Sam Altman Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• 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

• ... you want to be proud of how much you can get done with a small numbers of employees.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Small Numbers, Done

  4 Copy quote

• Here's a good rule of thumb: don't worry about a competitor at all, until they're actually beating you with a real shipped product.

  Sam Altman

  Real, Worry, Thumbs

  "Lecture 2: Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution Part II". "How to Start a Startup" lecture, Stanford, 1pdf.net. September 25, 2014.

  4 Copy quote

• You really want to know your cofounders for a while, ideally years.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Years, Want

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• Facebook has this famous poster that says move fast and break things. But at the same time they manage to be obsessed with quality.

  Sam Altman

  Moving, Quality, Posters

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• You should be able to describe any employee as an animal at what they do.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Animal, Able

  "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.

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• 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

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• 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

  Giving Up, Believe, Way

  "Lecture 1: How to Start a Startup". Sam Altman's lecture to the class at Stanford University in Stanford, California, genius.com. 2014.

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• The company just needs to see you as like this maniacal execution machine.

  Sam Altman

  Needs, Machines, Execution

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• A board member of mine used to say sales fix everything in a startup, and that is really true.

  Sam Altman

  Boards, Used, Members

  4 Copy quote

• For early employees you want people that have somewhat of a risk-taking attitude.

  Sam Altman

  Attitude, Team, People

  5 Copy quote

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

  Sam Altman

  Important, Starting, Founders

  4 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.

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

  Sam Altman

  Team, Forget, Employee

  4 Copy quote

• You have to save the vision speeches for when the company is winning. When you're not winning, you just have to get momentum back.

  Sam Altman

  Winning, Vision, Momentum

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

  4 Copy quote

• If you compromise in the first five, ten hires it might kill the company.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Might, Firsts

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• At the beginning, you should only hire when you have a desperate need to.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Needs, Desperate

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• Keep salaries low and equity high. Keep the organization as flat as you can.

  Sam Altman

  Organization, Salary, Lows

  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

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• You have to be decisive. Indecisiveness is a startup killer.

  Sam Altman

  Killers, Indecisiveness

  10 Copy quote

• Founders need to figure out what the message of the company is going to be.

  Sam Altman

  Messages, Needs, Figures

  4 Copy quote

• In YC's case, the number one cause of early death for startups is cofounder blowups.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Numbers, Causes

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• Why now, why is this the perfect time for this particular idea, and to start this particular company?

  Sam Altman

  Ideas, Perfect, Why Now

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• Unfortunately the trick to great execution is to say no a lot.

  Sam Altman

  Execution, Tricks

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

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

  Sam Altman

  Years, Willing, Ten

  12 Copy quote

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