The test of a description of a product is how much closer I am after hearing it to being able to reproduce it. So e.g. "transform the way people inter...
Paul Graham argues that a good product description should help a listener understand how to reproduce it; vague phrases like "transform the way people interact with images" lack descriptive value because they offer no starting point for implementation.
Background
Paul Graham is a prominent Silicon Valley entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and essayist. He co-founded Y Combinator, the influential startup accelerator that funded companies like Airbnb, Dropbox, and Reddit. This short post reflects his trademark emphasis on clarity and precision in product communication — a theme he has explored in essays like "How to Present to Investors" and "Be Good." He is arguing that many product pitches use vague, grandiose language ("transform the way people…") that gives no practical sense of what the product actually does or how it works. His standard is ruthlessly pragmatic: a good description should be so concrete that a listener could roughly reproduce the product. This view shapes how founders in the YC network are taught to pitch, and it's often cited in startup advice threads.