#business #business # [[Epistemic status]] #shower-thought # Solving hard problems makes your hard to copy #to-digest >We delighted in forcing bigger, slower competitors to follow us over difficult ground. Like guerillas, startups prefer the difficult terrain of the mountains, where the troops of the central government can’t follow. I can remember times when we were just exhausted after wrestling all day with some horrible technical problem. And I’d be delighted, because something that was hard for us would be impossible for our competitors. >~ [[Paul Graham]] >All happy companies are different: each one earns a monopoly by solving a unique problem. All failed companies are the same: they failed to escape competition. >~ [[Peter Phiel]] # External links