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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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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Company
Start
Perfect
Idea
Ideas
Time
Particular

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You can basically change everything in a startup but the market.
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You should be able to describe any employee as an animal at what they do.
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In addition to relentlessly resourceful, you want a tough and a calm cofounder.
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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 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're saying no ninety-seven times out of a hundred, and most founders find they have to make a very conscious effort to do this.
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Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality.
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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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If you compromise and hire someone mediocre you will always regret it.
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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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Most startups are not nearly focussed enough. They work hard...maybe, but they don't work hard on the right things.
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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.
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Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers.
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You really want to know your cofounders for a while, ideally years.
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One thing that founders forget is that after they hire employees, they have to retain them.
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... you can think about that for everyone you hire: will I bet the future of this company on this single hire? And that's a tough bar.
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... for the top twenty most valuable YC companies, all of them have at least two founders.
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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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The natural state of a start-up is to die most start-ups require multiple miracles in their early days to escape this fate.
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Some day everyone will find out everyone else's comp, if it's all over the place, it will be a complete meltdown disaster
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