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The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Way
Executes
Execute
Company
Wells
Well

More quotes by Sam Altman

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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.
Sam Altman
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For most of the early hires you make in a startup, experience doesn't matter very much, and you should go for aptitude.
Sam Altman
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Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. Even if you miss, you'll probably end up in a pretty good place.
Sam Altman
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Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans, but they never quite make a decision.
Sam Altman
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The single word that matters most I think to keep the company productive as it grows is alignment.
Sam Altman
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A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.
Sam Altman
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You have to save the vision speeches for when the company is winning. When you're not winning, you just have to get momentum back.
Sam Altman
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Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.
Sam Altman
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As you grow, it feels hopelessly corporate but it really is worth putting in place these compensation bands.
Sam Altman
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AirBnB spent 5 months interviewing their first employee, before they hired someone and in their first year, they only hired 2 people.
Sam Altman
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Some day everyone will find out everyone else's comp, if it's all over the place, it will be a complete meltdown disaster
Sam Altman
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Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
Sam Altman
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The other piece besides focus for execution is intensity. Startups only work at a fairly intense level.
Sam Altman
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The best people know that they should join a rocketship.
Sam Altman
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Companies that I've been very involved with, that have had a very bad first hire in the first 3 or so employees never recover from it.
Sam Altman
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You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done.
Sam Altman
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You certainly don't need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination.
Sam Altman
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One of the great and terrible things about starting a start up is that you get no credit for trying.
Sam Altman
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The role of the board is advice and consent. If the CEO does not lay out a clear strategy and tries to get the board to set one, it will usually end in disaster.
Sam Altman
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If you want something in a deal, just ask for it.
Sam Altman