Sam Altman Quotes

Quotes about:

• Great execution is at least 10 times more important and a 100 times harder than a good idea.

  Sam Altman

  Ideas, Important, Execution

  5 Copy quote

• No matter what you choose, build stuff and be around smart people.

  Sam Altman

  Smart, People, Matter

  55 Copy quote

• Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. Even if you miss, you'll probably end up in a pretty good place.

  Sam Altman

  Missing, World, Being The Best

  "36 important life and work lessons a top tech executive learned before turning 30" by Sam Altman, www.businessinsider.com. April 30, 2015.

  5 Copy quote

• You want to sound crazy, but you want to actually be right.

  Sam Altman

  Crazy, Sound, Want

  4 Copy quote

• It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.

  Sam Altman

  Average, People

  6 Copy quote

• You can create value with breakthrough innovation, incremental refinement, or complex coordination. Great companies often do two of these. The very best companies do all three.

  Sam Altman

  Two, Innovation, Three

  25 Copy quote

• Because so few people make an actual long term commitment to what they're building, the ones that do have a huge advantage.

  Sam Altman

  Commitment, Long, People

  4 Copy quote

• In general, it's best if you're building something that you yourself need.

  Sam Altman

  Needs, Building Something, Building

  4 Copy quote

• You only get points when you make something the market wants. So if you work really hard on the wrong things, no one will care.

  Sam Altman

  Care, Want, Wrong Things

  4 Copy quote

• There are 3 things I look for when I hire people. Are they smart? Do they get things done? Do I want to spend a lot of time around them?

  Sam Altman

  Smart, Team, People

  4 Copy quote

• Study the unusually successful people you know, and you will find them imbued with enthusiasm for their work which is contagious. Not only are they themselves excited about what they are doing, but they also get you excited

  Sam Altman

  Successful, People, Enthusiasm

  8 Copy quote

• For most of the early hires you make in a startup, experience doesn't matter very much, and you should go for aptitude.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Matter, Aptitude

  4 Copy quote

• Most things are not as risky as they seem.

  Sam Altman

  Seems

  4 Copy quote

• Execution gets divided into two key questions: 1) can you figure out what to do and 2) can you get it done.

  Sam Altman

  Keys, Two, Done

  12 Copy quote

• Obsess about the quality of the product.

  Sam Altman

  Quality, Products

  17 Copy quote

• Startups are not the best choice for work-life balance, and that's sort of just the sad reality.

  Sam Altman

  Reality, Choices, Balance

  8 Copy quote

• Unpopular but right is what you're going for.

  Sam Altman

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Fate, Miracle, Natural

  8 Copy quote

• If someone is difficult to talk to, if someone cannot communicate clearly, it's a real problem in terms of their likelihood to work out.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Real, Work Out

  "Lecture 2: Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution Part II". Sam Altman's "How To Start a Startup" lecture to the class at Stanford University in Stanford, California, genius.com. 2014.

  7 Copy quote

• A small communication breakdown is enough for everyone to be working on slightly different things. And then you loose focus.

  Sam Altman

  Communication, Focus, Different

  7 Copy quote

• Later, you should learn to hire fast and scale up the company, but in the early days the goal should be not to hire. Not to hire.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Goal, Should

  5 Copy quote

• You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Fire, People

  5 Copy quote

• One thing that founders forget is that after they hire employees, they have to retain them.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Forget, Employee

  4 Copy quote

• Remember that you are more likely to die because you execute badly than get crushed by a competitor.

  Sam Altman

  Remember, Crushed, Competitors

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  Needs, Building Something, Realizing

  9 Copy quote

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