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When it comes to starting startups, in many ways, it's easier to start a hard startup than an easy startup.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Comes
Many
Hard
Way
Starting
Easier
Ways
Start
Easy

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I really believe that the single hardest thing in business is building a company that does repeatable innovation... and just has this ongoing culture of excellence as it grows.
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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.
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Employees will only add more value over time.
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The thing that kills startups at some level, is the founders giving up.
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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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You need conviction in your own beliefs, and the willingness to ignore others naysaying.
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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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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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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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... fire fast when it's not working. It's better for the company, it's also better for the employee.
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AirBnB spent 5 months interviewing their first employee, before they hired someone and in their first year, they only hired 2 people.
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If someone is getting every decision wrong, that's when you need to act, and at that point it'll be painfully aware to everyone.
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The best ideas often look terrible at the beginning the truly good ideas, don't seem like they're worth stealing.
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For most software startups, this translates to keep growing. For hardware startups, it translates to don't let your ship date slip.
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Ideas by themselves are not worth anything, only executing well is what creates value.
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One thing that founders forget is that after they hire employees, they have to retain them.
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One of the biggest advantages that start ups have is execution speed and you have to have this relentless operating rhythm.
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The most important thing is that there is clear reporting structure and everyone knows what it is.
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As you grow, it feels hopelessly corporate but it really is worth putting in place these compensation bands.
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