Sam Altman Quotes - Page 3

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You have to be intense. This only comes from the CEO, this only comes from the founders.

... you want to be proud of how much you can get done with a small numbers of employees.

It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.

You need conviction in your own beliefs, and the willingness to ignore others naysaying.

You have to find a small market in which you can get a monopoly and then quickly expand.

Startups are very hard no matter what you do; you may as well go after a big opportunity.

There are exceptions of course, but most companies start with a great idea - not a pivot.

You need to figure out what the 2 or 3 most important things are, and then just do those.

Most founders have not managed people before, and they certainly haven't managed managers.

That culture of frugality and discipline is really important for the Y Combinator mindset.

Most of the best hires that I've made in my entire life have never done that thing before.

... for the top twenty most valuable YC companies, all of them have at least two founders.

Wait to start a startup until you come up with an idea that you feel compelled to explore.

Intelligence is usually easy to tell in a 10-minute conversation. Determination is harder.

In the beginning of a company, there is no management and this actually works really well.

I myself used to believe ideas didn't matter that much, but I'm very sure that's wrong now.

One thing that founders forget is that after they hire employees, they have to retain them.

Why couldn't it have been done 2 years ago, and why will 2 years in the future be too late?

More important than starting any startup, is getting to know a lot of potential co-founders.

Great execution is at least 10 times more important and a 100 times harder than a good idea.

It's better to have a few users love your product than for a lot of users to sort of like it.

What is OK is to spend money for productivity. What is not OK is just to light money on fire.

If a company is profitable, the founder is in control. If it's not, investors are in control.

In general though, if you look at the track record of pivots, they don't become big companies.

A board member of mine used to say sales fix everything in a startup, and that is really true.

Another way of looking at this, is that the best companies are almost always mission oriented.

A related advantage of mission oriented ideas, is that you yourself will be dedicated to them.

The way you get deals done and the way you get good terms, is to have a competitive situation.

The point of an accelerator is to teach you about companies and business, not about technology.

Don't hire for the sake of hiring. Hire because there is no other way to do what you want to do.

Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality.

You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative.

Growth and momentum are what a startup lives on and you always have to focus on maintaining these.

You certainly don't need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination.

Once your product is working, switch from not caring about this to caring about this a little bit.

The single word that matters most I think to keep the company productive as it grows is alignment.

The most important thing is that there is clear reporting structure and everyone knows what it is.

Press releases are easier to write than code, and that is still easier than making a great product.

You think you have this great idea that everyone's going to come join, but that's not how it works.

The thing about Y Combinator that's cool is that most companies won't happen if we don't fund them.

One of the great and terrible things about starting a start up is that you get no credit for trying.

... fire fast when it's not working. It's better for the company, it's also better for the employee.

Set a clear, easy-to-understand vision for your company, and make it be a mission people believe in.

Remember that you are more likely to die because you execute badly than get crushed by a competitor.

One thing I tell startups all the time is that the best way to grow is to make their product better.

If you ever take your foot off the gas pedal, things will spiral out of control, snowball downwards.

I don't think people spend nearly enough time thinking about what they like and what they're good at.

Why now, why is this the perfect time for this particular idea, and to start this particular company?

Developing a personal connection with anyone you're trying to do a big deal with is really important.

As long as you keep doing the right thing and have the best product, you can beat the bigger company.

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