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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

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Wrong
Care
Hard
Work
Something
Really
Points
Make
Market
Things
Wants

More quotes by 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.
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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.
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In the beginning of a company, there is no management and this actually works really well.
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Starting a business is like riding a wave between life and death. If you can hang on long enough, you're bound to succeed
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One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit.
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One of the great and terrible things about starting a start up is that you get no credit for trying.
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The most common post YC failure case for the companies we fund, is they're incredibly focussed during YC on their company... and after they start doing a lot of other things. They advise companies, they go to conferences, whatever.
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Unpopular but right is what you're going for.
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Founders need to figure out what the message of the company is going to be.
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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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You really want to know your cofounders for a while, ideally years.
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Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
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Because it's one of these sort of connections between nodes- every pair of people adds communication overhead.
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A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.
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If you want something in a deal, just ask for it.
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... and you can only have 2 or 3 things everyday, because everything else will just come at you you know fires in a day.
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Another way of looking at this, is that the best companies are almost always mission oriented.
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Losing focus is another way that founders get off track.
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Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.
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A small communication breakdown is enough for everyone to be working on slightly different things. And then you loose focus.
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