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Chapter 1: Value Creation

"Make something people want... There’s nothing more valuable than an unmet need that is just becoming fixable. If you find something broken that you can fix for a lot of people, you’ve found a gold mine."

Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, venture capitalist and essayist at paulgraham.com

Every successful business creates something of value. The world is full of opportunities to make other people’s lives better in some way, and your job as a businessperson is to identify things that people don’t have enough of, then find a way to provide it.

The value you create can take on one of several different forms, but the purpose is always the same: to make someone else’s life a little bit better.

Without Value-Creation, a business can’t exist — you can’t transact with others unless you first have something to trade. The best businesses in the world are the ones that create the most value for other people.

Some businesses thrive by providing a little value to many, and others focus on providing a lot of value to only a few people. Regardless, the more real value you create for other people, the better your business will be and the more prosperous you’ll become.

Key Ideas in Chapter 1

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