From time to time I read another Paul Graham essay, usually when they are cited in some Reddit or Slashdot thread. He really writes well, and although I do not agree with everything he says, I must say I agree with most of it. “Beating the averages” was very influential on some important decisions I have made, and for a lot of other people as well.

Today I found an essay called “Six Principles for Making New Things“, in which he describes his modus operandi:

Here it is: I like to find (a) simple solutions (b) to overlooked problems (c) that actually need to be solved, and (d) deliver them as informally as possible, (e) starting with a very crude version 1, then (f) iterating rapidly.

I agree 100% with him here. There are a lot of overlooked problems out there, in search of solutions, that just seem “simple” enough. But they need to be solved and, when someone does it, everybody else wish they had thought of it. But they were there, all the time. Moreover, the initial solution does not need to be perfect, as long as it solves an immediate need well enough and the solution can be iterated rapidly, which is a very, very important point. When someone creates a market, there is soon afterwards a rush of new competitors. Coming up with a simple solution which does not evolve quickly is the recipe to lose to another faster, more dynamic, more focused team.

I already had something like Graham’s Six Principles in the back of my mind for a while. It was good to see them written by someone who has made millions of dollars selling (Lisp!) software.