Quote

Most founders have not managed people before, and they certainly haven't managed managers.

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
Haven
Certainly
People
Founders
Managed
Managers
Havens

More quotes by Sam Altman

Image
... the thing we see wrong with YC apps most frequently, is that people have not thought about the market first and what people want first.
Sam Altman
Image
Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans, but they never quite make a decision.
Sam Altman
Image
Growth and momentum are what a startup lives on and you always have to focus on maintaining these.
Sam Altman
Image
Starting a business is like riding a wave between life and death. If you can hang on long enough, you're bound to succeed
Sam Altman
Image
The most common post YC failure case for the companies we fund, is they're incredibly focussed during YC on their company... and after they start doing a lot of other things. They advise companies, they go to conferences, whatever.
Sam Altman
Image
You want to sound crazy, but you want to actually be right.
Sam Altman
Image
Press releases are easier to write than code, and that is still easier than making a great product.
Sam Altman
Image
Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies.
Sam Altman
Image
It's easy to move fast or be obsessed with quality, but the trick is you have to do both at a startup.
Sam Altman
Image
You need to figure out what the 2 or 3 most important things are, and then just do those.
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
Startups are very hard no matter what you do you may as well go after a big opportunity.
Sam Altman
Image
... but the pendulum has swung way out of whack here. A bad idea is still bad, and the pivot happy world we're in today feels suboptimal.
Sam Altman
Image
The best ideas often look terrible at the beginning the truly good ideas, don't seem like they're worth stealing.
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
When it comes to starting startups, in many ways, it's easier to start a hard startup than an easy startup.
Sam Altman
Image
... 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.
Sam Altman
Image
The track record for founders that don't already know each other is really bad.
Sam Altman
Image
Long term thinking is so rare anywhere, but especially in startups. This is a huge advantage if you do it.
Sam Altman
Image
Why now, why is this the perfect time for this particular idea, and to start this particular company?
Sam Altman