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I really believe that the single hardest thing in business is building a company that does repeatable innovation... and just has this ongoing culture of excellence as it grows.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Really
Single
Grows
Company
Repeatable
Culture
Ongoing
Business
Excellence
Doe
Innovation
Thing
Hardest
Believe
Building

More quotes by Sam Altman

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For most of the early hires you make in a startup, experience doesn't matter very much, and you should go for aptitude.
Sam Altman
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Or a way to stay on strangers couches, that just sounds terrible all around.
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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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A board member of mine used to say sales fix everything in a startup, and that is really true.
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The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.
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The startups that do well are the ones that are working all the time.
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The role of the board is advice and consent. If the CEO does not lay out a clear strategy and tries to get the board to set one, it will usually end in disaster.
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The track record for founders that don't already know each other is really bad.
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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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One thing I tell startups all the time is that the best way to grow is to make their product better.
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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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If you compromise in the first five, ten hires it might kill the company.
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Most startups are not nearly focussed enough. They work hard...maybe, but they don't work hard on the right things.
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Most good founders that I know at any given time have a set of small overarching goals for the company that everybody in the company knows.
Sam Altman
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... for the top twenty most valuable YC companies, all of them have at least two founders.
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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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At the beginning, you should only hire when you have a desperate need to.
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Momentum and growth are the lifeblood of startups. This is probably in the top three secrets of executing well.
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Move fast. Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies.
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Most of the best hires that I've made in my entire life have never done that thing before.
Sam Altman