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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
Work
Fairly
Intensity
Intense
Piece
Level
Pieces
Levels
Execution
Focus
Besides

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One thing that often disrupts momentum and really shouldn't is competitors.
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Losing focus is another way that founders get off track.
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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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For most of the early hires you make in a startup, experience doesn't matter very much, and you should go for aptitude.
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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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Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality.
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Some day everyone will find out everyone else's comp, if it's all over the place, it will be a complete meltdown disaster
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To get the very best people- they have a lot of great options, and so it can easily take a year to recruit someone.
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Unpopular but right is what you're going for.
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Because so few people make an actual long term commitment to what they're building, the ones that do have a huge advantage.
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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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