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The thing that kills startups at some level, is the founders giving up.

Sam Altman

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Sam Altman
Age: 39
Born: 1985
Born: April 22
Entrepreneur
Chicago
Illinois
Samuel H. Altman
Samuel Altman
Level
Levels
Giving
Thing
Kills
Founders

More quotes by Sam Altman

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A small communication breakdown is enough for everyone to be working on slightly different things. And then you loose focus.
Sam Altman
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... if you talk to say any of the first 40 or 50 employees, they all feel like they were a part of the founding of the company.
Sam Altman
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Or a way to stay on strangers couches, that just sounds terrible all around.
Sam Altman
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Remember that the idea will expand, and become more ambitious as you go.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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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.
Sam Altman
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AirBnB spent 5 months interviewing their first employee, before they hired someone and in their first year, they only hired 2 people.
Sam Altman
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You should always know how you're doing against your metrics. You should always have a weekly review meeting every week.
Sam Altman
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Because so few people make an actual long term commitment to what they're building, the ones that do have a huge advantage.
Sam Altman
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Why now, why is this the perfect time for this particular idea, and to start this particular company?
Sam Altman
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You need conviction in your own beliefs, and the willingness to ignore others naysaying.
Sam Altman
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The natural state of a start-up is to die most start-ups require multiple miracles in their early days to escape this fate.
Sam Altman
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Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans, but they never quite make a decision.
Sam Altman
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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
Sam Altman
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Companies that I've been very involved with, that have had a very bad first hire in the first 3 or so employees never recover from it.
Sam Altman
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We talk to a team they've gotten new things done, that's the best predictor we have that a company will be successful.
Sam Altman
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You have to be decisive. Indecisiveness is a startup killer.
Sam Altman
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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
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In the beginning of a company, there is no management and this actually works really well.
Sam Altman
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... you want to be proud of how much you can get done with a small numbers of employees.
Sam Altman