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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
Talking
Make
Founders
Never
Mediocre
Time
Grand
Spend
Plans
Quite
Decision

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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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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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Losing focus is another way that founders get off track.
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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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Every company has a rocky beginning.
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In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
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No matter what you choose, build stuff and be around smart people.
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