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

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Figures
Need
Important
Needs
Things
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More quotes by Sam Altman

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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.
Sam Altman
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You have to be decisive. Indecisiveness is a startup killer.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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If it takes more than a sentence to explain what you are doing, it's almost always a sign that what you are doing is too complicated.
Sam Altman
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If you don't need it yourself, and you're building something that someone else needs, realize you're at a big disadvantage.
Sam Altman
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At the beginning, you should only hire when you have a desperate need to.
Sam Altman
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Every company has a rocky beginning.
Sam Altman
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In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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If you pivot, do it fully and with conviction. The worst thing is to try to do a bit of the old and the new-it's hard to kill your babies.
Sam Altman
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... fire fast when it's not working. It's better for the company, it's also better for the employee.
Sam Altman
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Growth and momentum are what a startup lives on and you always have to focus on maintaining these.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit.
Sam Altman
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Because it's one of these sort of connections between nodes- every pair of people adds communication overhead.
Sam Altman
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The track record for founders that don't already know each other is really bad.
Sam Altman
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... but actually it sucks to have a lot of employees, and you should be proud of how few employees you have.
Sam Altman
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It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.
Sam Altman
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You don't need to make the structure complicated, in fact you shouldn't. All you need is for every employee to know who their manager is.
Sam Altman