•Why it earns a slot
The five-minute essay that has saved more startups than most accelerators. The question still gets asked too late.
One question determines a startup's strategy: at current growth and spending, do you reach profitability before the money runs out? Most founders cannot answer it, and the ones who ask too late meet the fatal pinch: default dead, plus investors who no longer want to help.
This distillation is written from the freely available original, which is always the better read when you have the time: paulgraham.com.