Becoming formidable like Sam Altman and Paul Graham - Claude

Formidable in their vocabulary has a specific meaning: someone who seems like they'll get what they want. PG's whole move is collapsing the appearance into the substance. In his essay on convincing investors he argues the way to seem formidable is to be formidable, and that there's no durable shortcut through impression management because good observers can smell the difference. So "how do I become formidable" is the real version of the question, and it has answers.