Quote

If it takes more than a sentence to explain what you are doing, it's almost always a sign that what you are doing is too complicated.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Almost
Always
Sentence
Sentences
Explain
Sign
Complicated
Takes

More quotes by Sam Altman

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1 of the hardest parts about being a founder, is that there are a 100 important things competing for your attention each day.
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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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The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.
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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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The cost of getting an early hire wrong is really high.
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You cannot create a market that doesn't want to exist.
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A small communication breakdown is enough for everyone to be working on slightly different things. And then you loose focus.
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You want to sound crazy, but you want to actually be right.
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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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If you have several ideas that all seem pretty good, work on the one that you think about, when you're not trying to think about work.
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Don't let the company get distracted or excited about other things. A common mistake is that companies get excited by their own PR.
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Founders need to figure out what the message of the company is going to be.
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You can create value with breakthrough innovation, incremental refinement, or complex coordination. Great companies often do two of these. The very best companies do all three.
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Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies.
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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.
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You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative.
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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.
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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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You need this sort of a tailwind to make a startup successful.
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As the company grows and about this 25 or so employee size, your main job shifts from building a great product to building a great company.
Sam Altman