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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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You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done.
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The single word that matters most I think to keep the company productive as it grows is alignment.
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Obsess about the quality of the product.
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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.
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The best people know that they should join a rocketship.
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Everyone starting a startup for the first time is scared, and everyone feels like a bit of an imposter.
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In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
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Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers.
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... the thing we see wrong with YC apps most frequently, is that people have not thought about the market first and what people want first.
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The startups that do well are the ones that are working all the time.
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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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Developing a personal connection with anyone you're trying to do a big deal with is really important.
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Losing focus is another way that founders get off track.
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Startups are very hard no matter what you do you may as well go after a big opportunity.
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No growth hack, brilliant marketing idea, or sales team can save you long term if you don't have a sufficiently good product.
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Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers. It's easy to get sucked into an infrastructure rewrite death spiral.
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.
Sam Altman
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You don't need to make the structure complicated, in fact you shouldn't. All you need is for every employee to know who their manager is.
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If it works out, you're going to be working on this for 10 years.
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