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

Sam Altman

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

More quotes by Sam Altman

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In general, it's best if you're building something that you yourself need.
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One thing that often disrupts momentum and really shouldn't is competitors.
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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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The thing that kills startups at some level, is the founders giving up.
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You should be able to describe any employee as an animal at what they do.
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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.
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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.
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Ideas by themselves are not worth anything, only executing well is what creates value.
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You should always know how you're doing against your metrics. You should always have a weekly review meeting every week.
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You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done.
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At the beginning, you should only hire when you have a desperate need to.
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If you don't need it yourself, and you're building something that someone else needs, realize you're at a big disadvantage.
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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.
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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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Growth solves (nearly) all problems
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A small communication breakdown is enough for everyone to be working on slightly different things. And then you loose focus.
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What being a founder means, is signing up for this years long grind on execution - and you can't outsource this.
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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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In addition to relentlessly resourceful, you want a tough and a calm cofounder.
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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.
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