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Business Quotes by Sam Altman

39 Business quotes by Sam Altman

All Business quotes Sam Altman’s page

Sam Altman says the toughest part of business is building a company that can keep inventing new things over and over. He notes that what the founder cares about becomes the whole team's focus. He also admits that letting people go is one of the hardest things to do.

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Every company has a rocky beginning.

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Share results (financial and key metrics) with the company every month.

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You need to have a culture where people have very high quality standards in everything the company does, but still move quickly.

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The company just needs to see you as like this maniacal execution machine.

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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…

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... fire fast when it's not working. It's better for the company, it's also better for the employee.

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As long as you keep doing the right thing and have the best product, you can beat the bigger company.

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I prefer to invest in a company that's going after a small but rapidly growing market than a big but slow growing…

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Cofounder relationships are among the most important in the entire company.

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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.

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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…

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You can create value with breakthrough innovation, incremental refinement, or complex coordination. Great companies often do two of these. The very best…

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The most common post YC failure case for the companies we fund, is they're incredibly focussed during YC on their company... and…

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Later, you should learn to hire fast and scale up the company, but in the early days the goal should be not…

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You have to save the vision speeches for when the company is winning. When you're not winning, you just have to get…

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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…

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Whatever the founder cares about, whatever the founders think are the key goals, that's going to be what the whole company focusses…

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... you can think about that for everyone you hire: will I bet the future of this company on this single hire?…

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If you're not in college and you don't know a cofounder, the next best thing I think is to go work at…

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If you compromise in the first five, ten hires it might kill the company.

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A third advantage of mission oriented companies, is that people outside the company are more willing to help you.

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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…

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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…

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People that are really smart and that can learn new things can almost always find a role in the company as time…

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Why now, why is this the perfect time for this particular idea, and to start this particular company?

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The way to have a company that executes well is you have to execute well yourself.

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We pretty much won't fund a company now where the founders don't have vested equity because it's just that hard to do.

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The best source by far for hiring is people that you already know and people that other employees in the company already…

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The single word that matters most I think to keep the company productive as it grows is alignment.

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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.

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Someday, you need to build a business that's difficult to replicate. This is an important part of a good idea.

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I think as a rough estimate, you should aim to give about 10% of the company to the first 10 employees.

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So it's worth some real up front time to think through the long term value and the defensibility of the business.

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You want to think about what is the path for my first 10 or 15 employees going to be as the company grows.

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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…

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What you want to do is innovate on your product and your business model, management structure is not where I would try…

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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…

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In the beginning of a company, there is no management and this actually works really well.

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Founders need to figure out what the message of the company is going to be.

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More by Sam Altman

The best people know that they should join a rocketship.

You really want to know your cofounders for a while, ideally years.

Employees will only add more value over time.

One thing I tell startups all the time is that the best way to grow is to make their product better.

A winning team feels good and keeps winning. A team that hasn't won in a while gets demotivated and keeps losing.

You're either not hiring at all or it's probably your single biggest block of time.

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

Execution gets divided into two key questions: 1) can you figure out what to do and 2) can you get it done.

If you want something in a deal, just ask for it.

Most things are not as risky as they seem.

I prefer to invest in a company that's going after a small but rapidly growing market than a big but slow growing one.

Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality.

One of the biggest advantages that start ups have is execution speed and you have to have this relentless operating rhythm.

One of the keys to focus, and why I said cofounders that aren't friends really struggle, is that you can't be focused without good…

Startups are very hard no matter what you do; you may as well go after a big opportunity.