You should be able to describe any employee as an animal at what they do. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
A single mediocre hire in the first five will often in fact kill a startup. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
By the way, that's my number one piece of advice if you're going to join a startup: pick a rocket ship. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
If you compromise in the first five, ten hires it might kill the company. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
There are 3 things I look for when I hire people. Are they smart? Do they get things done? Do I want… — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
... you can think about that for everyone you hire: will I bet the future of this company on this single hire?… — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
... but actually it sucks to have a lot of employees, and you should be proud of how few employees you have. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
To get the very best people- they have a lot of great options, and so it can easily take a year to… — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
Really dig into projects people have worked on and call references; that is another thing that first time founders like to skip. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
Every first time founder waits too long, everyone hopes that an employee will turn around. But the right answer is to fire… — 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
If someone is difficult to talk to, if someone cannot communicate clearly, it's a real problem in terms of their likelihood to… — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
I think as a rough estimate, you should aim to give about 10% of the company to the first 10 employees. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
... you want to be proud of how much you can get done with a small numbers of employees. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
At the beginning, you should only hire when you have a desperate need 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 Image
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 Image
You're either not hiring at all or it's probably your single biggest block of time. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
The thing that kills startups at some level, is the founders giving up. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
