Sam Altman Quotes

Quotes about:

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

  Sam Altman

  Smart, People, Matter

  51 Copy quote

• 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

  Team, Solo, Founders

  3 Copy quote

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

  Sam Altman

  Needs, Building Something, Building

  3 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.

  3 Copy quote

• The best source by far for hiring is people that you already know and people that other employees in the company already know.

  Sam Altman

  Team, People, Source

  3 Copy quote

• You should be giving out a lot of equity to your employees.

  Sam Altman

  Giving, Should, Employee

  3 Copy quote

• More important than starting any startup, is getting to know a lot of potential co-founders.

  Sam Altman

  Important, Starting, Founders

  3 Copy quote

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

  Sam Altman

  Average, People

  3 Copy quote

• What being a founder means, is signing up for this years long grind on execution - and you can't outsource this.

  Sam Altman

  Mean, Years, Long

  6 Copy quote

• I think as a rough estimate, you should aim to give about 10% of the company to the first 10 employees.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Thinking, Giving

  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

  3 Copy quote

• If you can just learn to think about the market first, you will have a big leg up on most people starting startups.

  Sam Altman

  Thinking, People, Legs

  3 Copy quote

• Obsess about the quality of the product.

  Sam Altman

  Quality, Products

  14 Copy quote

• Someday, you need to build a business that's difficult to replicate. This is an important part of a good idea.

  Sam Altman

  Ideas, Important, Needs

  4 Copy quote

• Every first time founder waits too long, everyone hopes that an employee will turn around. But the right answer is to fire fast.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Fire, Long

  3 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

  5 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

  8 Copy quote

• Most things are not as risky as they seem.

  Sam Altman

  Seems

  3 Copy quote

• In general don't start a startup you're not willing to work on for ten years.

  Sam Altman

  Years, Willing, Ten

  11 Copy quote

• I believe in fighting with investors to reduce the amount of equity they get and then being as generous as you possibly can with employees.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Believe, Fighting

  "Lecture 2: Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution Part II". "How to Start a Startup" lecture, Stanford, genius.com. September 25, 2014.

  6 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.

  6 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

  3 Copy quote

• Two other things that we hear again and again from our founders, they wish they had done earlier, and that is... simply writing down how you do things and why you do things.

  Sam Altman

  Writing, Two, Wish

  3 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

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  Team, Ideas, Long

  "There's Only One Way To Make Your Company Really Grow" by Jay Yarow, www.businessinsider.com. December 04, 2013.

  10 Copy quote

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