At the beginning, you should only hire when you have a desperate need to. — Sam Altman Birth Copy Share Image
You have to let your team get all the credit for all the good stuff that happens, and you take responsibility for… — 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
... and you can only have 2 or 3 things everyday, because everything else will just come at you; you know fires in a day. — Sam Altman Everyday 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 Customer Copy Share Image
The best source by far for hiring is people that you already know and people that other employees in the company already… — Sam Altman Business 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 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
M&A negotiations feel really fun. This is one of the biggest killers of companies, is they entertain acquisition conversations. — Sam Altman Acquisition Copy Share Image
You need unstoppable people. You want people that are just going to get it done. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
You can win with the best product, the best price, or the best experience. — Sam Altman Best experiences 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
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 Copy Share Image
As you grow, it feels hopelessly corporate but it really is worth putting in place these compensation bands. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
... how much time you should be spending on hiring? The answer is 0 or 25 percent. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
There are exceptions of course, but most companies start with a great idea - not a pivot. — Sam Altman Companies Copy Share Image
The single word that matters most I think to keep the company productive as it grows is alignment. — Sam Altman Alignment Copy Share Image
In general, it's best if you're building something that you yourself need. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
You should think about for the next 10 years, you're going to be giving out 3-5% of the company every year. — Sam Altman Business 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 Advantage Copy Share Image
A small communication breakdown is enough for everyone to be working on slightly different things. And then you loose focus. — Sam Altman Breakdown Copy Share Image
A related advantage of mission oriented ideas, is that you yourself will be dedicated to them. — Sam Altman Advantage 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
Someday, you need to build a business that's difficult to replicate. This is an important part of a good idea. — Sam Altman Business 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 never want to be in a place where an employee has vested 3 out of the 4 years of stock and… — Sam Altman Employee Copy Share Image
There's no way I know, to get through the pain of a startup without belief that the mission really matters. — Sam Altman Belief Copy Share Image
Because it's one of these sort of connections between nodes- every pair of people adds communication overhead. — Sam Altman 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
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
If you have several ideas that all seem pretty good, work on the one that you think about, when you're not trying… — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
One of the great and terrible things about starting a start up is that you get no credit for trying. — Sam Altman Credit 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 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
You need someone that behaves like James Bond more than you need someone that is an expert in some particular domain. — Sam Altman Copy Share Image
The thing that kills startups at some level, is the founders giving up. — Sam Altman Customer 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
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
So it's worth some real up front time to think through the long term value and the defensibility of the business. — Sam Altman Business Copy Share Image
Press releases are easier to write than code, and that is still easier than making a great product. — Sam Altman Code Copy Share Image
