wQuestTHE ART OF THE

#contquest@mthomps

There are only two or three human stories,and they go on repeating themselves

as fiercely as if they had never happened before.

WILLA CATHER

MMonomythTHE

Public Domain image

Public Domain image

The Quest moves online.

iWhy Quests?

(cc) Jemimus / Flickr

344 chapters. 4,223 pages.

Quests can sprawl.

The Dark Is RisingBeowulf

The Epic of GilgameshThe Faerie Queene

The Odyssey & IliadThe Lord of the Rings

The Chronicles of NarniaStar Wars

Harry PotterA Song of Ice & Fire

The Dark Tower

They thrive on transparency.

They invite participation.

They have a template.

KQuest ObjectTHE

This is Josh Reich.

CallTO

Adventure

QUEST:

Build a better bank.

SELL THE QUESTION,not the answer.

SELL THE MISSION,not the product.

One of the more surprising things I've noticed while working on Y Combinator is how frightening the most ambitious startup ideas are. In this essay I'm going to demonstrate this phenomenon by describing some. Any one of them could make you a billionaire. That might sound like an attractive prospect, and yet when I describe these ideas you may notice you find yourself shrinking away from them.

Don't worry, it's not a sign of weakness. Arguably it's a sign of sanity. The biggest startup ideas are terrifying. And not just because they'd be a lot of work. The biggest ideas seem to threaten your identity: you wonder if you'd have enough ambition to carry them through.

PAUL GRAHAM

One of the more surprising things I've noticed while working on Y Combinator is how frightening the most ambitious startup ideas are. In this essay I'm going to demonstrate this phenomenon by describing some. Any one of them could make you a billionaire. That might sound like an attractive prospect, and yet when I describe these ideas you may notice you find yourself shrinking away from them.

Don't worry, it's not a sign of weakness. Arguably it's a sign of sanity. The biggest startup ideas are terrifying. And not just because they'd be a lot of work. The biggest ideas seem to threaten your identity: you wonder if you'd have enough ambition to carry them through.

PAUL GRAHAM

Refusal OF THE

Call

I think the way to use these big ideas is not to try to identify a precise point in the future and then ask yourself how to get from here to there, like the popular image of a visionary. You'll be better off if you operate like Columbus and just head in a general westerly direction. Don't try to construct the future like a building, because your current blueprint is almost certainly mistaken.

Start with something you know works, and when you expand, expand westward.

PAUL GRAHAM

pProtagonistsTHE

Journalist as protagonist

Company as protagonist

Company as protagonist

Company as protagonist

Company as protagonist

SupernaturalAid

User as protagonist

The most important trait ...

Empathy.

Show us your struggles.

Tell us what you don’t know.

UPlanningTHE QUEST

World Domination Plan

Personas

Themes

Questions

EducatorPersona

CurriculaTheme

How are curricula changing?Question

QUEST:

Write the ultimate guide.

Guide outline I

Guide outline II: More authority.

First post in the series.

TWinningTHE QUEST

My favorite questing engine.

My favorite questing engine.

My favorite questing engine.

July 2009.

PUBLISHING IS A

beginning,NOT AN ENDING.

APitfallsPOTENTIAL

Not everything merits a quest.

Fan capture.

FansFriends

Foreigners

FansFriends

Foreigners

FansFriends

Foreigners

Solipsism &filter failure.

MediaSite™

Your local news source.

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NEWS ARTSPLASH SPORTZBUZZ YOURVOICES HOMESLICE GO!

Real-Time News

Memorial Garden dedicated

ArtSplash

YourVoices

SportzBuzz

#brandcastle

#brandcastlen. A media experience purporting

to offer content and storytelling, but in reality obsessed primarily with how a media entity thinks of itself.

What I didn’t talk about ...

We have not even to risk the adventure alone,for the heroes of all time have gone before us —

the labyrinth is thoroughly known.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL

Thank you.

#contquest@mthomps