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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.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Would
People
Sounded
Turned
Working
Many
Really
Good

More quotes by Sam Altman

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The most important thing is that there is clear reporting structure and everyone knows what it is.
Sam Altman
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Another way of looking at this, is that the best companies are almost always mission oriented.
Sam Altman
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... for the top twenty most valuable YC companies, all of them have at least two founders.
Sam Altman
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Developing a personal connection with anyone you're trying to do a big deal with is really important.
Sam Altman
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So it's worth some real up front time to think through the long term value and the defensibility of the business.
Sam Altman
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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 other piece besides focus for execution is intensity. Startups only work at a fairly intense level.
Sam Altman
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... you want to be proud of how much you can get done with a small numbers of employees.
Sam Altman
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I think as a rough estimate, you should aim to give about 10% of the company to the first 10 employees.
Sam Altman
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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
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... and you can only have 2 or 3 things everyday, because everything else will just come at you you know fires in a day.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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One thing I tell startups all the time is that the best way to grow is to make their product better.
Sam Altman
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Remember that the idea will expand, and become more ambitious as you go.
Sam Altman
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You need conviction in your own beliefs, and the willingness to ignore others naysaying.
Sam Altman
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One thing that often disrupts momentum and really shouldn't is competitors.
Sam Altman
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Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers.
Sam Altman
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Because so few people make an actual long term commitment to what they're building, the ones that do have a huge advantage.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.
Sam Altman