# Paul Graham - How to Earn a Billion Dollars (Highlights) ![rw-book-cover|256](https://paulgraham.com/favicon.ico) ## Metadata **Review**:: [readwise.io](https://readwise.io/bookreview/61544084) **Source**:: #from/readwise #from/reader **Zettel**:: #zettel/fleeting **Status**:: #x **Authors**:: [[Paul Graham]] **Full Title**:: How to Earn a Billion Dollars **Category**:: #articles #readwise/articles **Category Icon**:: 📰 **URL**:: [paulgraham.com](https://paulgraham.com/earn.html) **Host**:: [[paulgraham.com]] **Highlighted**:: [[2026-06-22]] **Created**:: [[2026-07-04]] ## Highlights - To grow at a consistent rate every month, you have to make something so good that people tell their friends about it. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kvqkybgswd86n79ke838qame)) ^1027683498 Network effect - The idea doesn't have to have a wide appeal. It literally just has to appeal to you and your friends. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kvqm0rn8pjbmzfaets2veqhe)) ^1027683632 - But the way to get the very best startup ideas is not to look for startup ideas. If you're consciously looking for startup ideas, it will make you too conservative. You'll lop off the outliers. Because the very best startup ideas tend to sound so lame, at first, that you'd reject them if you were consciously looking for startup ideas. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kvqm23p7wq18f3spbc314r33)) ^1027683826 - So how do you find startup ideas without looking for them? By working on projects with your friends. That's where the very best startups come from. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kvqm303pthe8gymj1mybwsfb)) ^1027683861 - The key to starting a successful startup is to understand some group of users so well that you can make exactly what they want. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kvqm4tttgbes2wpr90dx7t2y)) ^1027683949 - There are two numbers that determine how big a startup gets, and thus how rich its founders become: the growth rate and how long it continues. You get the first by making something users like so much they tell their friends. You get the second by being in a big market. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kvqm7sjbb443fp7nzrpre3w4)) ^1027684015