# Metadata Source URL:: http://www.paulgraham.com/before.html Topics:: #business --- # Before the Startup ## Highlights > [!quote]+ Updated on 031122_162908 > > It's not surprising that after being trained for their whole lives >to play such games, young founders' first impulse on starting a >startup is to try to figure out the tricks for winning at this new >game. Since fundraising appears to be the measure of success for >startups (another classic noob mistake), they always want to know what the >tricks are for convincing investors. We tell them the best way to >convince investors is to make a startup >that's actually doing well, meaning growing fast, and then simply >tell investors so. Then they want to know what the tricks are for >growing fast. And we have to tell them the best way to do that is >simply to make something people want.