1.Protect the maker's schedule
Graham separates the manager's day, cut into hourly slots, from the maker's day, which works in units of at least half a day because hard work takes time to get going 
Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule.
“A single meeting can blow a whole afternoon, by breaking it into two pieces each too small to do anything hard in.”
Paul Graham·Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule·Read in context(opens the original in a new tab)His fix was to cluster meetings at the end of the day, and he asks people with power to hold back when their team needs long stretches.
2.Focus and intensity
“If I had to distill my advice about how to operate down to only two words, I’d pick focus and intensity.”
Sam Altman·Startup Playbook·Read in context(opens the original in a new tab)In How To Be Successful Altman puts choosing the right thing ahead of hours worked, but says reaching the top of a field takes both smart and hard work, ideally early, when it compounds How To Be Successful.
3.Faster than seems normal
Patrick Collison keeps a list of ambitious things people built quickly: the P-80 jet in 143 days, the Empire State Building in 410. He notes the infrastructure examples come disproportionately from before 1970 and leaves the reasons open 
Fast.
His advice to his younger self ends on the same theme Advice.
“People who did great things often did so at very surprisingly young ages.”
Patrick Collison·Advice·Read in context(opens the original in a new tab)Elon Musk tells a story from xAI: suppliers estimated 18 to 24 months to build the training cluster it needed 
Elon Musk: Digital Superintelligence, Multiplanetary Life, How to Be Useful.
“Their estimates for how long it would take to complete that were 18 to 24 months. It's like, well, we need to get that done in 6 months.”
Elon Musk·Elon Musk: Digital Superintelligence, Multiplanetary Life, How to Be Useful·Watch at 28:18(opens the original in a new tab)4.As you grow: founder mode
Graham reports that many founders who followed the advice to hire good people and give them room found it hurt their companies Founder Mode.
“In effect there are two different ways to run a company: founder mode and manager mode.”
Paul Graham·Founder Mode·Read in context(opens the original in a new tab)He expects founder mode to include skip-level contact, concedes a 2000-person company can't run like a 20-person one, and warns that the idea will be misused.
“So founder mode will be more complicated than manager mode. But it will also work better.”
Paul Graham·Founder Mode·Read in context(opens the original in a new tab)Written by Founder Atlas from the full public texts and the YouTube captions of the talks listed here, drafted with AI and checked against them. Quotes are word for word; talk quotes come from captions, which can mishear, so each one links to the moment it is said. Paraphrases are ours and may simplify.
