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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
Kills
Founders
Level
Levels
Giving
Thing

More quotes by Sam Altman

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Firing people is one of the worst parts of running a company. Actually in my own experience, I think it is the worst.
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 company just needs to see you as like this maniacal execution machine.
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Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers. It's easy to get sucked into an infrastructure rewrite death spiral.
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In general though, if you look at the track record of pivots, they don't become big companies.
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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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You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done.
Sam Altman
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No matter what you choose, build stuff and be around smart people.
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Obsess about the quality of the product.
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.
Sam Altman
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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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You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative.
Sam Altman
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Growth and momentum are what a startup lives on and you always have to focus on maintaining these.
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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Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans, but they never quite make a decision.
Sam Altman
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Another way of looking at this, is that the best companies are almost always mission oriented.
Sam Altman
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Starting a business is like riding a wave between life and death. If you can hang on long enough, you're bound to succeed
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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.
Sam Altman
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When it comes to starting startups, in many ways, it's easier to start a hard startup than an easy startup.
Sam Altman
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Long term thinking is so rare anywhere, but especially in startups. This is a huge advantage if you do it.
Sam Altman