I care much more about the growth rate of the market than it's current size and I also care if there's any… — Sam Altman Care Copy Share Image
It's better to have a few users love your product than for a lot of users to sort of like it. — Sam Altman Inspirational Copy Share Image
If you compromise and hire someone mediocre you will always regret it. — Sam Altman Compromise Copy Share Image
People that are really smart and that can learn new things can almost always find a role in the company as time… — Sam Altman Business Copy Share Image
You should be able to describe any employee as an animal at what they do. — Sam Altman Able Copy Share Image
The track record for founders that don't already know each other is really bad. — Sam Altman Entrepreneurship 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 Customer Copy Share Image
Startups are very hard no matter what you do; you may as well go after a big opportunity. — Sam Altman Bigs Copy Share Image
Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers. It's easy to get sucked into an infrastructure rewrite… — Sam Altman Building Copy Share Image
If someone is getting every decision wrong, that's when you need to act, and at that point it'll be painfully aware to… — Sam Altman Decision Copy Share Image
If you're not in college and you don't know a cofounder, the next best thing I think is to go work at… — Sam Altman Best things Copy Share Image
I believe in fighting with investors to reduce the amount of equity they get and then being as generous as you possibly… — Sam Altman Amount Copy Share Image
You have to be intense. This only comes from the CEO, this only comes from the founders. — Sam Altman Ceo Copy Share Image
In the early days of a startup, people's compensation is whatever you negotiate with a founder and it's all over the place. — Sam Altman Compensation Copy Share Image
Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers. — Sam Altman Building 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 Enough Copy Share Image
In addition to relentlessly resourceful, you want a tough and a calm cofounder. — Sam Altman Calm 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 Divided Copy Share Image
A third advantage of mission oriented companies, is that people outside the company are more willing to help you. — Sam Altman Advantage Copy Share Image
You want to continue to be run by great products, not process for it's own sake. — Sam Altman Continue Copy Share Image
You're either not hiring at all or it's probably your single biggest block of time. — Sam Altman Block Copy Share Image
Stay focused and don't try to do too many things at once. Care about execution quality. — Sam Altman Care Copy Share Image
For early employees you want people that have somewhat of a risk-taking attitude. — Sam Altman Attitude Copy Share Image
Everyone starting a startup for the first time is scared, and everyone feels like a bit of an imposter. — Sam Altman Bits Copy Share Image
You think you have this great idea that everyone's going to come join, but that's not how it works. — Sam Altman Great idea Copy Share Image
For most software startups, this translates to keep growing. For hardware startups, it translates to don't let your ship date slip. — Sam Altman Computers Copy Share Image
We hear again and again from founders, that they wish they had waited to start a startup until they came up with… — Sam Altman Again and again Copy Share Image
More important than starting any startup, is getting to know a lot of potential co-founders. — Sam Altman Entrepreneurship Copy Share Image
You have to save the vision speeches for when the company is winning. When you're not winning, you just have to get… — Sam Altman Business Copy Share Image
Later, you should learn to hire fast and scale up the company, but in the early days the goal should be not… — Sam Altman Business Copy Share Image
One of the pieces of advice that we give at YC is: try to work together on a project rather than just… — Sam Altman Advice Copy Share Image
You have to find a small market in which you can get a monopoly and then quickly expand. — Sam Altman Customer Copy Share Image
You'll get more support on a hard, important, project than a derivative one. — Sam Altman Derivatives Copy Share Image
Whatever the founder cares about, whatever the founders think are the key goals, that's going to be what the whole company focusses… — Sam Altman Business Copy Share Image
If someone is choosing between joining McKinsey or your startup it's very unlikely they're going to work out at the startup. — Sam Altman Customer Copy Share Image
One thing that founders always underestimate is how hard it is to recruit. — Sam Altman Customer Copy Share Image
If you pivot, do it fully and with conviction. The worst thing is to try to do a bit of the old… — Sam Altman Baby Copy Share Image
Once your product is working, switch from not caring about this to caring about this a little bit. — Sam Altman Bits Copy Share Image
Don't let the company get distracted or excited about other things. A common mistake is that companies get excited by their own… — Sam Altman Business Copy Share Image
Keep salaries low and equity high. Keep the organization as flat as you can. — Sam Altman Equity Copy Share Image
