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Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Product
Products
Building
Getting
Work
Suspicious
Customers

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You certainly don't need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination.
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As you grow, it feels hopelessly corporate but it really is worth putting in place these compensation bands.
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... the thing we see wrong with YC apps most frequently, is that people have not thought about the market first and what people want first.
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The thing that kills startups at some level, is the founders giving up.
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If it works out, you're going to be working on this for 10 years.
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The natural state of a start-up is to die most start-ups require multiple miracles in their early days to escape this fate.
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So always keep momentum, it's this prime directive for managing a startup.
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Employees will only add more value over time.
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... you can think about that for everyone you hire: will I bet the future of this company on this single hire? And that's a tough bar.
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If you have several ideas that all seem pretty good, work on the one that you think about, when you're not trying to think about work.
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A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.
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Developing a personal connection with anyone you're trying to do a big deal with is really important.
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Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.
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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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You don't get to make their decisions but you do get to choose the decision makers.
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Why now, why is this the perfect time for this particular idea, and to start this particular company?
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Later, you should learn to hire fast and scale up the company, but in the early days the goal should be not to hire. Not to hire.
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So you should always stay on top of people's vesting schedules.
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No growth hack, brilliant marketing idea, or sales team can save you long term if you don't have a sufficiently good product.
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No matter what you choose, build stuff and be around smart people.
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