Focus Is What Makes Speed Possible

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On weekends, we tend to slow things down.

We do interviews with founders who actually built something.
We study historical accounts of entrepreneurs who won before the playbook existed.
And recently, we’ve been diving deep into startup advice from Paul Graham’s essays, not because they’re trendy, but because they’re durable.

There’s real leverage hidden in them.

So let’s go.

Speed Isn’t About Moving Faster

One of Paul Graham’s most counterintuitive ideas is that speed doesn’t come from intensity.

It comes from focus.

This matters because most founders think they’re slow for the wrong reasons. They assume the issue is motivation, discipline, or effort. So they add hours. They add tools. They add meetings.

But nothing changes.

Paul would argue the problem usually isn’t how fast you’re moving but it’s how many things you’re trying to move at once.

Why Startups Feel Busy but Don’t Move

Early-stage startups have a unique failure mode.

Everything feels important.
Everything feels urgent.
Everything feels like it could be “the thing.”

So founders:

• Chase partnerships

• Rewrite positioning

• Explore new features

• Prep fundraising

• Tweak onboarding

• Start content

• Pause content

• Rebrand

• Un-rebrand

The result looks like progress.
But it isn’t momentum.

Paul has said some version of this repeatedly:
Speed is a function of how few things you’re doing.

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Focus Is a Constraint, Not a Preference640 × 640

Here’s the uncomfortable part.

Focus isn’t about choosing what to work on.
It’s about choosing what to ignore, even when it feels reasonable.

This is why focus feels risky.
It requires saying no to good ideas in order to protect the one that matters most right now.

Most founders delay focus because it feels like narrowing options.
Paul Graham reframes it as the opposite:

Focus creates speed.
Speed creates learning.
Learning creates leverage.

Without focus, effort doesn’t compound.

The Illusion of Parallel Progress

Founders love parallel motion.

It feels efficient.
It feels smart.
It feels like hedging risk.

But startups aren’t factories, they’re discovery engines.

Trying to solve multiple core problems at once usually means none of them get solved deeply enough. You move, but you don’t arrive anywhere.

Paul’s essays hint at this repeatedly:
Startups win by making one thing work unusually well, not many things work passably.

Why Focus Feels So Hard Early

Focus is hardest when information is incomplete.

You don’t know which bet will work.
You don’t know which user matters.
You don’t know which feature unlocks demand.

So founders keep everything alive “just in case.”

Paul would say this is exactly when focus matters most.

Not because you’re sure but because speed is the only way to become sure.

What Focus Actually Looks Like

Real focus doesn’t look dramatic.

It looks boring.
It looks repetitive.
It looks like returning to the same problem over and over until something clicks.

It’s why so many successful founders sound obsessed in hindsight.

They weren’t moving faster.
They were removing everything that wasn’t essential.

This is also why studying patterns matters. Tools like NTE Pro exist because focus improves when you can see how similar companies actually won - what they ignored, what they doubled down on, and what they didn’t touch until much later.

Focus gets easier when you stop pretending every path is equally valid.

Speed Without Focus Is Noise

Paul Graham makes an implicit promise in his writing:

If you focus correctly, speed follows naturally.

But the reverse isn’t true.
You can move very fast in the wrong direction.

This is why founders who feel “stuck” are often just unfocused, not unmotivated, not untalented, not unlucky.

They’re doing too much that doesn’t matter yet.

The Founder’s Real Job

At the earliest stage, the founder’s job isn’t execution in the traditional sense.

It’s diagnosis.

What matters most right now?
What breaks if ignored?
What doesn’t matter yet even if it feels important?

Paul Graham’s essays are powerful because they don’t optimize tactics.
They sharpen judgment.

And judgment is what turns focus into speed.

A Closing Thought

If your startup feels slow, don’t ask:
“How do we move faster?”

Ask:
“What would happen if we stopped doing everything except the one thing that matters?”

Paul Graham would argue that’s where speed actually begins.

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