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A board member of mine used to say sales fix everything in a startup, and that is really true.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Really
Boards
Member
Mines
Mine
Members
True
Used
Sales
Everything
Board

More quotes by 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.
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Momentum and growth are the lifeblood of startups. This is probably in the top three secrets of executing well.
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Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.
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Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
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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.
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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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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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In addition to relentlessly resourceful, you want a tough and a calm cofounder.
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No matter what you choose, build stuff and be around smart people.
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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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A small communication breakdown is enough for everyone to be working on slightly different things. And then you loose focus.
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The track record for founders that don't already know each other is really bad.
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You're saying no ninety-seven times out of a hundred, and most founders find they have to make a very conscious effort to do this.
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Cofounder relationships are among the most important in the entire company.
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Most startups are not nearly focussed enough. They work hard...maybe, but they don't work hard on the right things.
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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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If you compromise in the first five, ten hires it might kill the company.
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Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies.
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I think as a rough estimate, you should aim to give about 10% of the company to the first 10 employees.
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