Sam Altman Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• 1 of the hardest parts about being a founder, is that there are a 100 important things competing for your attention each day.

  Sam Altman

  Important, Attention, Each Day

  9 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

  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

• 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

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

  Sam Altman

  Team, Might, Firsts

  5 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

  4 Copy quote

• When lack of structure fails, it fails all at once. What works totally fine from 0-20 employees, is disastrous at 30.

  Sam Altman

  Failing, Structure, Fine

  4 Copy quote

• At YC we have this public phrase, and it's relentlessly resourceful.

  Sam Altman

  Team, Phrases, Resourceful

  4 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

  4 Copy quote

• Great execution towards a terrible idea will get you nowhere.

  Sam Altman

  Ideas, Execution, Terrible

  4 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

  5 Copy quote

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

  Sam Altman

  Team, Needs, Desperate

  5 Copy quote

• 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

• 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.

  4 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

• 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

  5 Copy quote

• As long as you keep doing the right thing and have the best product, you can beat the bigger company.

  Sam Altman

  Long, Beats, Bigger

  5 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

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

  Sam Altman

  Needs, Machines, Execution

  5 Copy quote

• Why couldn't it have been done 2 years ago, and why will 2 years in the future be too late?

  Sam Altman

  Years, Too Late, Done

  4 Copy quote

• Startups are very hard no matter what you do; you may as well go after a big opportunity.

  Sam Altman

  Opportunity, May, Matter

  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

  6 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.

  7 Copy quote

• Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about grand plans, but they never quite make a decision.

  Sam Altman

  Talking, Decision, Never Quit

  5 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

  5 Copy quote

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