Guillermo Rauch Quotes

Make something people love

First wave of AI: know it all
Second wave of AI: do it all

Narrative violation: AI coding will result in the most rigorously tested, type-checked, and provably correct code in the world.

First, the testing and verification feedback loop helps agents and prevents slop.

Second, tests have always been a chore, but who doesn't love a high test count and checkmarks? Agents are glad to write as many tests as we want.

Imagine success being determined purely based on the quality of your thoughts. That’s the promise of AI

The easiest way to tell you have product-market-fit is unsolicited acts of affection from users. People reach out of the blue, in private and in public, to tell you how much they love the thing you created. This is incidentally the most rewarding part of it all.

Inherent to Founder Mode is the courage to be disliked. For a founder, the mission, customer and product reigns supreme. Effective leadership is not about making everyone at your company happy or producing the average of everyone’s opinions. It’s about doing what’s right.

Knowing *what* to code and build has always been more important than the code itself. AI has fundamentally not changed that. What you get out of it is a function of the quality of your asks.

AI will reward eloquence. The tokens you use matter. Your conceptual and cognitive boundaries matter. You’ll be rewarded for assimilating science and engineering, even if you don’t code.

"The limits of my language are the limits of my world" — Ludwig Wittgenstein

The highest highs in life are free and accessible to everyone. The feeling of finishing a hard workout, acing a test, shipping great work, having a child, watching the next generation blossom.

Prompting is the new literacy

The success of MCP is the first proof point that the world favors open and decentralized AI

Happiness and productivity are two sides of the same coin. We’re at our best when our work creates value for others and we get rewarded. This is why socialism, communism, and any kind of unearned welfare inevitably lead to misery and the end of civilization.

We will see within our lifetime the rise of young supergeniuses that far surpass previous generations in both intellect and demonstrable accomplishments.

With AI, anyone can self-teach any concept, science, discipline. Agents can implement and give the individual the power of a large team. It’s gonna be fun to watch the dramatic acceleration of human potential.

There’s a contagion effect to good habits. When you watch your friends or relatives exercise, you want to exercise.

Same is true for shipping, giving back, eating well… Surround yourself with people who raise your bar.

A good rule of thumb when you design products and give support: “how do I make this person a 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦?”

If you do right by them, customers will reward you with business over the long term that doesn’t jump out on spreadsheets.

There’s a meme about venture capitalists looking for “generational companies.” It’s hard to pinpoint what and which those are, but when I think about the companies I look up to… I’ve been buying from them for ages.

Earned customer trust is like compounding interest. It’s unwise to trade trust for a short term gain.