Quote

One of the great and terrible things about starting a start up is that you get no credit for trying.

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
Trying
Things
Credit
Starting
Terrible
Start
Great

More quotes by Sam Altman

Image
You have to let your team get all the credit for all the good stuff that happens, and you take responsibility for the bad stuff.
Sam Altman
Image
These all sounded really bad, but they turned out to be good. If they had sounded really good, there would have been too many people working on them.
Sam Altman
Image
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.
Sam Altman
Image
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
Image
In general though, if you look at the track record of pivots, they don't become big companies.
Sam Altman
Image
Most good founders that I know at any given time have a set of small overarching goals for the company that everybody in the company knows.
Sam Altman
Image
In addition to relentlessly resourceful, you want a tough and a calm cofounder.
Sam Altman
Image
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
Image
Startups are very hard no matter what you do you may as well go after a big opportunity.
Sam Altman
Image
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
Image
... 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
Image
Every company has a rocky beginning.
Sam Altman
Image
So always keep momentum, it's this prime directive for managing a startup.
Sam Altman
Image
... for the top twenty most valuable YC companies, all of them have at least two founders.
Sam Altman
Image
You can create value with breakthrough innovation, incremental refinement, or complex coordination. Great companies often do two of these. The very best companies do all three.
Sam Altman
Image
In the beginning of a company, there is no management and this actually works really well.
Sam Altman
Image
I believe in fighting with investors to reduce the amount of equity they get and then being as generous as you possibly can with employees.
Sam Altman
Image
Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality.
Sam Altman
Image
AirBnB spent 5 months interviewing their first employee, before they hired someone and in their first year, they only hired 2 people.
Sam Altman
Image
One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit.
Sam Altman