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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
Levels
Execution
Focus
Besides
Work
Fairly
Intensity
Intense
Piece
Level
Pieces

More quotes by Sam Altman

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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 can have a startup and one other thing, you can have a family, but you probably can't have many other things.
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Growth solves (nearly) all problems
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Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
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Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies.
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When lack of structure fails, it fails all at once. What works totally fine from 0-20 employees, is disastrous at 30.
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You need conviction in your own beliefs, and the willingness to ignore others naysaying.
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Why now, why is this the perfect time for this particular idea, and to start this particular company?
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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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Firing people is one of the worst parts of running a company. Actually in my own experience, I think it is the worst.
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The biggest PR hack you can do, is not hire a PR firm.
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You have to be decisive. Indecisiveness is a startup killer.
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Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.
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If it works out, you're going to be working on this for 10 years.
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The natural state of a start-up is to die most start-ups require multiple miracles in their early days to escape this fate.
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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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The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.
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Most founders have not managed people before, and they certainly haven't managed managers.
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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.
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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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