Everything here is drawn from one essay — Paul Graham's "How to Earn a Billion Dollars" (June 2026). His claim: a billion isn't a moral puzzle, it's the output of a growth rate and how long it lasts.
The interactive calculator. Set a growth rate, duration, and equity, and watch where a founder's stake crosses $1B — with PG and VE LAB venture presets.
Open the calculator →Five working tools, each kept only because the essay calls for it: growth dashboard, friction journal, user-insight log, founder-market fit, and an empathy-vs-exploitation audit.
Open the tools →Plain-language answers: why a billion is "just two numbers," whether 15%/month is enough, what the 10× multiple means, and why some good businesses never reach the line.
Read the FAQ →Every term on the page in one place — growth rate, duration, compounding, MRR, revenue multiple, log scale, ARPU, empathy vs. exploitation.
Open the glossary →