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created: Aug 2024
One of my favorite Paul Graham essays is Superlinear Returns, which initially seemed abstract and difficult to grasp. The concept didn't immediately strike me as particularly significant, but reality has repeatedly proven otherwise. The essence is simple yet profound: certain activities yield disproportionately larger returns compared to the effort invested.
As a product builder, I've witnessed this principle in action countless times. A single viral post can generate more impact than dozens of regular ones. One enterprise client can deliver more revenue than hundreds of smaller customers combined. Even in engineering, solving a fundamental architectural problem might eliminate thousands of future issues with minimal additional effort.
What makes this concept particularly relevant today is how modern tools, especially AI, amplify these superlinear effects. A builder who masters prompt engineering might achieve in hours what would take others weeks. A founder who effectively leverages AI tools could scale their operations exponentially while competitors grow linearly.
The key is identifying opportunities that offer these superlinear returns: Which activities might compound rather than simply add? Where can small investments of effort yield outsized results? This framework becomes increasingly valuable in a world where technology continues to unlock new ways to achieve disproportionate results.
It is a beautiful framework that challenge the common wisdom that success is purely proportional to effort. Instead, it suggests that strategic choices about where and how we apply our energy might matter more than the amount of energy itself.