/Tech1h ago

Paul Graham Says Exponential Growth Surprises Even Technical Founders

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Original post

Founders with technical backgrounds are often surprised by the results of such calculations too. Exponential growth is surprising. Indeed, that's probably as much as most people need to know about it: that it can produce crazy numbers.

Paul Graham@paulg

I don't think most politicians are *incapable* of understanding exponential growth. I think most could understand it if you gave them real world numbers like 15% per month growth and 5 years, and had them calculate 1.15^60 on their phones.

9:23 AM · Jun 15, 2026 · 16.1K Views

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Many users dismissed Paul Graham's claim about exponential growth surprising even technical founders as theoretical math detached from real systems, while some praised its wide applicability across life areas.

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3 comments with sentiment.

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Paul Graham@paulg

And because exponential growth can produce crazy numbers, you need an extra dose of intellectual humility when dealing with it. It's never safe to make confident judgments like "You can't earn x dollars" when x is the result of exponential growth. X could be anything!

Paul Graham@paulg

1h13.7K12710

Peul Garlnarn@Monica_Petersen

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1h26

Peul Garlnarn@Monica_Petersen

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1h13

NAZAL KARADAN@NAZALKARADAN

@paulg

1h40

Xavier Faure@XFaure

@paulg I think they can understand intellectually but have not experienced it So it becomes some theoretical stuff completely cut from reality

1h15

Jacob Voytko@jakevoytko

@paulg > intellectual humility

This was an interesting part of the beginning of the COVID pandemic. A lot of public figures without a calculator but with confident "everything is fine" statements were proven wrong within hours or days. Usually it takes weeks or months.

1h14

foneymanly2024@foneymanly2024

@paulg 'Arbitrary Math' is in no way a reflection of the reality of systems in the real world.

1h13

Peul Garlnarn@Monica_Petersen

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1h8

Paul@essenciverse

@paulg exponentials seems to generally fade off though. unless you are elon musk of course, where it just seems to expand to the stratosphere

1h5

Prem@btrmasaladosa

@paulg one thing about exponential growth is that it works in so many areas of life and is not limited to startups. you can work out for 9 months and not see any major progress but your body can look completely different in 12th month. it is such a powerful but tough to grasp concept

1h4

Peul Garlnarn@Monica_Petersen

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1h2