Paul Graham on Ambition, Art, and Evaluating Talent

Paul Graham discusses founder judgment, ambition, and the decline of young founders in a Conversations with Tyler interview with Tyler Cowen, recorded July 15, 2023. Graham says he judges early-stage startups mainly by the founders, and that his wife Jessica Livingston is much better than him at judging people, while he is better at telling whether founders truly understand their technical ideas. He says determination is best judged by asking founders about past setbacks and what they did afterward. On young founders, Graham questions whether they have actually become rarer, suggesting athletes' longer careers may be a factor, and says older founders can build ideas that younger founders would likely get wrong.