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You need this sort of a tailwind to make a startup successful.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
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More quotes by Sam Altman

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You need to have a culture where people have very high quality standards in everything the company does, but still move quickly.
Sam Altman
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Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.
Sam Altman
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The biggest PR hack you can do, is not hire a PR firm.
Sam Altman
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Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.
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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If you don't need it yourself, and you're building something that someone else needs, realize you're at a big disadvantage.
Sam Altman
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Why now, why is this the perfect time for this particular idea, and to start this particular company?
Sam Altman
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You certainly don't need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination.
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.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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... fire fast when it's not working. It's better for the company, it's also better for the employee.
Sam Altman
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Starting a business is like riding a wave between life and death. If you can hang on long enough, you're bound to succeed
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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So always keep momentum, it's this prime directive for managing a startup.
Sam Altman
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When lack of structure fails, it fails all at once. What works totally fine from 0-20 employees, is disastrous at 30.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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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
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It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.
Sam Altman