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Everyone starting a startup for the first time is scared, and everyone feels like a bit of an imposter.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Time
Imposter
Like
Scared
Starting
Bits
Everyone
Firsts
First
Feels

More quotes by Sam Altman

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The biggest PR hack you can do, is not hire a PR firm.
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... for the top twenty most valuable YC companies, all of them have at least two founders.
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Don't let the company get distracted or excited about other things. A common mistake is that companies get excited by their own PR.
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It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.
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In general though, if you look at the track record of pivots, they don't become big companies.
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I really believe that the single hardest thing in business is building a company that does repeatable innovation... and just has this ongoing culture of excellence as it grows.
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In general, it's best if you're building something that you yourself need.
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The most common post YC failure case for the companies we fund, is they're incredibly focussed during YC on their company... and after they start doing a lot of other things. They advise companies, they go to conferences, whatever.
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The startups that do well are the ones that are working all the time.
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Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.
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You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done.
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For most software startups, this translates to keep growing. For hardware startups, it translates to don't let your ship date slip.
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As the company grows and about this 25 or so employee size, your main job shifts from building a great product to building a great company.
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Unpopular but right is what you're going for.
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You should think about for the next 10 years, you're going to be giving out 3-5% of the company every year.
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So it's worth some real up front time to think through the long term value and the defensibility of the business.
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Most things are not as risky as they seem.
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We talk to a team they've gotten new things done, that's the best predictor we have that a company will be successful.
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Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers. It's easy to get sucked into an infrastructure rewrite death spiral.
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If someone is getting every decision wrong, that's when you need to act, and at that point it'll be painfully aware to everyone.
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