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Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans, but they never quite make a decision.
Sam Altman
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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Plans
Quite
Decision
Talking
Make
Founders
Never
Mediocre
Time
Grand
Spend
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Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
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Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers.
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Companies that I've been very involved with, that have had a very bad first hire in the first 3 or so employees never recover from it.
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Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.
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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.
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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.
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Developing a personal connection with anyone you're trying to do a big deal with is really important.
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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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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 certainly don't need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination.
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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.
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In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
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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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In general, it's best if you're building something that you yourself need.
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Remember that the idea will expand, and become more ambitious as you go.
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