Would You Work on This Even If No One Cared?

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Yesterday we talked about schlep blindness and how the best startup ideas often hide behind work that feels boring, painful, or annoying.

Today, I want to stay with Paul Graham’s wisdom, because there’s another filter buried in his essays that might be even more important.

It’s not about what to work on.

It’s about why you’ll keep working on it when it stops being fun.

Paul Graham never says this as a single sentence, but across his essays, talks, and examples, the test is clear:

Would you still work on this if no one cared?

No users.
No praise.
No traction screenshots.
No Twitter likes.

Just you and the work.

The Work That Refuses to Leave You Alone

Paul once wrote that curiosity might be the real compass, not passion, not ambition, not discipline.

Curiosity has a strange property:
It doesn’t ask for permission.

You don’t schedule it.
You don’t force it.
It just shows up.

The best founders don’t choose ideas the way people choose careers. They notice something that keeps pulling them back - a problem, a pattern, a system that doesn’t make sense.

They close the laptop and keep thinking about it anyway.

That’s the work Paul is pointing at.

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Why Some Ideas Survive Silence

Most startup ideas die quietly.

Not because they were wrong but because they needed applause to survive.

Paul describes founders who work on something for years before anyone else notices. Microsoft started as software for hobbyists. Airbnb looked like a bad Craigslist experiment. Stripe started by fixing something no one wanted to talk about.

These weren’t loud ideas.
They were sticky ones.

They stuck to the founders’ minds even when the outside world shrugged.

The Notebook That Became a Product

Here’s a pattern Paul hints at, but doesn’t name directly.

Many real startups begin as personal tools.

Someone builds something because they need it.
They refine it because they use it.
They return to it because it helps them think better.

Only later do they realize others want access.

That’s the same energy behind EpisodeRecap, not “AI summaries,” but a way to revisit ideas without rereading entire conversations.

It’s behind WhoFiled, not “startup data,” but a way to notice patterns hiding inside dense, boring documents.

And it’s behind a surprising number of ideas inside NTE Pro’s 6,500+ idea library. The strongest ones didn’t start as pitches. They started as private obsessions.

Independent Minds Don’t Need Permission

Paul draws a sharp line between people who think independently and people who absorb consensus without realizing it.

Independent-minded people often underestimate how different their thinking is — until they say it out loud.

That’s why their ideas can feel lonely at first.

If your idea makes immediate sense to everyone, you’re probably late.
If it requires a long explanation, you might be early.
If it feels obvious only to you, you’re in interesting territory.

The danger isn’t being wrong.
The danger is choosing work that depends on approval to continue.

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Endurance Is the Hidden Moat

Founders like to talk about speed.
Paul talks about staying power.

Startups don’t reward intensity in short bursts. They reward the ability to return to the same problem again and again, refining, rethinking, rewriting long after novelty wears off.

This is where NTE Zero to One conversations often get real.

Once someone admits, “I keep circling back to this thing,” the path forward becomes obvious.

Interest is not a distraction.
It’s a signal.

Run the Test Before You Commit

Before you build the deck.
Before you buy the domain.
Before you announce anything.

Ask yourself:

• Would I still work on this if it stayed small for a long time?

• Would I still care if no one understood it yet?

• Would I keep going if progress was quiet and invisible?

• Would I do this even if it never became impressive?

If the answer is yes, you’ve found something rare.

Not a guaranteed success but a durable starting point.

And that’s what Paul Graham’s essays quietly teach, again and again:

The best founders don’t chase ideas that look big.

They choose work they can’t stop thinking about even when no one’s watching.