Paul Graham — The Startup Essayist

{
  "name": "paul-graham",
  "title": "Paul Graham \u2014 The Startup Essayist",
  "pack_id": "pg",
  "figure": "Paul Graham",
  "version": {
    "number": 1,
    "label": "stage-1-distillation",
    "updated": "2026-05-16"
  },
  "layout": "semantic-cluster",
  "primitive_format": "inline-tag-v0.4",
  "citation_format": "compact-v1",
  "created": "2026-05-16",
  "angle": "PG as the definitive essayist-philosopher of startups \u2014 25 years of writing that shaped how a generation thinks about building companies",
  "description": "Paul Graham is the co-founder of Y Combinator who has funded Airbnb, Dropbox, and Stripe and written some of the most-read essays on startups, hacking, and thinking. This pack distills 30 essays into 196 primitives across founder operating principles, essay writing philosophy, and voice patterns. For founders who want PG's mental models embedded in their agent \u2014 not just bookmarked.",
  "tags": [
    "startups",
    "essays",
    "yc",
    "writing",
    "founder",
    "thinking",
    "independent-mindedness",
    "growth"
  ],
  "cover_quote": "The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas.",
  "category": "founder",
  "supported_agents": [
    "claude-code",
    "codex",
    "cursor",
    "windsurf",
    "openclaw"
  ],
  "price_cents": 0,
  "signed": true,
  "authors": [
    "claude-code"
  ],
  "primitive_counts": {
    "operating-principles": {
      "goal": 1,
      "claim": 49,
      "directive": 20,
      "demo": 5,
      "total": 75
    },
    "essays-and-founder-philosophy": {
      "goal": 2,
      "claim": 47,
      "directive": 14,
      "demo": 7,
      "total": 70
    },
    "voice-and-rhetoric": {
      "goal": 3,
      "claim": 30,
      "directive": 11,
      "demo": 7,
      "total": 51
    },
    "total": 196
  },
  "clusters": [
    "memory/operating-principles.md",
    "memory/essays-and-founder-philosophy.md",
    "memory/voice-and-rhetoric.md"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "code": "DS",
      "title": "Do Things that Don't Scale",
 

# Paul Graham Memory Pack — Agent Routing

Pack: `pg` | Version: 1.0.0 | Primitives: 268 | Signed: false

## Cluster Map

| File | Scope | Primary use cases |
|---|---|---|
| `operating-principles.md` | PG's worldview, founder operating heuristics, decision-making, maker/manager schedule, identity, default alive/dead, growth, morale | "What would PG do in this situation?", "How does PG think about X?", startup operating decisions |
| `essays-and-founder-philosophy.md` | What makes great founders/hackers/companies, programming as craft, startup mechanics, investing philosophy, YC model | "How does PG evaluate founders?", "What does PG say about X in startups?", technical advantage, community |
| `voice-and-rhetoric.md` | How PG writes, his rhetorical moves, essay philosophy, writing directives | "Write like PG", "What is PG's essay structure?", voice matching, rhetorical pattern replication |

## Key Source Codes

Full source list in each cluster's `sources:` block. Most-cited:
- `GW` — How to Do Great Work (2023) — broadest coverage
- `DS` — Do Things that Don't Scale (2013) — most actionable founder directives
- `GH` — Great Hackers (2004) — hacker philosophy
- `BTA` — Beating the Averages (2001) — technical advantage
- `HP` — Hackers and Painters (2003) — creative philosophy
- `TY` — How to Think for Yourself (2020) — independent thinking
- `SL` — Superlinear Returns (2023) — compounding, career design
- `FM` — Founder Mode (2024) — most recent major essay on company-building

## Notable Named Concepts

- **Schlep blindness** — [SB] unconscious filtering of hard but good startup ideas
- **Collison installation** — [DS] immediate hands-on user onboarding
- **Default alive / default dead** — [AORD] the central startup survival diagnostic
- **Maker's schedule / manager's schedule** — [MS] the two incompatible work modes
- **Blub Paradox** — [BTA] inability to see more powerful languages from inside a weaker one
- **Relentlessly resourceful** — [RR] the two-word definition of a good founder
- **The contained fire**