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The other piece besides focus for execution is intensity. Startups only work at a fairly intense level.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Intensity
Intense
Piece
Level
Pieces
Levels
Execution
Focus
Besides
Work
Fairly

More quotes by 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.
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Most investors are obsessed with the market size today and they don't think about how the market is going to evolve.
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... for the top twenty most valuable YC companies, all of them have at least two founders.
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Employees will only add more value over time.
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Founders are usually very stingy with equity to employees and very generous with equity to investors. I think this is totally backwards.
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If you compromise in the first five, ten hires it might kill the company.
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You have to be decisive. Indecisiveness is a startup killer.
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I think as a rough estimate, you should aim to give about 10% of the company to the first 10 employees.
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You need this sort of a tailwind to make a startup successful.
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Ideas by themselves are not worth anything, only executing well is what creates value.
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... how much time you should be spending on hiring? The answer is 0 or 25 percent.
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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.
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When it comes to starting startups, in many ways, it's easier to start a hard startup than an easy startup.
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You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative.
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You should think about for the next 10 years, you're going to be giving out 3-5% of the company every year.
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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 YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
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Startups are very hard no matter what you do you may as well go after a big opportunity.
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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.
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So you should always stay on top of people's vesting schedules.
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