How to Earn a Billion Dollars by Paul Graham
Shares rank 37 of 60 articles by recommenders
Recommended as a set of useful tips on earning money, written down clearly. Critics say it encourages growth at all costs and is not a high-quality essay.
Recommended as a set of useful tips on earning money, written down clearly. Critics say it encourages growth at all costs and is not a high-quality essay.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 45%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful tips, clearly written down
“If you find just one useful tip in it, it will be well worth it for you.”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “How to Earn a Billion Dollars” “It's refreshing to see everything written down in a document like this.”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “How to Earn a Billion Dollars”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Encourages growth at all costs
“what a disappointment of an essay, encouraging a growth at all costs mindset and pretending that this growth doesn't involve/encourage bad side effects”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “How to Earn a Billion Dollars” “But this one is harmful; nobody needs a billion dollars.”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “How to Earn a Billion Dollars”
Other articles people recommend
The four most recommended other articles, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programming as Theory Buildingby Peter Naur | 32 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Ur-Fascismby Umberto Eco | 18 | 2 | 90% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Politics and the English Languageby George Orwell | 14 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| The Grug Brained Developer by Carson Gross | 13 | 1 | 93% | 9 | — | Approved |
| How to Earn a Billion Dollars by Paul GrahamThis page | 5 | 6 | 45% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
All 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I think you're reframing his argument as something softer.”
“But it's just not a high quality essay.”
“I read the first half of PG's essay and was left wondering if I should read the whole thing”
“most of the new stuff he writes feels out of touch. Plus he sometimes tries to write about things well outside his wheelhouse”
“If you find just one useful tip in it, it will be well worth it for you.”
“Even Paul can be mistaken.”
“PG is always worth Reading.”
“It's refreshing to see everything written down in a document like this.”
“But this one is harmful; nobody needs a billion dollars.”
“what a disappointment of an essay, encouraging a growth at all costs mindset and pretending that this growth doesn't involve/encourage bad side effects”
“assuming both politicians and an average reader don’t understand how exponents work”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.