Quote

In general, it's best if you're building something that you yourself need.

Sam Altman

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
General
Building
Best
Need
Needs
Something

More quotes by Sam Altman

Image
Unpopular but right is what you're going for.
Sam Altman
Image
In the early stage of a startup, hiring senior people is usually a mistake. You just want people that get stuff done.
Sam Altman
Image
Whatever the founder cares about, whatever the founders think are the key goals, that's going to be what the whole company focusses on.
Sam Altman
Image
A board member of mine used to say sales fix everything in a startup, and that is really true.
Sam Altman
Image
One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit.
Sam Altman
Image
For most software startups, this translates to keep growing. For hardware startups, it translates to don't let your ship date slip.
Sam Altman
Image
Founders are usually very stingy with equity to employees and very generous with equity to investors. I think this is totally backwards.
Sam Altman
Image
You have to be decisive. Indecisiveness is a startup killer.
Sam Altman
Image
Every company has a rocky beginning.
Sam Altman
Image
In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.
Sam Altman
Image
You don't get to make their decisions but you do get to choose the decision makers.
Sam Altman
Image
Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.
Sam Altman
Image
Press releases are easier to write than code, and that is still easier than making a great product.
Sam Altman
Image
One thing I tell startups all the time is that the best way to grow is to make their product better.
Sam Altman
Image
Obsess about the quality of the product.
Sam Altman
Image
I think as a rough estimate, you should aim to give about 10% of the company to the first 10 employees.
Sam Altman
Image
... fire fast when it's not working. It's better for the company, it's also better for the employee.
Sam Altman
Image
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
Image
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
Image
It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.
Sam Altman