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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.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Never
Hire
Employee
Companies
Involved
Team
Company
Firsts
Recover
First
Employees

More quotes by Sam Altman

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Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.
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You think you have this great idea that everyone's going to come join, but that's not how it works.
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Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers.
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Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies.
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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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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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... but the pendulum has swung way out of whack here. A bad idea is still bad, and the pivot happy world we're in today feels suboptimal.
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Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
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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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You don't get to make their decisions but you do get to choose the decision makers.
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As you grow, it feels hopelessly corporate but it really is worth putting in place these compensation bands.
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You really want to know your cofounders for a while, ideally years.
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Cofounder relationships are among the most important in the entire company.
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... you can think about that for everyone you hire: will I bet the future of this company on this single hire? And that's a tough bar.
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In general though, if you look at the track record of pivots, they don't become big companies.
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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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We talk to a team they've gotten new things done, that's the best predictor we have that a company will be successful.
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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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The biggest PR hack you can do, is not hire a PR firm.
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Some day everyone will find out everyone else's comp, if it's all over the place, it will be a complete meltdown disaster
Sam Altman