I talked to a founder today whose customers are all really nice people, because their initial market happens to be one that attracts such people. The founders themselves are nice for the same reason. They're enjoying starting a startup as much as any founders I've known.
Many users agree with Paul Graham that kind markets boost founder enjoyment because nice customers and teams create virtuous cycles, operational advantages, and long-term satisfaction in building.
One of the things that distinguishes the startups that become *really* big is whether the founders want to keep working on it rather than, say, taking an acquisition offer. And if the whole company is pervaded by niceness it's going to be more pleasant to keep running it.
I told them they should make it part of the company's DNA to be really nice. Startups often carry some mark of their origins as they expand into other markets, and this would be a great thing to carry with you.
I told them they should make it part of the company's DNA to be really nice. Startups often carry some mark of their origins as they expand into other markets, and this would be a great thing to carry with you.
I talked to a founder today whose customers are all really nice people, because their initial market happens to be one that attracts such people. The founders themselves are nice for the same reason. They're enjoying starting a startup as much as any founders I've known.
It will also be an advantage in dealing with competitors. The companies in some of the adjacent markets they'll expand into are not nice at all. So customers will flee from them to our startup like prisoners freed from jail.
One of the things that distinguishes the startups that become *really* big is whether the founders want to keep working on it rather than, say, taking an acquisition offer. And if the whole company is pervaded by niceness it's going to be more pleasant to keep running it.
@paulg Entire Valley: arguing about Fable 5 guardrails
Paul G sideplot(nice):
@paulg That's one reason we decided to focus on R&D instead of Marketing and Commerce.
@paulg I highly recommend you try to achieve this in whatever you do. It may require some upfront work on your positioning, but it's worth it.
Also, nice people can be very profitable.
@paulg @cagan had this idea that great teams ought to be missionaries not mercenaries. Most startup founders and investors you meet seem to project this image of a stone cold mercenary on a mission. Perhaps it is required, perhaps it defines them.
@paulg whats the sector mista vaguepost
@paulg Similar story here - most of my company’s customers were classical musicians, who are very nice; even the famous ones, who are surprisingly humble.
(One of the few unpleasant customers was a B-list indie pop musician, who I won’t name!)
@paulg If they are nice I bet their startup certainly will reflect the same trait as they grow
@paulg What do they do, and what attracts such good people?
I have a buddy who owns a construction company in the Midwest. The leadership and sales people all wear suits and ties to work - which seemed very old school to me in this day and age. When I asked him, he said it was not only a culture thing, but when they went to pitch decisionmakers about a $100 million building, the professionalism put them apart from their competitors. Checkmate.
@paulg This is great scenario where founder and business follow some mindset and body language
But in most competitive industries niceties are first thing to go away
@paulg Being nice attracts nice customers. What other traits bring attractiveness deals?
Your first customers shape your culture more than your values doc does.
Who you attract early becomes the standard. Your team internalises it and new hires absorb it.
By the time you're scaling, it's already baked in for better or worse.
It is hard to retrofit a culture you didn't build deliberately from day one.
The mark of origins is real. Docuee started in a cafe in Nigeria where I watched students struggle with broken supervision systems. That origin shaped everything. The product is structured but human. The AI assists thinking but never replaces it. The supervisor is accountable but respected. Every design decision carries the DNA of that cafe — the belief that students deserve to be guided not abandoned. The founders who build from genuine care for the people they serve carry something into their company that money and strategy cannot manufacture. It shows in the product. It shows in how you treat users. It shows in the decisions you make when nobody is watching. Build from a place that means something and that meaning never leaves the product.
@paulg It's amazing when you have the privilege of working with great people because of the company you have.
@paulg web3 founders be like "nice vibes only" lol
@paulg Underrated founder advantage: building for people you actually like talking to.
@paulg what's this market of nice people?
I talked to a founder today whose customers are all really nice people, because their initial market happens to be one that attracts such people. The founders themselves are nice for the same reason. They're enjoying starting a startup as much as any founders I've known.