Quote

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

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
Great
Main
Product
Size
Products
Building
Grows
Company
Shifts
Jobs
Employee

More quotes by Sam Altman

Image
You really want to know your cofounders for a while, ideally years.
Sam Altman
Image
So it's worth some real up front time to think through the long term value and the defensibility of the business.
Sam Altman
Image
Later, you should learn to hire fast and scale up the company, but in the early days the goal should be not to hire. Not to hire.
Sam Altman
Image
The best people know that they should join a rocketship.
Sam Altman
Image
Employees will only add more value over time.
Sam Altman
Image
In the beginning of a company, there is no management and this actually works really well.
Sam Altman
Image
The second part of how to hire: try not to.
Sam Altman
Image
Remember that the idea will expand, and become more ambitious as you go.
Sam Altman
Image
Ideas by themselves are not worth anything, only executing well is what creates value.
Sam Altman
Image
AirBnB spent 5 months interviewing their first employee, before they hired someone and in their first year, they only hired 2 people.
Sam Altman
Image
... you want to be proud of how much you can get done with a small numbers of employees.
Sam Altman
Image
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.
Sam Altman
Image
Losing focus is another way that founders get off track.
Sam Altman
Image
... for the top twenty most valuable YC companies, all of them have at least two founders.
Sam Altman
Image
If it works out, you're going to be working on this for 10 years.
Sam Altman
Image
You should think about for the next 10 years, you're going to be giving out 3-5% of the company every year.
Sam Altman
Image
Before product/market fit, your only job that matters is to build a great product.
Sam Altman
Image
As you grow, it feels hopelessly corporate but it really is worth putting in place these compensation bands.
Sam Altman
Image
To get the very best people- they have a lot of great options, and so it can easily take a year to recruit someone.
Sam Altman
Image
No matter what you choose, build stuff and be around smart people.
Sam Altman