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AirBnB spent 5 months interviewing their first employee, before they hired someone and in their first year, they only hired 2 people.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Year
Someone
Firsts
Interviewing
First
Hired
Years
Employee
People
Spent
Months
Team

More quotes by Sam Altman

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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.
Sam Altman
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If you compromise in the first five, ten hires it might kill the company.
Sam Altman
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You don't need to make the structure complicated, in fact you shouldn't. All you need is for every employee to know who their manager is.
Sam Altman
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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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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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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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As the company grows and about this 25 or so employee size, your main job shifts from building a great product to building a great company.
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Momentum and growth are the lifeblood of startups. This is probably in the top three secrets of executing well.
Sam Altman
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Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
Sam Altman
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Obsess about the quality of the product.
Sam Altman
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Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.
Sam Altman
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It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.
Sam Altman
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You certainly don't need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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Or a way to stay on strangers couches, that just sounds terrible all around.
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.
Sam Altman
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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
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Firing people is one of the worst parts of running a company. Actually in my own experience, I think it is the worst.
Sam Altman
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You only get points when you make something the market wants. So if you work really hard on the wrong things, no one will care.
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