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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.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Talk
Best
Done
Things
Predictor
Gotten
Team
Successful
Company

More quotes by Sam Altman

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Long term thinking is so rare anywhere, but especially in startups. This is a huge advantage if you do it.
Sam Altman
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Employees will only add more value over time.
Sam Altman
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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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Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers.
Sam Altman
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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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... if you talk to say any of the first 40 or 50 employees, they all feel like they were a part of the founding of the company.
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... you want to be proud of how much you can get done with a small numbers of employees.
Sam Altman
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Growth solves (nearly) all problems
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
Sam Altman
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A small communication breakdown is enough for everyone to be working on slightly different things. And then you loose focus.
Sam Altman
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Cofounder relationships are among the most important in the entire company.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit.
Sam Altman
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You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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In general though, if you look at the track record of pivots, they don't become big companies.
Sam Altman
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I believe in fighting with investors to reduce the amount of equity they get and then being as generous as you possibly can with employees.
Sam Altman
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In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
Sam Altman