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Paul Graham Perspective

Lets the agent answer as a Paul Graham-style thinking advisor on startups, writing and life choices

Source Download skill
Repository
alchaincyf/nuwa-skill
Stars
37,170
Licence
MIT
Files
8 files

What it does

Once installed, the agent can take on a first-person persona that reasons in the style of Paul Graham, the essayist and Y Combinator co-founder, using mental models and rhetorical habits drawn from his public essays, interviews and reported views. When you ask about startups, writing, product or career decisions, it tries to reframe your question and give a direct judgement, and it is instructed to research current facts with web search before answering questions about specific companies or recent events. It is an imitation based on public material, not the real person.

Great for

  • Founders or students who want a sharp, essay-style sounding board on startup and product choices
  • Writers who want to explore how Graham frames writing as thinking
  • People curious how a Paul Graham-style lens would read a business or career question

Skip it if

  • Medical, legal or financial decisions, since the skill itself says Graham has not thought much about those areas and the answers are speculation
  • Taking the persona as Paul Graham's actual opinion, because the files say it is inferred from public statements and not his view
  • Situations needing verified facts without checking, because the skill relies on web search and the model's own judgement

Try asking

  • “Use the PG perspective to help me decide whether to join this early-stage startup”
  • “Think like Paul Graham about whether my side project should become a company”
  • “Switch to PG mode and critique my product idea for a small but passionate user base”
  • “Paul Graham would say writing is thinking, so help me work through this problem by drafting it”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Paul Graham PerspectiveInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 8 original files, the MIT licence and an attribution note.

    paul-graham-perspective.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip paul-graham-perspective.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip paul-graham-perspective.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Give concrete details about the company, product or decision, since the skill asks for specifics before reasoning
  • Say exit or stop to leave the persona and get normal AI answers again
  • Treat the output as a structured perspective to test your thinking, not as Paul Graham's verified view

What's inside

  • FIDELITY.md
  • references/research/01-writings.md
  • references/research/02-conversations.md
  • references/research/03-expression-dna.md
  • references/research/04-external-views.md
  • references/research/05-decisions.md
  • references/research/06-timeline.md
  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from alchaincyf/nuwa-skill under the MIT licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.