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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.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Thinking
Team
Idea
Everyone
Ideas
Come
Great
Going
Join
Think
Works

More quotes by Sam Altman

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Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality.
Sam Altman
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Everyone starting a startup for the first time is scared, and everyone feels like a bit of an imposter.
Sam Altman
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You want to sound crazy, but you want to actually be right.
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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.
Sam Altman
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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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The other piece besides focus for execution is intensity. Startups only work at a fairly intense level.
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I really believe that the single hardest thing in business is building a company that does repeatable innovation... and just has this ongoing culture of excellence as it grows.
Sam Altman
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The second part of how to hire: try not to.
Sam Altman
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If it works out, you're going to be working on this for 10 years.
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 have to be decisive. Indecisiveness is a startup killer.
Sam Altman
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If you pivot, do it fully and with conviction. The worst thing is to try to do a bit of the old and the new-it's hard to kill your babies.
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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Founders are usually very stingy with equity to employees and very generous with equity to investors. I think this is totally backwards.
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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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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... 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.
Sam Altman
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In the early stage of a startup, hiring senior people is usually a mistake. You just want people that get stuff done.
Sam Altman
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Whatever the founder cares about, whatever the founders think are the key goals, that's going to be what the whole company focusses on.
Sam Altman
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In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
Sam Altman