By Larry Chiang
Paul Graham can be introduced to you like a gateway founder drug with one pic and one bit.ly
The one picture got Airbnb it’s $4B market cap and Twitch it’s $1B exit

PG’s part is “YC”.
Graph conclusion: Get a small segment to love you. For example “video game players that wanna watch each other play video games”
![]() |
Twitch (@Twitch) |
MT @gameinformer: Streaming Tips From @Twitch Most Followed User, @ProSyndicate – bit.ly/1naNCf8 pic.twitter.com/XFtfmsV7zU
|
Did the founders (who are YC partners) initially listen to PG?
![]() |
Jennifer 8. Lee (@jenny8lee) |
Don’t Give Up. Most important lesson. @Twitch was third version of the startup – Emmett Shear at #startupschool. pic.twitter.com/NA8OiLj5fV
|
It turns out “No”. No the Twitch founders did not initially listen…It took them 3 iterations.

ENGR145 has a parallel concept that breaks down the PG slide into 14 slides and DJ’s in 5 mentors too
It’s called “Cross the Chasm from the Right”