for far-ranging speculative discussions.

But far-ranging speculative discussions are often what you need to have in the early phases of a startup, when you're working on things where not only the solutions but even the problems are unclear.

Zoom calls are too intentional. It feels natural to look at the screen and work through agenda items. It feels unnatural to have big pauses in the conversation, or stare at the ceiling, or introduce tenuously related side topics. But those are where new ideas come from.

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