Founders need to figure out what the message of the company is going to be. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
Share results (financial and key metrics) with the company every month. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
Many of the best YC companies have had phenomenally small number of employees for their first year, sometimes none besides the founders. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
What being a founder means, is signing up for this years long grind on execution - and you can't outsource this. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
If you look at successful pivots, they almost always are a pivot into something that the founder wanted. Not a random made… — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
Most startups are not nearly focussed enough. They work hard...maybe, but they don't work hard on the right things. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
A lot of people treat choosing their cofounder with even less importance than they put on hiring. Don't do this. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Investors will sort of like write the check and then, despite a lot of promises, don't usually do that much; sometimes they… — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
Most investors are obsessed with the market size today and they don't think about how the market is going to evolve. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
M&A negotiations feel really fun. This is one of the biggest killers of companies, is they entertain acquisition conversations. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
One of the biggest advantages that start ups have is execution speed and you have to have this relentless operating rhythm. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
It's difficult to get large groups of people, to the extreme levels of focus and productivity that you need, for a startup… — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
You also really want to take the time to think about how the market is going to evolve.You need a market that's… — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
Starting a business is like riding a wave between life and death. If you can hang on long enough, you're bound to… — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
One thing I tell startups all the time is that the best way to grow is to make their product better. — Sam Altman Copy Share
A winning team feels good and keeps winning. A team that hasn't won in a while gets demotivated and keeps losing. — Sam Altman Copy Share
You're either not hiring at all or it's probably your single biggest block of time. — Sam Altman Copy Share
Execution gets divided into two key questions: 1) can you figure out what to do and 2) can you get it done. — Sam Altman Copy Share
I prefer to invest in a company that's going after a small but rapidly growing market than a big but slow growing one. — Sam Altman Copy Share
Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality. — Sam Altman Copy Share
One of the biggest advantages that start ups have is execution speed and you have to have this relentless operating rhythm. — Sam Altman Copy Share
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… — Sam Altman Copy Share
Startups are very hard no matter what you do; you may as well go after a big opportunity. — Sam Altman Copy Share
