Quote

... 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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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Company
Future
Everyone
Hire
Think
Bars
Thinking
Tough
Single
Team

More quotes by Sam Altman

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Press releases are easier to write than code, and that is still easier than making a great product.
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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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Momentum and growth are the lifeblood of startups. This is probably in the top three secrets of executing well.
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Ideas by themselves are not worth anything, only executing well is what creates value.
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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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Remember that the idea will expand, and become more ambitious as you go.
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Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. Even if you miss, you'll probably end up in a pretty good place.
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Unpopular but right is what you're going for.
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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'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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Most good founders that I know at any given time have a set of small overarching goals for the company that everybody in the company knows.
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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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Employees will only add more value over time.
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In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
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The company just needs to see you as like this maniacal execution machine.
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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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Why now, why is this the perfect time for this particular idea, and to start this particular company?
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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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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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Founders are usually very stingy with equity to employees and very generous with equity to investors. I think this is totally backwards.
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