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

More quotes by Sam Altman

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If it takes more than a sentence to explain what you are doing, it's almost always a sign that what you are doing is too complicated.
Sam Altman
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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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You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative.
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If you want something in a deal, just ask for it.
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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.
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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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Most investors are obsessed with the market size today and they don't think about how the market is going to evolve.
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Because it's one of these sort of connections between nodes- every pair of people adds communication overhead.
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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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The track record for founders that don't already know each other is really bad.
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... for the top twenty most valuable YC companies, all of them have at least two founders.
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... fire fast when it's not working. It's better for the company, it's also better for the employee.
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You have to be decisive. Indecisiveness is a startup killer.
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Losing focus is another way that founders get off track.
Sam Altman
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One thing that often disrupts momentum and really shouldn't is competitors.
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In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
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Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality.
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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.
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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.
Sam Altman
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You really want to know your cofounders for a while, ideally years.
Sam Altman