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For most of the early hires you make in a startup, experience doesn't matter very much, and you should go for aptitude.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Team
Experience
Doesn
Matter
Much
Make
Hires
Aptitude
Early

More quotes by Sam Altman

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You have to save the vision speeches for when the company is winning. When you're not winning, you just have to get momentum back.
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You need conviction in your own beliefs, and the willingness to ignore others naysaying.
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... if you talk to say any of the first 40 or 50 employees, they all feel like they were a part of the founding of the company.
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You should be able to describe any employee as an animal at what they do.
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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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... but actually it sucks to have a lot of employees, and you should be proud of how few employees you have.
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The role of the board is advice and consent. If the CEO does not lay out a clear strategy and tries to get the board to set one, it will usually end in disaster.
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The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.
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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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The second part of how to hire: try not to.
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Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.
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If you want something in a deal, just ask for it.
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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.
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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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... how much time you should be spending on hiring? The answer is 0 or 25 percent.
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Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans, but they never quite make a decision.
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It's easy to move fast or be obsessed with quality, but the trick is you have to do both at a startup.
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The best people know that they should join a rocketship.
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Most founders have not managed people before, and they certainly haven't managed managers.
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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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