Mean People Fail

Paul Graham’s essay Mean People Fail observes something counterintuitive: successful startup founders are remarkably seldom mean, despite meanness being prevalent in society.

The Observation

Graham noticed this pattern at Y Combinator: the most successful founders weren’t just not-mean, they were unusually nice. This wasn’t selection bias—it was a real pattern.

Why Meanness Fails

Meanness makes you stupid. Fighting requires situational thinking rather than broad problem-solving. Startups succeed by transcending obstacles, not by stopping to combat them directly.

Talent acquisition disadvantage. Mean founders cannot attract top talent. While they might hire desperate people, exceptional individuals have alternatives and won’t work for unpleasant leaders. Startups depend on their best people.

Benevolence as motivation. The richest founders aren’t driven purely by money—they’re motivated by desire to improve the world. This provides competitive advantage.

Historical Context

Historically, success often meant controlling scarce resources through conflict—favoring ruthless individuals. Kings, warlords, and robber barons often succeeded through meanness.

But this is changing. Modern success increasingly depends on creating new ideas and building novel things rather than zero-sum competition.

The Shift

As innovation becomes central to prosperity, the intellectual world’s values—where niceness has always been compatible with achievement—increasingly apply to business generally.

My Takeaway

This is hopeful. It suggests the world is getting better, at least in terms of who succeeds. Build things, be kind, and you might find that both lead to the same destination.