You only get points when you make something the market wants. So if you work really hard on the wrong things, no… — Sam Altman Care Copy Share Image
You certainly don't need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination. — Sam Altman Domination Copy Share Image
If you don't love and believe in what you're building, you're likely to give up at some point along the way. — Sam Altman Believe Copy Share Image
I think the best thing you can do is be aware that as a first time founder you are likely to be… — Sam Altman Bad man Copy Share Image
Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality. — Sam Altman Balance Copy Share Image
If you can just learn to think about the market first, you will have a big leg up on most people starting… — Sam Altman Bigs Copy Share Image
You also want people who are maniacally determined and that is slightly different than having a risk tolerant attitude. — Sam Altman Attitude 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 Done Copy Share Image
The most important thing is that there is clear reporting structure and everyone knows what it is. — Sam Altman Clear Copy Share Image
AirBnB spent 5 months interviewing their first employee, before they hired someone and in their first year, they only hired 2 people. — Sam Altman Airbnb Copy Share Image
In the early stage of a startup, hiring senior people is usually a mistake. You just want people that get stuff done. — Sam Altman Done Copy Share Image
Founders need to figure out what the message of the company is going to be. — Sam Altman Business Copy Share Image
Share results (financial and key metrics) with the company every month. — Sam Altman Business Copy Share Image
No growth hack, brilliant marketing idea, or sales team can save you long term if you don't have a sufficiently good product. — Sam Altman Brilliant Copy Share Image
It's easy to move fast or be obsessed with quality, but the trick is you have to do both at a startup. — Sam Altman Customer Copy Share Image
Most great companies in tech have been built by personal referrals for the first...at least 100 employees and often many more. — Sam Altman Built Copy Share Image
... for the top twenty most valuable YC companies, all of them have at least two founders. — Sam Altman Companies 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 Between life and death Copy Share Image
The hard part is that this is a very fine line. There's right on one side of it, and crazy on the… — Sam Altman Crazy Copy Share Image
What you want to do is innovate on your product and your business model, management structure is not where I would try… — Sam Altman Business Copy Share Image
The thing that kills startups at some level, is the founders giving up. — Sam Altman Customer Copy Share Image
You need someone that behaves like James Bond more than you need someone that is an expert in some particular domain. — Sam Altman Behave 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 Advice Copy Share Image
If you don't need it yourself, and you're building something that someone else needs, realize you're at a big disadvantage. — Sam Altman Bigs Copy Share Image
Even though plans themselves are worthless, the exercise of planning is very valuable and totally missing in most startups today. — Sam Altman Entrepreneurship Copy Share Image
In general though, if you look at the track record of pivots, they don't become big companies. — Sam Altman Big companies Copy Share Image
You can have a startup and one other thing, you can have a family, but you probably can't have many other things. — Sam Altman Entrepreneurship Copy Share Image
Most of the best hires that I've made in my entire life have never done that thing before. — Sam Altman Done Copy Share Image
You don't need to make the structure complicated, in fact you shouldn't. All you need is for every employee to know who… — Sam Altman Complicated Copy Share Image
Remember that you are more likely to die because you execute badly than get crushed by a competitor. — Sam Altman Competitor Copy Share Image
In general don't start a startup you're not willing to work on for ten years. — Sam Altman Entrepreneurship Copy Share Image
If it takes more than a sentence to explain what you are doing, it's almost always a sign that what you are… — Sam Altman Complicated Copy Share Image
It's better to have no cofounder than to have a bad cofounder, but it's still bad to be a solo founder. — Sam Altman Customer Copy Share Image
Some day everyone will find out everyone else's comp, if it's all over the place, it will be a complete meltdown disaster — Sam Altman Disaster Copy Share Image
You don't get to make their decisions but you do get to choose the decision makers. — Sam Altman Decision Copy Share Image
You can win with the best product, the best price, or the best experience. — Sam Altman Best experiences Copy Share Image
Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. Even if you miss, you'll probably end up in… — Sam Altman Aim Copy Share Image
... how much time you should be spending on hiring? The answer is 0 or 25 percent. — Sam Altman Answers Copy Share Image
Founders are usually very stingy with equity to employees and very generous with equity to investors. I think this is totally backwards. — Sam Altman Backwards Copy Share Image
You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done. — Sam Altman Done Copy Share Image
