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

Sam Altman

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

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In addition to relentlessly resourceful, you want a tough and a calm cofounder.
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Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans, but they never quite make a decision.
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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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The other piece besides focus for execution is intensity. Startups only work at a fairly intense level.
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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.
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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.
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Ideas by themselves are not worth anything, only executing well is what creates value.
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You should think about for the next 10 years, you're going to be giving out 3-5% of the company every year.
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So you should always stay on top of people's vesting schedules.
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The hard part is that this is a very fine line. There's right on one side of it, and crazy on the other.
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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.
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Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.
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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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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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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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In the early stage of a startup, hiring senior people is usually a mistake. You just want people that get stuff done.
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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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Because it's one of these sort of connections between nodes- every pair of people adds communication overhead.
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Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. Even if you miss, you'll probably end up in a pretty good place.
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