The Future of Web Startups
October 2007(This essay is derived from a keynote at FOWA in October 2007.)There's something interesting happening right now. Startups are undergoing the same transformation that technology does when it becomes cheaper.It's a pattern we see over and over in technology. Initially there's some device that's very expensive and made in small quantities.
- ▪October 2007(This essay is derived from a keynote at FOWA in October 2007.)There's something interesting happening right now.
- ▪Startups are undergoing the same transformation that technology does when it becomes cheaper.It's a pattern we see over and over in technology.
- ▪Initially there's some device that's very expensive and made in small quantities.
Paul Graham — Essays files mainly under blogs. We currently carry 219 of its stories.
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| Original publisher | Paul Graham — Essays |
| Canonical URL | http://www.paulgraham.com/webstartups.html |
| Publication time | Not provided by source |
| Retrieval time | 2026-07-26T08:49:07.854Z |
| Last seen | 2026-07-26T08:49:32.012Z |
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| Cluster | -vcl9jptfWRY · 3 stories |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Want to start a startup? Get funded by Y Combinator. October 2007(This essay is derived from a keynote at FOWA in October 2007.)There's something interesting happening right now. Startups are undergoing the same transformation that technology does when it becomes cheaper.It's a pattern we see over and over in technology. Initially there's some device that's very expensive and made in small quantities. Then someone discovers how to make them cheaply; many more get built; and as a result they can be used in new ways.Computers are a familiar example. When I was a kid, computers were big, expensive machines built one at a time. Now they're a commodity. Now we can stick computers in everything.This pattern is very old. Most of the turning points in economic history are instances of it.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Paul Graham — Essays.