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Later, you should learn to hire fast and scale up the company, but in the early days the goal should be not to hire. Not to hire.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Early
Team
Days
Company
Hire
Goal
Scale
Learn
Scales
Fast
Later

More quotes by Sam Altman

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A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup.
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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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Most things are not as risky as they seem.
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One thing that founders forget is that after they hire employees, they have to retain them.
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One of the biggest advantages that start ups have is execution speed and you have to have this relentless operating rhythm.
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One of the great and terrible things about starting a start up is that you get no credit for trying.
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When it comes to starting startups, in many ways, it's easier to start a hard startup than an easy startup.
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The other piece besides focus for execution is intensity. Startups only work at a fairly intense level.
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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 thing we see wrong with YC apps most frequently, is that people have not thought about the market first and what people want first.
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The most important thing is that there is clear reporting structure and everyone knows what it is.
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You need conviction in your own beliefs, and the willingness to ignore others naysaying.
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Long term thinking is so rare anywhere, but especially in startups. This is a huge advantage if you do it.
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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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Don't let the company get distracted or excited about other things. A common mistake is that companies get excited by their own PR.
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The track record for founders that don't already know each other is really bad.
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You should always know how you're doing against your metrics. You should always have a weekly review meeting every week.
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Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.
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Unpopular but right is what you're going for.
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1 of the hardest parts about being a founder, is that there are a 100 important things competing for your attention each day.
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