Quote

Most startups are not nearly focussed enough. They work hard...maybe, but they don't work hard on the right things.

Sam Altman

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Nearly
Maybe
Enough
Right
Hard
Work
Things
Focussed

More quotes by Sam Altman

Image
Everyone starting a startup for the first time is scared, and everyone feels like a bit of an imposter.
Sam Altman
Image
What being a founder means, is signing up for this years long grind on execution - and you can't outsource this.
Sam Altman
Image
A board member of mine used to say sales fix everything in a startup, and that is really true.
Sam Altman
Image
You only get points when you make something the market wants. So if you work really hard on the wrong things, no one will care.
Sam Altman
Image
If it works out, you're going to be working on this for 10 years.
Sam Altman
Image
Don't let the company get distracted or excited about other things. A common mistake is that companies get excited by their own PR.
Sam Altman
Image
One thing that often disrupts momentum and really shouldn't is competitors.
Sam Altman
Image
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
Image
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
Image
The hard part is that this is a very fine line. There's right on one side of it, and crazy on the other.
Sam Altman
Image
It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.
Sam Altman
Image
... you want to be proud of how much you can get done with a small numbers of employees.
Sam Altman
Image
If you want something in a deal, just ask for it.
Sam Altman
Image
In addition to relentlessly resourceful, you want a tough and a calm cofounder.
Sam Altman
Image
A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.
Sam Altman
Image
The thing that kills startups at some level, is the founders giving up.
Sam Altman
Image
You certainly don't need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination.
Sam Altman
Image
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.
Sam Altman
Image
You don't get to make their decisions but you do get to choose the decision makers.
Sam Altman
Image
To get the very best people- they have a lot of great options, and so it can easily take a year to recruit someone.
Sam Altman