Paul Graham’s Essays

In my opinion, this are some of his main statements:

Curiosity is the best motivator. I mean the long-term curiosity, questions which drives you to look after things, to try things out.
You should absolutely try then. That seems his biggest message: Everything he says about start-ups is: Try!! I mean, no he says much more than that, but it’s the most repeated phrase. Talking about tries in general, he says that the risks are small. It’s a bit different with start-ups (there are some essays which mention that specifically). But the learning effect from tries is so big, so that it’s a win in the end.
You should try because that’s the best way to learn things.
Listen to critics: Shallow/empty/you suck-criticism = you are doing good. Doesn’t work-criticism = you can learn and fix it.
Don’t do things from scratch: Copy the good from the “common sense”/usual way of doing things. Do the rest better. Try to be different. Learn from it and go above, since you can. It has never been possible as it is today. *