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

Sam Altman

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

More quotes by Sam Altman

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You think you have this great idea that everyone's going to come join, but that's not how it works.
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The most important thing is that there is clear reporting structure and everyone knows what it is.
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Every company has a rocky beginning.
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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.
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... but the pendulum has swung way out of whack here. A bad idea is still bad, and the pivot happy world we're in today feels suboptimal.
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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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One thing that founders forget is that after they hire employees, they have to retain them.
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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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You need to figure out what the 2 or 3 most important things are, and then just do those.
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Or a way to stay on strangers couches, that just sounds terrible all around.
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Remember that the idea will expand, and become more ambitious as you go.
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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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Cofounder relationships are among the most important in the entire company.
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Losing focus is another way that founders get off track.
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A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.
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You cannot create a market that doesn't want to exist.
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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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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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The single word that matters most I think to keep the company productive as it grows is alignment.
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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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