AlexH

Paul Graham has yet another fascinating essay entitled How to Make Wealth:

One valuable thing you tend to get only in startups is uninterruptability. Different kinds of work have different time quanta. Someone proofreading a manuscript could probably be interrupted every fifteen minutes with little loss of productivity. But the time quantum for hacking is very long: it might take an hour just to load a problem into your head. So the cost of having someone from personnel call you about a form you forgot to fill out can be huge. This is why hackers give you such a baleful stare as they turn from their screen to answer your question. Inside their heads a giant house of cards is tottering.

And Tracy wonders why I’m grumpy when she calls me on the phone while I’m at work!

This isn’t the only thing to take away from the essay, in fact it’s just a footnote. There is much more to learn about wealth and the startup’s role in generating it, so read the link!