Quote

Most of the best hires that I've made in my entire life have never done that thing before.

Sam Altman

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Made
Never
Life
Hires
Entire
Team
Best
Done
Thing

More quotes by Sam Altman

Image
The hard part is that this is a very fine line. There's right on one side of it, and crazy on the other.
Sam Altman
Image
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
Image
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.
Sam Altman
Image
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.
Sam Altman
Image
Press releases are easier to write than code, and that is still easier than making a great product.
Sam Altman
Image
You should be able to describe any employee as an animal at what they do.
Sam Altman
Image
These all sounded really bad, but they turned out to be good. If they had sounded really good, there would have been too many people working on them.
Sam Altman
Image
You think you have this great idea that everyone's going to come join, but that's not how it works.
Sam Altman
Image
One of the great and terrible things about starting a start up is that you get no credit for trying.
Sam Altman
Image
As you grow, it feels hopelessly corporate but it really is worth putting in place these compensation bands.
Sam Altman
Image
In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
Sam Altman
Image
If you compromise in the first five, ten hires it might kill the company.
Sam Altman
Image
You need this sort of a tailwind to make a startup successful.
Sam Altman
Image
Most things are not as risky as they seem.
Sam Altman
Image
Losing focus is another way that founders get off track.
Sam Altman
Image
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
Image
Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
Sam Altman
Image
Remember that the idea will expand, and become more ambitious as you go.
Sam Altman
Image
The second part of how to hire: try not to.
Sam Altman
Image
Later, you should learn to hire fast and scale up the company, but in the early days the goal should be not to hire. Not to hire.
Sam Altman