Paul Graham: Half Startups Get Rich
on Saturday, January 23, 2016Paul Graham Money Quotation saying half of funded startups get rich and remainder get zero. Paul Graham said:
“Our definition of success is that the founders get rich. If half the startups we fund succeed, then half of you are going to get rich and the other half are going to get nothing” — Paul Graham
This quote from Paul Graham suggests that success for startup companies funded by his organization is defined as the founders becoming wealthy. He indicates that about half of the startups they invest in are expected to succeed and make a large profit, resulting in the founders of those companies becoming rich.
However, the other half of startups are likely to fail and not make any money, meaning the founders would receive no financial return on their work and investment of time into those companies.
So Graham is setting the expectation that there is a high risk involved, but for about half of founders there is also a chance of a very high reward if their startup business succeeds and makes them rich through its profits.