25
9 Comments

Paul Graham: The highest compliment of a founder is that they're "earnest"

  1. 2

    I read that I now I feel like an impostor... 😣

    Am I passionate about the problem I'm solving, or am I passionate about being great at solving that problem and then the accouterments that may bring?

  2. 1

    I wish Paul Graham runs their site over HTTPS :)

  3. 1

    Not really. The highest compliment of an artist is that they are "earnest". Founders need a lot more than the qualities of an artist. The analytical aspect is just as important as the emotional and creative aspects.

  4. 1

    It’s a nice exploration of earnestness.

    I don’t use this word very much, my impression is that there is a negative association that many people have with this personal trait.

    Even if there are sides to it that are good and appreciated, it’s often a criticism in disguise (or can be interpreted as such). So I just avoid it.

  5. 1

    He must have read my comment when @Imshashank asked what's great about IH !

    The people are earnest. They want to learn, they want to succeed, they want to share. They are happy to give & take constructive criticism.

    This article by Graham not so great imo. Maybe inspired by having too many non-earnest founders in his pool.

  6. 1

    This was a great read and certainly hit close to home 😅

  7. 5

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 4

      I think he gets a pass, since his blog's style has been the same since 2004-2005ish. Here's the formatting for an old post of his: https://web.archive.org/web/20051231044953/http://paulgraham.com/wealth.html

      1. 1

        This comment was deleted a year ago.

        1. 3

          He built his own static site generator in lisp. The titles to his essays are actually images, because back in the 90's, that was the way you got nice fonts.

          1. 1

            Even better Earnestness at the top is a gif haha.
            Talk about efficiency 😎

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 47 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 27 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments How I Launched FrontendEase 13 comments